Then he scored again. And again.

Suddenly, any questions about Messi's hamstring injury, or whether he could help Argentina become the third team to win consecutive World Cups — even as his 39th birthday approaches next week — had been answered. With a brilliant hat trick in a 3-0 win over Les Fennecs, Messi moved into a tie with Germany's Miroslav Klose for the career scoring record at the men's World Cup.

“My tears after the first goal? I’ve had some tough days. It wasn’t related to football. And those feelings were because of that,” Messi said afterward, without elaborating. “I thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the delegation for helping me.”

Messi scored that emotional first goal in the opening minutes on a nifty feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second off an opportunistic rebound early in the second half, and the third on a crisp strike moments before subbing out to a standing ovation from a crowd of 69,045 tilted heavily toward the three-time World Cup champions.

“At a loss for words about Leo. What can I say?” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “He’s incredible.”

Messi has starred in the World Cup for two decades

His incredible trio of goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut in a match against Serbia and Montenegro — he scored in that one, too — and made the pride of Rosario only the second player to score in five editions of the men's tournament.

Messi has 16 goals in his record six World Cup appearances overall, and it seems inevitable that Klose's record will fall in the coming weeks. The hat trick was the 61st of Messi's career, his 11th while playing in his national team colors and his first in the World Cup.

It also was the fifth straight World Cup game in which Messi has scored.

“It makes me very happy to have lived through everything that came my way. What I’m living though now is the cherry on top,” Messi said. “I’m very happy an grateful for this wonderful group. I enjoy it so much.”

Messi upstaged two of soccer's other stars — Kylian Mbappé of France and Erling Haaland of Norway — who had big games of their own on Tuesday. Mbappé scored twice in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal to move into a tie for fourth on the men's World Cup goals list with 14, while Haaland scored twice for Norway in its 4-1 victory over Iraq.

“Messi is a madman,” Haaland said in a post on Snapchat during Argentina's game.

Shaking off injury, Messi remains Argentina's engine

Messi had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup. But the eight-time winner of the Ballon d'Or, which honors global soccer's best player, had no problems in a tuneup last week with Iceland, scoring on a penalty kick while playing 20 minutes in a sharp performance.

“This is my sixth World Cup, and I still feel like I’m in good shape,” Messi said. “Fortunately, I’m doing well, and today we managed to win a tough match. It’s important to start the tournament with a victory in the first game, as that’s never easy in a World Cup.”

Messi's appearance against Algeria was the 200th of his international career, which began in 2005 at age of 18. The only players with more are Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who will play his 229th on Wednesday, and Bader al-Mutawa, who played in 202 for Kuwait.

Messi and Ronaldo are the only men to have scored in five World Cups.

“Class is permanent,” Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “He's fortunate to have the privilege that the entire Argentina team works for him, and supports him, and for a number of years now — decades — he's done incredible things.”

Fans flock to Kansas City for a glimpse of the GOAT

Argentina is among four national teams making their base camps in the Kansas City metro. And much as it has the rest of the world, Messi-mania has swept through the area ever since La Albiceleste's arrival in the Heartland about two weeks ago.

On match day, thousands of fans wearing his No. 10 jersey trekked into the home of the NFL’s Chiefs on the outskirts of Kansas City, singing odes to their hero. Meanwhile, during a watch party at the downtown Power & Light District, a goat accompanied by former NFL quarterback-turned Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston came on stage wearing an Argentina jersey.

The humorous moment seemed to have foreshadowed a big night for Messi when he scored an hour later, and the argument that he's soccer’s GOAT — the greatest of all time — is becoming no argument at all with every match he plays.

“It’s an advantage to have Leo because of how he handles the group and pushes it forward. Because of who he is,” De Paul said. “He doesn’t care about individual records. He prioritizes the group, and for us it’s incredible.”

___

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

In the Senate race, Rep. Mike Collins, 58, topped former football coach Derek Dooley and advanced to face Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state that Trump won two years ago. The outcome will help determine control of Capitol Hill for the final years of Trump’s second presidency.

For governor, healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson, 71, outpaced Lt. Gov. Burt Jones after spending about $100 million of his own money on the campaign. That investment ultimately outweighed Jones' backing from the president. Jackson will face Democratic nominee and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.

Trump, who endorsed Jones nearly a year ago and Collins two days before the runoff, is poised to be a fault line in both general election contests. The president was notably absent in Republicans’ remarks on Tuesday, however, a shift from other primary nights where candidates paid homage to their party's leader despite his sagging approval ratings.

Collins, a second-term congressman, is a self-described “MAGA warrior” and echoes Trump’s false claims that his 2020 election loss in Georgia was rigged. Yet when celebrating in his hometown, Collins thanked his wife, children, grandchildren, siblings, friends, supporters and staffers — but never the president. He even touted his bipartisanship and pitched himself as a sound conservative who can achieve progress by “building coalitions and finding common ground.” And he promised to campaign in “every ZIP code and every community” of this closely divided state.

Ossoff, first elected during the 2020 cycle, has made Trump a focal point, blasting him as a “national embarrassment” who is using the presidency to enrich himself and his family. The 39-year-old faces tremendous pressure to hold his seat as Democrats try to gain a net of four seats to claim a Senate majority.

In the governor's race, Jackson spent months comparing himself — the tremendously wealthy political newcomer — to Trump and his unusual path to the presidency. He didn't do that as directly Tuesday night.

“I’m the only candidate who doesn’t owe a thing to the political establishment,” he said, later adding, “We proved the people of Georgia are in charge.”

Trump congratulated Jackson on social media, saying he “very successfully campaigned on being ‘TRUMP,’ and won.”

“He will be your next Governor of Georgia," the president added. "Can’t wait!”

Republicans face an immediate task to unify and raise money

Both parties in Georgia are trying to buck trends. Republicans haven't won a Senate race here since 2016, the year of Trump's first election. Democrats haven't won a governor's race since 1998.

But Democrats are bullish after they drew about 160,000 more voters than Republicans in the May primary, the first time since their victorious 1998 year that they led primary turnout. Republican runoff turnout also was lower Tuesday than in recent election cycles.

Collins said he had “good conversations” with Dooley and Gov. Brian Kemp, who had supported Dooley, and that Republicans “stand united around one mission” — defeating Ossoff in November.

Dooley offered a similar message to his more subdued crowd in metro Atlanta. “We have a lot of disagreements but the one thing that hasn’t changed is my opinion of Jon Ossoff,” Dooley said.

There were bitter attacks in both Republican runoffs — some of which Democrats are promising to recirculate in the general election.

Dooley repeatedly hammered Collins for a House ethics complaint that accuses him of abusing taxpayer funds by paying the girlfriend of his former top adviser for congressional job duties she allegedly did not fulfill. After an initial investigation, a federal panel forwarded the matter to the House Ethics Committee. Kemp told voters for months that they should nominate Dooley as a “political outsider” who could relentlessly attack Ossoff without having to defend a record of his own.

Jones lambasted Jackson as a faux conservative who has employed immigrants in the country illegally and whose wife has donated to Democratic candidates.

State Republican Chairman Josh McKoon said he's confident about corralling the party base and appealing to swing voters.

“This election is going to be won by the side that is able to become the party of common sense,” he said.

Collins also begins the general election campaign at a financial disadvantage. He raised about $4.9 million through the end of May, and reported having less than $1.2 million remaining. Through late April, the last time Ossoff had to file before his primary, the incumbent had raised $60.4 million and had $32.5 million on hand.

Republican candidates will need to navigate Trump ties

Despite his ties to Trump, Collins has argued that he has broad appeal, and he plans to use immigration as a contrast with Ossoff.

In the House, Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law that requires immigrants accused of certain crimes to be detained. It is named for a Georgia nursing student killed in 2021 by a Venezuelan man who was in the U.S. illegally. Ossoff voted against a version of the legislation before backing the final proposal after Trump’s return to power.

He leaned heavily on his decades building his trucking company, based in the same community where he was raised.

“You see, I know what it’s like to have employees and their families count on you to make the right decisions every day. Jon Ossoff doesn’t,” he said.

Trump's mixed results in Georgia come after most of his preferred candidates have prevailed in primaries this spring. But Jackson's seemingly bottomless personal coffers were a new variable.

Jackson blanketed television and online platforms with ads. He's pledged that immigrants in Georgia illegally will be “deported or departed.” He promises a slew of tax cuts. And previewing a potential general election argument, he played up his biography as a product of the state foster care system and featured his grandchildren advising him on how to make friendlier ads.

Jones, 47, comes from a wealthy family but his personal spending measured in the single millions. And despite Trump's endorsement, the president did not travel to Georgia to campaign with Jones.

Runoffs for elections chief could shape 2028

Georgia's secretary of state race was open for the first time since Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election, famously pressuring outgoing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to overtake Biden. Raffensberger refused.

For his potential successor, Republicans were left to choose between an outright election denier, Vernon Jones, and a state lawmaker, Tim Fleming, who avoids explicitly disputing the president’s 2020 election lies. They went with Fleming, who won the nomination on Tuesday.

Jones, a perennial candidate who was once a Democrat, embraced Trump’s “stop the steal” movement and said he stood “with those who believe there was election fraud.” Fleming, who once served as deputy secretary of state, has said there were “irregularities” in 2020, a word choice that has become code for Republicans who want neither to ratify nor call out Trump’s errant claims.

Democrats voted for Penny Brown Reynolds — a former state judge in Fulton County who also served in the Biden administration as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights for the Department of Agriculture — over Dana Barrett, a Fulton County commissioner.

—-

Associated Press reporters Kate Brumback in Jackson, Tom Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Matt Brown in Washington contributed.

Many view the onset of hemorrhagic fever as a spiritual affliction and seek out herbs and prayers instead of going to the hospital. This is the case now in Congo, which is suffering its seventeenth outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the virus was first identified in the rich Congo Basin ecosystem.

Five decades later, the virus continues to mystify many of the sick in Africa while turning religious leaders into first responders in a deadly emergency. The current outbreak’s victims include health workers without protective gear as well as pastors and worshippers who gathered while Ebola was spreading, according to humanitarian workers and others who spoke to The Associated Press.

Ebola spreads through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. The current outbreak is particularly worrisome in a region where many are distrustful of health workers and refuse to seek medical care.

In Bunia, a town in Ituri province that is the outbreak's epicenter, misinformation about Ebola has made it harder for health workers to respond to the outbreak that has so far killed at least 181 people. One rumor suggests that Ebola is spread by malicious people who drop magical charms tied to dollar bills down pit latrines.

“Some people still describe Ebola as something mysterious, spiritual, or brought by outsiders, rather than a disease that needs medical care,” said Onesphore Bangenza of the aid group Mercy Corps, speaking from Bunia. “When people do not trust the health system, they often go first to traditional healers, faith leaders, or people they already know. The danger is that many only reach the hospital when they are already very sick.”

Uncommon type of Ebola causing the outbreak

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola that has no approved medicines or vaccines to combat it. It is occurring in a remote area of Congo that also faces armed violence by rebel groups as well as displacement. Ebola intensifies the suffering, with its terrifying symptoms that evoke a modern-day plague.

The outbreak was confirmed on May 15. Some experts believe infections may have been occurring in February, but health officials initially tested for a different kind of virus that causes Ebola disease.

The World Health Organization quickly declared the event a public health emergency of international concern. The U.S. government has imposed a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports who have recently visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.

With so many people in afflicted communities seeking spiritual answers to the outbreak, humanitarian workers are urging religious leaders to get involved in combating Ebola.

In a video widely shared among people in Ituri, a catechist leader recently cured of the disease in the Ebola hot spot of Mongbwalu spoke candidly of the mistake that could have cost him his life.

“I don’t usually rush to the hospital, so I decided to go to the fields,” Deogratias Kasereka said, before explaining how his children compelled him to seek medical treatment.

His symptoms had included muscle weakness and headaches, and he “felt very hot.” Ebola in later stages also can bring about internal and external bleeding.

The symptoms are so disturbing — and sometimes shameful — that some victims prefer the privacy of a traditional healer’s shrine, said Vincent Isimbwa, an elder among Seventh-day Adventists in a remote community of Ugandans that faced the first-ever outbreak of Bundibugyo in 2007.

“They faced it so rough,” said Isimbwa. “The challenge with Ebola is that it is so bad that some people can believe that there are supernatural powers behind it.”

That outbreak of Ebola killed at least 36 people and left the community terribly scarred. Many here also regret that the Bundibugyo virus is named for their district, the mountainous homeland of roughly 200,000 people mostly living as farmers.

Mistrust and medical limitations drive sick people to healers

In Bundibugyo two decades later, the Ugandan nurse whose sample of blood confirmed the 2007 outbreak said his symptoms confused those who examined him in the early days of the outbreak. Some thought Samuel Kuule had a case of food poisoning. While others afflicted may have gone to see healers, described pejoratively as witch doctors, he was nursed in a narrow hospital room by caregivers including his pregnant wife, who was never infected.

Kuule recalled that his symptoms — peeling skin, bloodshot eyes and severe headache — terrified him without shaking his Seventh-day Adventist faith, unlike some others who may have felt they were being bewitched.

“For those who are weak in faith, they may (think) that they are being bewitched,” he said. “Maybe they can believe it.”

Some locals recalled that an early victim of the 2007 outbreak was a woman stretchered down the mountains and into the shrine of a traditional healer, an older man who survived but lost three sons to Ebola. Speaking through his presumptive heir, Amon Balinda, the healer said he switched his service from benediction and prayer to the prescription of herbs after he was told Ebola was spreading.

“For us in African traditional societies, in most cases when you fall sick and you go to the hospitals and they give you some injections and there is no improvement, there and then you switch to your neighbor, or anybody, and say maybe he is the one bewitching you,” he said. “Then you decide to go to the witch doctor.”

In fact, Ebola outbreaks are believed to start with the virus spilling over into humans from an infected animal such as a fruit bat. These cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat, experts say.

The WHO is urging early testing for Ebola, in addition to isolating contacts in the current outbreak.

That's challenging in communities with deep religious faith, Christian but especially traditional. People insist on burying the dead according to established custom, because to do otherwise may deprive the dead of an afterlife. Pastors who stake their authority on the ability to heal the sick are expected to perform. Traditional healers face similar hopes.

This is why Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni rebuked religious leaders in a recent televised speech, saying there was no need to touch the sick in the time of Ebola. He said that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief, told him while visiting Uganda that many victims in Congo are religious people.

“The pastors, the pastors, the pastors,” Museveni said, squinting in apparent disappointment. “The people of God — they are the ones who touch patients. … God is not deaf. You can pray without touching.”

___

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.

Rick Jackson's campaign spent more than $100 million, largely out of his own pocket, to defeat Trump-endorsed Burt Jones in the Republican runoff for Georgia governor. It was another rare example of the president's choice falling short in a primary battle.

Trump's efforts were more successful elsewhere. His candidate for U.S. Senate won a runoff in Alabama, and his pick for Oklahoma governor advanced to another runoff there.

Four states and the District of Columbia held primaries Tuesday. Among Democrats, the contests hinged on longstanding divides between progressives and moderates as the party tries to chart the best path forward to November.

Here are some takeaways as votes come in from Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia and Oklahoma.

Trump's endorsement can be overcome — for a price

Nothing is certain in politics, but a “complete and total endorsement” from Trump is about the surest path possible to winning a Republican primary.

Jackson found another path to the Republican nomination for Georgia governor, but it was pricy. The billionaire healthcare tycoon personally supplied most of the $100 million-plus that his campaign has spent to persuade Republican primary voters to overlook Trump’s advice.

Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones more than a year ago and reiterated his support last week, praising Jones’ “Courage and Wisdom” in a social media post.

Before Tuesday’s runoff, Jackson came in second behind Jones in the May 19 primary, though nearly a third of voters backed other candidates.

Jackson will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, in November to lead one of the nation’s preeminent battleground states.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Republican primary for governor tested Trump’s endorsement in a different way. There, the president weighed in late, throwing his support two weeks ago to former state Sen. Mike Mazzei among a crowded field without a clear front-runner. Mazzei secured a spot in a runoff on Aug. 25, finishing nearly even with Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

Trump is used to getting his way, but earlier this month his choice for governor of Iowa, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, lost to Zach Lahn in the state’s primary.

MAGA becomes the insider movement and faces an outsider

Trump rose to power as an outsider, the head of a “Make America Great Again” movement keen to bulldoze the old political order.

But now the onetime insurgent sits atop a sprawling establishment. What happens when he endorses an insider candidate?

In Alabama, it worked out for Trump. He successfully backed U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a three-term congressman who has promised to be “a warrior for President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda" if elected to the Senate.

Moore defeated former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, who presented himself as a Washington outsider and tried to harness the anti-establishment fervor that propelled Trump to power to defeat Trump’s preferred candidate.

Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so the GOP primary victor will be heavily favored to prevail in November.

The seat is being vacated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee in the race for Alabama governor.

DC mayor’s race features a democratic socialist and a new voting system

One of the leading Democratic contenders in the District of Columbia mayor's race, Janeese Lewis George, describes herself as a democratic socialist, a political denomination that became more prominent with Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns.

Lewis George’s bid for the party’s nomination is not so far removed from democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's upset victory for New York City mayor last year. The race has drawn national attention, including the president's.

Trump indicated days before the mayoral primary election that he might take over the city if Lewis George wins, saying “we won’t put up with it.” Lewis George called Trump’s threat “an attack on democracy itself.”

The overwhelmingly Democratic city's relationship to the president is a focal point of the campaign as Trump has exercised broad power over Washington, D.C. That’s included an open-ended deployment of National Guard troops in the streets and his culling of the federal workforce, a chunk of the city’s jobs.

Some residents were frustrated that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, didn’t push back enough on the administration. Part of Lewis George’s platform on her website, which heavily focuses on affordability, is to “protect Home Rule” with “leaders that stand up and fight back, not shrink in the face of injustice.”

The race was too early to call on Tuesday night, and it could be decided by D.C.’s new ranked choice voting system.

Like a handful of other places, D.C. voters ranked the candidates on a ballot, and if no one crosses 50% of the popular vote, then residents' second choices come into play. That happened in Maine, where election officials started counting ranked choice votes for governor and a key House race three days after election night.

In D.C., election officials have warned the new system could delay results by days.

Georgia Republicans opt for candidate less skeptical of the 2020 election

State Rep. Tim Fleming won the Republican nomination for Georgia secretary of state Tuesday night, defeating opponent Vernon Jones, who leaned more into conspiracies over Trump's loss to Joe Biden.

The two were competing in an election to replace Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud and the president's request to “find 11,780 votes" six years ago.

Those claims hovered over Tuesday's race.

Jones had said he believes there were “irregularities” and “violations” in 2020 and he stands “with those who believe there was election fraud.” Of four key points on Jones’ campaign platform, three had to do with election management, including stronger voter identification rules.

Fleming tiptoed around the topic, saying there were “irregularities” in 2020 but adding he’s “not running on conspiracy theories.” Of the seven platform points on his campaign website, however, four were focused on election management and one said the state should “make it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.”

Fleming will face Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds, who won her party's nomination Tuesday.

More progressive candidate advances in California race to serve out Swalwell's term

Democrat Eric Swalwell resigned from the U.S. House and dropped his bid for California governor in April after a woman alleged he had sexually assaulted her twice, saying she was too intoxicated to consent to sex in both cases.

A special primary election was held Tuesday to finish Swalwell's term, and Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab advanced to the special general election on Aug. 18. It remained too early to determine who would fill the second slot.

Whoever wins will serve in the U.S. House through January. Wahab was favored along with Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director.

Wahab, who's established in California politics, represents a more progressive wing of the party, while Hernandez is a local politician who sits closer to the political center. To lower costs, Wahab takes aim at “corporate profiteering” and argues for an expansion to social safety nets. Hernandez focuses on local job growth and supporting small businesses.

Both candidates also ran in the regular primary election for Swalwell’s seat and will face off in the general election in November. Whoever wins that race will take over next year.

___

This story has been corrected to show Trump wanted to find 11,780, not 11,800, votes.

___

Cooper reported from Phoenix, and Bedayn from Austin, Texas.

White’s win in the heavily Democratic city sets him up to take the top spot in November’s general elections, when he could replace 18-term delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton, 89 and a fixture of the Civil Rights movement, decided not to run again after facing growing concerns over her ability to forcefully push back against the Trump administration’s federal intervention into the city’s affairs.

White had campaigned on promises to fight for the city’s autonomy, which has been squeezed under President Donald Trump, who deployed the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission meant to fight crime and rattled the capital’s economy by downsizing the federal workforce.

“My election means we’re going to keep our independence and we’re going to get statehood. People know I’m not going to lay down. I’m going to fight,” White told The Associated Press after his win was declared.

The D.C. delegate position is a nonvoting one, but it grants the nearly 700,000 people of the district, who have no other representation in Congress, a voice through speechmaking on the House floor and bill introduction.

The primary marked the first time in a generation that D.C. residents voted for a new mayor and delegate in the same election. And in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, that party’s winner is expected to come out on top in both races in November. The AP has not yet called a winner in the race for mayor.

Current Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was first elected in 2014, decided not to seek a fourth term. Democratic front-runners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are hoping to replace her. The primary includes ranked choice voting for the first time, which the district's election officials have warned could delay results.

Trump looms large over the vote

Central to all the campaigns has been the city's fraught relationship with the Trump administration and the federal government. The city has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

That autonomy has been further squeezed under Trump, who launched a federal law enforcement surge last summer and sent in the National Guard. Trump's efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. He has also been reshaping the city by removing or renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.

Bowser found herself walking a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn’t push back hard enough on Trump’s actions.

Trump last week threatened a new federal takeover of Washington when asked about his response to a potential victory by Lewis George, a democratic socialist.

“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” he said.

Lewis George, who has pledged to protect the city's autonomy, stood that ground at her post-election event where pop music blared and a crowd danced with the candidate on stage.

“If there was any doubt, right now we lay it to rest," she said to cheering supporters. "It is the people of D.C. who elect the mayor.”

McDuffie, closing out the day at an event with supporters, echoed that sentiment.

“It is under threat right now, but Donald Trump does not run Washington, D.C. We do. The people of D.C. run Washington, D.C.," McDuffie told the crowd. "And we will fight for D.C.’s autonomy every single day of the week.”

Neither candidate declared victory as preliminary results rolled in.

Federal intervention, affordability among candidates' top priorities

Washington resident Fran Tatu, 69, said the National Guard deployment was a concern for her.

“What’s at stake — many young lives with the surge of federal officers by Trump and all of the troops that are here,” she said, adding that she was voting for Lewis George and White.

White said he plans to call for Washington residents and other actors to mobilize as much as possible and head to battleground states to help the campaigns of candidates who will be friendlier to the city's needs.

“We cannot have a Congress that is in complete opposition to D.C. come January,” he said.

Candidates have also made affordability a priority, which Lewis George has blamed on the Trump administration. Public safety has also emerged as a top concern even as the Trump administration has touted its federal law enforcement intervention as a successful crime fighting initiative.

Other candidates for mayor include former council member Vincent Orange and Hope Solomon, a former federal contractor who lost her job because of cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency.

___

A previous version of this story misspelled D.C. congressional delegate candidate Kinney Zalesne's first name. It is Kinney, not Kenney.

U.S. futures edged higher ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision announcement and after Wall Street closed mixed near their record highs.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was 0.8% higher at 69,926.08 near its all-time high set this week, after official data showed Japan’s exports jumped 17% in May from a year earlier, helped in part by strong demand for high-tech products.

South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.2% lower to 8,706.10 with losses in big technology stocks tracking a sell-off of artificial intelligence-related shares on Wall Street. Samsung Electronics, the country’s most valuable company, fell 1.9%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 24,273.95, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1% to 4,089.26.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.5% to 8,965.30.

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.5%. India’s Sensex rose 0.3%.

Oil prices stabilized after falling sharply earlier on optimism of an end to the war and a possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for oil and gas transit worldwide. But challenges remain, including if the peace deal includes Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

Brent crude, the international standard, traded 0.3% lower at $78.76 per barrel early Wednesday after falling more than 5% on Tuesday. It was still elevated compared to the roughly $70 a barrel level in late February before the war started.

Benchmark U.S. crude was down 0.4% to $75.78 a barrel.

“Normalizing (oil) flows will take time,” economists at HSBC wrote in a note this week. “Hurdles include mine clearance, insurance reinstatement, emptying excess Gulf oil storage, repositioning ships, and restarting idled production fields.”

In the U.S., the Fed on Tuesday began its two-day meeting, the first under its new chair Kevin Warsh, that would discuss interest rates with a decision announcement set for Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressing the Fed for lower rates to help stimulate the U.S. economy, but fresh worries are rising on worsening inflation over the Iran war-caused energy shock.

Analysts are broadly expecting that the Fed will keep the benchmark rate unchanged. In the bond market, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury fell to below 4.44% from 4.47% late Monday.

“With weak wage growth and rent growth, underlying forces are pointing to inflation falling sharply once the energy price shock recedes. We don’t expect the Fed to hike rates in 2026,” Preston Caldwell, chief U.S. economist at Morningstar wrote in a commentary.

On Tuesday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 7,511.35 after setting an all-time high earlier this month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6% to 51.999.67, hitting another all-time high.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 1.2% to 26,376.34 following losses of some big tech stocks over renewed worries about an AI bubble.

Shares of Nvidia fell 2.4%. Chipmaker Broadcom dropped 4.4% and Micron Technology lost 6.2%.

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, was up 4.8%, gaining for the third straight day since its Wall Street debut.

Yum Brands was up 1.9%, after it announced it is selling Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion with most restaurants purchased by private equity firm LongRange Capital.

In other dealings early Wednesday, the U.S. dollar fell to 160.30 Japanese yen from 160.42 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1612, up from $1.1608.

___

AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Yet when they took the field at Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco, they marked Sudan’s first appearance in international women’s soccer since a civil war erupted in a country where women’s participation in sports has long been controversial.

“My goal is to lift up soccer in my country,” Nura Mohamed, the 17-year-old team captain, told The Associated Press.

“It’s a beautiful, unique feeling because, at the end of the day, I just love playing.”

Sudan’s under-17 women’s national team traveled to Morocco last week for qualifying matches on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The inexperienced squad suffered heavy defeats against Comoros, conceding 30 goals in two matches. Many of the players broke down in tears after the final whistle in front of a dozen cheering fans.

They faced an older, fitter, and more experienced opponent. Unable to assemble a senior women’s squad in time, Sudan’s soccer federation entered a younger team to avoid forfeiting its place in the qualifiers. They only started training weeks ago.

“The difference between us and the others is huge. We cannot yet compete at the highest level," Burhan Tia, a veteran Sudanese soccer coach who oversees all of Sudan’s women’s national teams, said after the first match, a 17–0 defeat.

“Comoros has many players competing in Europe, our team is mainly made up of schoolgirls."

This team represents hope for Sudan's future

Sudan’s women’s soccer collapsed when civil war erupted in 2023. For federation officials, debuting this young squad in Casablanca after years of conflict marks an important step in keeping women's soccer alive in Sudan.

“Some traveled long distances just to attend training. Many are separated from their families, yet they continue to work hard and pursue their dream," Manal Ali Bushra, a businesswoman who heads the women’s soccer committee, told the AP.

To support that vision, Ali Bushra said the federation is working on infrastructure projects, including a planned sports city and the renovation of key stadiums in safer parts of the country. She declined to answer questions about the women’s program budget and funds.

Tia knew the magnitude of the challenge when he accepted the job of rebuilding a shattered team.

“First, I had to find girls who played soccer. Then, once I found girls who played, I had to make sure they were the right age,” he said. “Then I needed to convince their parents to let them miss classes for training.”

With the league suspended, his scouting trips took him to schools across Sudan and to neighboring Egypt, where many families had fled the war. He recruited 10 players from teams and academies in Cairo, with the rest drawn from Sudanese cities.

Tia would have liked to recruit from conflict-hit areas like Darfur or Kordofan, a region known for producing Sudan’s top athletes. But many girls had lost their identification documents, making it impossible to verify their ages under international regulations. The war has also shattered transportation, turning journeys between cities that once took hours into perilous trips lasting days.

On the field, the players’ lack of experience was evident. Several struggled with basic positioning, failing to hold the offside line or maintain tactical discipline. Throughout the matches, they repeatedly looked to the sidelines for instructions from the coach and his assistant.

Facing war, fatwas and conservatism

The United Nations has described the war in Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It began in 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted into fighting marked by mass killings, rape and ethnic violence. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures, and over 14 million have been displaced, with famine and disease spreading across parts of the country.

The war halted every sports activity, including the women’s soccer league, which was officially established after the 2019 progressive revolution that ousted President Omar al-Bashir. His three-decade Islamist rule was marked by Public Order Laws that rights groups said restricted women’s freedoms. Even after the revolution, prominent Sudanese preacher Abdulhay Yousif said the establishment of a women’s football league was aimed at undermining religion.

“The idea of women running, jumping, sweating, and even something as simple as their bodies being visible in motion, was seen by Bashir’s Islamist regime as producing fitna, which in a Sudanese context was understood as sexual or moral chaos,” Liv Tønnessen, a political scientist researching gender politics in Sudan, told the AP.

“So when women step onto a soccer pitch, they are directly confronting that entire logic. They are not just present in a male-dominated sports arena, they are moving freely in it, on their own terms,” Tønnessen, a former guest researcher in a women-only university in Sudan, added.

Beyond institutional hurdles, players also faced a wave of sexist abuse online. On the national team’s social media accounts, many commenters mocked them for big defeats. Others posted the phrase “go back to the kitchen,” in multiple languages.

A team caught in politics

While Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s military government has allowed international soccer trips for teenage girls, the U.N. has documented sexual and gender-based violence by the Sudanese Armed Forces, which he commands.

Tønnessen sees the state backing as a calculated effort by the military to project legitimacy. By sponsoring the team, she said, the army attempts to signal that the state is functioning normally and to align itself with the spirit of the 2019 revolution.

Hala Al-Karib, a prominent Sudanese women’s rights activist, dismissed critics who say the team is being used to portray a more progressive image on women’s rights.

“The main challenge for me is a reform of the federation,” she told the AP, citing a lack of investment in and support for women’s soccer in Sudan.

Back on the field in Casablanca, the politics, war and debate faded away, leaving only a group of teenagers chasing a ball.

Held at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest, the exhibition is called “A.REST 1989.” The Securitate Video Archive uses video footage to reconstruct how detentions and interrogations worked under the Securitate, the sprawling network of spies that enforced Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule, until he was overthrown and executed in December 1989.

The exhibition features original videotaped recordings of interrogations of four detainees investigated by the secret police, shown on grainy, wall-mounted monitors in the museum’s central hall. All were recorded in 1989 by the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Securitate.

In the middle of the exhibition space is a reconstructed cell furnished with a small bed, an empty metal bowl and cup, which evokes the isolation that detainees might have felt. It also highlights the Securitate’s extensive reach and power under communism and the investigation techniques they used on suspects.

Many of the recordings reveal coercive questioning and intimidation tactics that often drift into the absurd, as detainees are ground down or left bewildered. During one such back-and-forth, a woman whose husband had allegedly defected tells her questioner: “I no longer have the strength to fight. I need logical arguments, not this nonsense.”

A memorial to the victims

“In the world of Securitate ‘justice,’ detainees or those under arrest were merely prisoners, captives in the operational labyrinth of manufactured guilt,” the organizers say, adding that the exhibition can serve as a belated “memorial plaque” to victims. “The victims, thus, gain a voice and a place."

The exhibition runs until mid-September and is a collaboration between the National History Museum, Romania’s National Council for Studying the Securitate Archives, or CNSAS, and the Ministry of Culture.

The organizers said the 26 videotapes held by CNSAS are “a remnant, the accidental result of the disorderly and violent end” of socialist Romania, recorded by the criminal investigations technical department in 1989.

Oana Demetriade, a historian at CNSAS and exhibition curator, told The Associated Press that she initially wanted to use the videotapes to make a documentary for students and school kids, but decided to pursue an exhibition instead.

“The project grew organically through the discussions I had with architects and designers,” she said. “From the very beginning, the first discussions I had with my husband who works at CNSAS and everything I found in these tapes made me go ‘wow!’ … They were being watched in cells non-stop.”

“That’s what this whole archive brings new,” she added. “How it gets here and how people, those who are arrested, in the end, are repeatedly threatened, yelled at, threatened with beatings, threatened with the family suffering, and so on.”

The power of words

Also exhibited are artifacts such as a printing press that belonged to journalist Petre Mihai Bacanu, which was confiscated by the secret police in early 1989. Bacanu and several associates used the press to print an anti-Ceausescu and anti-government newspaper.

“How could we, after 45 years of socialism, still be afraid of people’s opinions, even of their thoughts?” Bacanu says during an interrogation in February 1989.

Another item exhibited is a pair of glasses that were used to stop detainees from “seeing where they were going or identifying” other persons.

The detention facility had spaces for two different types of detention, says Mihai Demetriade, also a historian at CNSAS and an exhibition curator along with his wife.

While “preventative detention” was used in political cases alleging crimes against the state, “operational detention” units were used to lock people up in what he described as a form of kidnapping — to imprison and silence potential dissenters during sensitive moments like a congress or visiting foreign dignitary.

“We are not talking about the testimonies of victims after the fall of communism, nor about documents, nor about books, nor about manuscripts,” he said. “We have something not open to manipulation … a live recording of events that occur in interrogation rooms or cells. It’s hard to fight against something like that as a denialist.”

“This space is important because it proves how rapacious, tough, aggressive the communist dictatorship remained even in the last moments of the communist system," he added.

Communist nostalgia

In recent years, as nationalism has risen in Romania, so too has a nostalgia for life under communism during the Ceausescu years, especially among young people who typically have limited or no memories of life in the country before 1989.

Cornel Constantin Ilie, manager of the National History Museum of Romania, says the new exhibition can help expose the realities of that period in Romania’s history and “reach the minds and, why not, the souls” of visitors.

“It is an exhibition that puts you in front of facts that cannot be ignored,” he said. “It’s very important because we must not forget and we must not repeat. … What we see in this exhibition is an ugly face of history, it is a story in which human freedom, human dignity were suppressed.”

___

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.

The call to action was issued at the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, the first time an African nation has hosted the major annual event, which focuses on addressing critical ocean issues, including climate change, biodiversity and pollution.

Hundreds of delegates from Africa, the United States, the European Union, and climate-vulnerable Caribbean and Pacific island nations are taking part in the conference, where leaders have sought to position Africa as a driving force in global ocean governance.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in his opening remarks at the Commonwealth Ocean Ministers’ Roundtable that the High Seas Treaty, which came into effect in January after ratification by 60 countries, marked a historic turning point by creating, for the first time, a legal mechanism to establish protected areas in international waters.

But he warned that progress remained too slow.

“We have 10% of the ocean under protection this year,” Kerry said. “That is worth marking. But only 3% is highly or fully protected, and the rest of the protections are, unfortunately, just lines on a map.”

Kerry said that industrial fishing fleets continue to exploit the oceans, with some vessels operating thousands of miles from home and using massive nets that indiscriminately catch marine life.

“Ratify it if you haven’t, and move immediately to implementation,” he urged countries, noting that key decisions on the future of the treaty will be taken next year.

The treaty, formally known as the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, aims to help countries achieve a global target of protecting 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.

The Kenyan Cabinet secretary of maritime affairs, Hassan Joho, said that governments must now shift from promises to tangible action.

“The purpose of this roundtable is not to restate ambition, but to convert such pledges into measurable results for our communities, our economies and our oceans,” Joho said.

Joho noted that since 2014, the One Ocean Conference has generated more than 2,900 pledges worth more than $169 billion. The challenge, he said, is to turn them into effective management of marine ecosystems.

The Commonwealth’s 56 member states collectively account for 36% of the world’s ocean jurisdiction and nearly half of its coral reefs, giving the bloc a unique responsibility in protecting marine resources.

Africa, meanwhile, is increasingly setting itself as a leader in ocean conservation.

Kerry praised African countries for championing transboundary marine protection and pointed to commitments by eight Gulf of Guinea nations to sustainably manage all of their waters by 2030.

“A region long described as a victim of ocean exploitation is now choosing to lead instead,” he said.

The East African nation has adopted integrated coastal management plans, expanded marine protected areas and stepped up efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Its 640-kilometer (400-mile) coastline and vast exclusive economic zone support fisheries, tourism and other sectors that sustain millions of livelihoods.

As negotiations continue in Mombasa, delegates say the coming months will be critical in determining whether the new treaty becomes a transformative tool for ocean conservation or another set of international promises that fail to materialize.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. ___

This story has corrected the dateline to Mombasa, not Nairobi.

Trump has been at the center of this year’s midterm campaigns, and his influence was being tested in different ways as four states and the District of Columbia held primaries.

Among Democrats, the primaries hinge on longstanding divides between progressives and moderates as the party tries to chart the best path forward to November.

Here's the latest:

Robert White Jr. wins Democratic primary for DC’s delegate to Congress

He becomes the favorite to replace 18-term delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who decided to not seek reelection in the heavily Democratic city.

White, an at-large member of the D.C. Council, would become the third delegate in the district’s history, following Norton and Walter Fauntroy Jr., both politicians with national standing in the civil rights era.

Norton faced heavy pressure to step down from critics who argued she didn’t challenge the Trump administration strongly enough when it deployed the National Guard to the city, among other contentious actions.

DC mayoral candidate says Trump’s attacks on her energized voters

Trump last week threatened a federal takeover of Washington if Janeese Lewis George becomes the city’s next mayor. Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist, said she believed that threat prompted people to go out and vote.

“Some people who weren’t paying attention to this race until the very end, when Trump made those comments, people were (like) ‘Wait a minute I need to pay attention,’” she told reporters.

Robert White addresses supporters as he seeks to become DC delegate

White, a former city councilman, is running to succeed Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s outgoing congressional representative and his former boss.

He thanked his supporters and spoke about the capital’s history as a refuge for Black Americans during the Great Migration, its crisis and reconstruction after riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the city’s tensions with the current president.

White said that he was often “counted out as a kid” but that the district’s community “never gave up on me and I will never give on you.” He said the district’s community was proud and undaunted by threats to its autonomy.

“Because our turn will never come unless we demand it. Eleanor Holmes Norton understood that. The generations before us understood that. And before this night is over, I hope every Washingtonian understands it, too: We will not yield,” White told a cheering crowd.

Democrat Aisha Wahab advances in California special election to replace Swalwell

Wahab, a state senator, moves on to the Aug. 18 special general election, which will determine who will fill the remainder of Swalwell’s term through January. At that time, the winner of November’s election for California’s 14th District will be sworn in for a full two-year term.

Wahab also is competing in the November election.

Swalwell’s seat was vacated when he resigned from Congress amid allegations of sexual assault.

DC mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George gives upbeat speech to supporters

“Tonight we are making history by showing America that the dream of America is alive in its capital city,” Lewis George told a crowd at her election viewing party.

With results still rolling in, Lewis George expressed confidence in her chances.

“The early results have come in, and it is looking good for us,” she said as she thanked the coalition of volunteers and workers that came out to support her.

Everett Wess wins the Democratic primary runoff for US Senate in Alabama

The attorney defeated businessman Dakarai Larriett and moves on to the November general election.

Wess is seeking the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor.

Wess is the managing partner of The Wess Law Firm, a former municipal judge, city prosecutor and public defender. His legal practice is primarily focused on estate planning and criminal defense. Wess has emphasized his legal experience and experience working within the Democratic Party.

“Families throughout Alabama are struggling with inflation, housing costs, high gas bills, high utility bills and these everyday expenses,” he said during an online candidate forum hosted by Birmingham Indivisible.

Republicans dominate Alabama politics, currently holding all statewide offices. But Democrats believe that frustration about inflation and other issues could give them an opening to sway some voters.

Moore says GOP primary and runoff were ‘brutal’

Alabama’s Republican nominee for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat told supporters he was humbled as they stood by him through a “brutal” campaign.

His runoff win Tuesday is another chapter in his political survivor story.

Moore was first elected to the state’s 2nd District in 2020. But after the district was redrawn to favor a Democrat in 2024, he challenged the sitting GOP incumbent in the 1st District and won. In the Senate primary, he defeated Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and newcomer Jared Hudson.

Moore said he was grateful for the endorsement the president, whom Moore called the “greatest president of my lifetime.” He supported Trump as far back as 2015 after he announced his first run for president.

“For him to come out early for us, and get in the fight for us, that was a full-circle moment for our family,” Moore said.

Polls have closed in California

In-person Election Day voting concluded in California’s 14th Congressional District at 11 p.m. ET. Comparable past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.

In the statewide special election for Proposition 50 on Nov. 4, 2025, the AP first reported results from Alameda County, home to the 14th District, at 11:14 p.m. ET, or 14 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 1:33 a.m. ET, with about 57% of total votes counted. The county completed about 99% of the vote county by Nov. 10.

Voters were still casting ballots hours after most DC polls closed

Election board spokesperson Sarah Graham said six centers remained open around 10:30 p.m. ET. She said it was unclear whether the cause of the delay was long lines.

Guidance for the Board said the voting centers would remain open for anyone who was still in line at 8 p.m. when polls closed. D.C. has 75 such centers and residents are allowed to vote at any of them.

Tuesday’s primary marked the first time that D.C. has ever had ranked choice voting. There are a number of races on the ballot, including several D.C. Council seats as well as primary elections for mayor and delegate to Congress.

Alabama city could be well represented in Congress

If Moore prevails in November, both of Alabama’s U.S. senators will be from the same hometown.

He and Republican Sen. Katie Britt grew up in Enterprise, a city of about 31,000 in southeastern Alabama. They also graduated from Enterprise High School — Moore in 1984 and Britt in 2000.

Moore had his election night watch party at Rawls Restaurant, an Italian restaurant in Enterprise, where he still lives. A large crowd gathered in the private event room decorated with campaign signs. Britt now lives in Montgomery.

Enterprise is in a region of the state called the Wiregrass, which refers to a type of native grass that dots the region. It’s best known for peanut farming and Fort Rucker, an Army base where helicopter pilots are trained — but could soon be known as the hometown of senators.

Burt Jones laments his loss in Georgia governor’s race

Jones kept his remarks short, expressing his disappointment and thanking his supporters.

“Looks like we’re going to come up a little short here tonight and that’s unfortunate,” he said. “We had a great Election Day. We just didn’t have enough runway to get it all the way there.”

He thanked Jackson and congratulated him on his win.

“We were outspent probably seven or eight to one, and it was a very competitive race, and we felt like we had a chance to win tonight and just came up a little short,” Jones said.

After his remarks, Jones circulated among his supporters, posing for photos and thanking them for being there.

US Rep. Barry Moore wins GOP nomination for US Senate in Alabama

Moore benefited from Trump’s endorsement in the solidly Republican state. He defeated political newcomer Jared Hudson in the Republican primary runoff.

Moore is a three-term congressman and a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. In endorsing him, Trump said Alabama deserved a “Trump conservative” in the Senate

Hudson, a former Navy SEAL, had forced Moore into a competitive runoff after the state’s May primary by running as a political outsider and attacking Moore over his ties to Washington.

The seat is being vacated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor in November.

Mike Mazzei, Gentner Drummond advance to Oklahoma GOP runoff for governor

Mazzei, a former state senator, didn’t receive Trump’s endorsement until the final weeks of a race that featured several prominent Oklahoma Republicans.

In the runoff he’ll face Drummond, who has served as Oklahoma’s top law enforcement official since 2023 and has loaned his campaign millions of dollars in a bid to become the state’s first new governor in eight years.

The eventual GOP nominee will be a heavy favorite to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who cannot run again because of term limits.

The runoff will take place Aug. 25.

DC mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie addresses supporters

McDuffie told those gathered that it’s “going to be a while before we know the results of this election.” He urged voters to “respect the process.”

McDuffie thanked his supporters and said that Washington residents had “showed up in this election like I have never seen before.”

He defended the city’s autonomy against threats of a federal takeover by the Trump administration.

“Washington, D.C., has a right to govern itself. It is under threat right now, but Donald Trump does not run Washington, D.C. We do,” McDuffie told the crowd. “And we will fight for D.C.’s autonomy every single day of the week.”

Jackson says his early life experiences gave him empathy

He said he feels the pain of Georgians.

“I know what it’s like to feel like nobody sees you,” he told supporters after the Republican gubernatorial runoff.

“I had seven different stepfathers and a mother who battled alcoholism,” he said. “I lived with five different foster families and attended 13 different schools.”

“But with God’s help, I built a business, created thousands of jobs and lived the American dream.”

Rick Jackson tells supporters “I can’t be bought”

Jackson sounded jubilant after the Georgia Republican gubernatorial runoff.

“The SEC championship is over — on to the national championship,” he said to a cheering audience. “Thank you, Georgia.”

The billionaire noted his outsider status as a strength.

“I’m the only candidate who doesn’t owe a thing to the political establishment,” he said. “I can’t be bought and I won’t back down.”

Jackson, whose opponent Burt Jones was endorsed by Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp, said: “We proved the people of Georgia are in charge.”

Billionaire Rick Jackson wins Georgia’s GOP nomination for governor

Jackson, who gave his campaign more than $93 million of his own money, defeated Burt Jones, the lieutenant governor who carried Trump’s endorsement after being part of the president’s effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

Jackson said he was the most Trump-like figure in the race as an outsider businessman. His personal investment puts him among the biggest self-funded candidates in U.S. history.

He’ll face Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms in the general election. Bottoms was just the second Black woman to serve as Atlanta mayor and she’s vying to become the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state.

Derek Dooley concedes to Collins in Georgia and attacks Ossoff

The former college football coach said he had been “humbled” by the grueling Senate campaign. He thanked his political ally, Gov. Brian Kemp, for endorsing his Senate bid, as well as his family and campaign staff for their support.

“I will be forever indebted to you, and I will help you any way I can,” Dooley told his staff.

“Congratulations to Congressman Collins. He ran a tough campaign, he got out early and we just never could catch him. We have a lot of disagreements but the one thing that hasn’t changed is my opinion of Jon Ossoff,” Dooley said.

Collins says the mission is to defeat Ossoff

“Y’all know what the mission? It’s to put a Republican in that seat and to get rid of that Jon Ossoff,” Collins told supporters after winning the Georgia Republican Senate runoff.

“We can put forward an agenda that puts Georgians first. One that builds on a vision where the forgotten man is forgotten no more,” he said.

“It stands in stark contrast to what Jon Ossoff has done,” Collins said, calling the Democrat “the deciding vote for Joe Biden’s massive spending bill.”

Collins thanks family but not Trump in victory speech

Collins is thanking supporters after winning the Georgia Republican runoff for U.S. Senate.

Amid waving signs of “I like Mike” and “Delivering wins,” the U.S. House member first thanked his wife of 37 years, Leanne, before mentioning others.

“She is the rock of our family,” he said. “And has always had my back.”

Collins did not mention Trump, who endorsed him in the runoff.

Senate super PACs ready for major showdown in Georgia after Collins wins GOP runoff

Senate Leadership Fund, the top Senate Republican super PAC, congratulated Collins on his win. It then then immediately pivoted to attacking his general election Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff,” as a “rubber stamp” for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

In a statement, the PAC said Ossoff “is wildly out of step with Georgia voters, spending the last six years advancing radical liberal priorities at the expense of working families.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority PAC, the top Democratic super PAC in Senate campaigns, swiftly lambasted Collins.

“Mike Collins is an opposition researcher’s dream,” Lauren French, a spokesperson for Senate Majority PAC, said in a statement. “He treats Congress like a money-making scheme for his family business, an ethics-free zone, and a conspiracy theory clearinghouse — sometimes all in the same week. This unelectable nepo baby doesn’t have what it takes to beat Jon Ossoff.”

Janeese Lewis George’s watch party gets started in DC

The crowd has started filtering into the mayoral candidate’s party inside the historic Howard Theatre, where some of the biggest names in Black music and entertainment history have played, including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and James Brown.

Frazier O’Leary, a former member of the D.C. Board of Education got there early to support Lewis George. He met her in 2018 during his first campaign.

“She helped me in my campaign,” he said. They supported one another’s campaigns until 2024, when he lost his reelection bid.

“I’ve always been impressed by her commitment to the city and to the things I care about,” he said. “It’s been wonderful watching her grow as a person.”

Trump-backed Rep. Kevin Hern wins GOP Senate nomination in Oklahoma

Hern is seeking the Senate seat once held by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

His victory is the latest demonstration of the power of Trump’s endorsements within the GOP.

The four-term congressman received more than 50% of the vote in a five-person field to avoid an August runoff after Trump’s support kept his most serious potential rivals out of the race.

The endorsement arrived even before the Senate confirmed Mullin as a replacement for fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Hern will be favored to win the seat in November. Democrats haven’t won a U.S. Senate race in Oklahoma since 1990.

Mike Collins wins Georgia’s Republican Senate nomination

Collins, a second-term congressman, defeated Derek Dooley. He advances to face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff for a seat that will help determine control of the Senate for the final years of Trump’s second presidency.

The president endorsed Collins on Sunday. The congressman has identified closely with Trump since he first won his House seat in 2022.

A trucking company owner and son of a congressman, Collins campaigned as a self-described “MAGA warrior.”

Trump will be a key fault line in the general election matchup. Ossoff was first elected in 2020 and blasts Trump as a “national embarrassment.”

___

Correction: This post has been corrected to show that Trump endorsed Collins.

Voter sees Jared Hudson’s military service as a plus in bid for US Senate seat in Alabama

Julian Metheny, who voted for Hudson in Shelby County, said he liked the Republican candidate’s service as a Navy SEAL, his Christian messaging and that he is not part of the political system.

“I like the fact that he was willing to put his life on the line for our country,” said Metheny, 70, who is from a family with multiple veterans.

“He’s not playing the game of politics. He’s an outsider,” he said.

Supporters of US Rep. Barry Moore for US Senate in Alabama like his experience

Trump’s endorsement helped Moore with certain voters, but some said it wasn’t the only factor in deciding to cast their ballot for him.

Moore voters at a Methodist church in Pike Road, a rural-feeling suburb near Montgomery, cited his political experience in Washington and the state capital.

“He’s the best qualified, I can tell you that — no question,” said Bob Marshall, 91.

Jim and Sandy Cowen said they also thought Moore’s years in office were a benefit.

“I like the way Moore presents himself. I don’t know Jared,” Jim Cowen said, referring to Moore’s opponent in the GOP primary, former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson.

Polls have closed in Alabama, Oklahoma and Washington, DC

In-person Election Day voting concluded in Alabama, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C. at 8 p.m. ET. Comparable past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.

In Alabama’s GOP U.S. Senate primary on May 19, the AP first reported results at 8:28 p.m. ET, or 28 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 12:54 a.m. ET, with more than 99.9% of total votes counted.

In the 2022 Oklahoma state primary, the AP first reported results at 8:10 p.m. ET, or 10 minutes after polls closed. By 10:30 p.m. ET, more than 90% of the votes had been counted. The last vote update of the night was at 12:33 a.m. ET, with about 99.9% of total votes counted.

In the 2022 primary election in Washington, D.C., the AP first reported results at 8:30 p.m. ET, or 30 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 11:59 p.m. ET, with about 69% of total votes counted. The District’s new ranked choice voting system will extend the timeline for any races that advance to ranked choice tabulation.

Polls have closed in Georgia

In-person Election Day voting concluded in Georgia at 7 p.m. ET.

Comparable past elections can offer clues about when to expect the first vote results and how long the vote count might take.

In the May 19 Republican primary for governor, the AP first reported results at 7:13 p.m. ET, or 13 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:13 a.m. ET, with more than 99.9% of total votes counted.

Personal relationships with candidates color Georgia voters’ choices

At a polling place in Griffin, some Republican voters relied on their personal knowledge of candidates when making their selections.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who’s running for governor, and U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who’s running for U.S. Senate, both grew up in Jackson, about 20 miles away.

Joann Colwell-Kinard, 82, said she voted for both Jones and Collins, having known their families for more than 50 years and believing them to be “good, honest people.”

“I just think he’s a very honest person and I think he’ll do a good job,” she said of Jones.

Stephen Tobias, 63, said he voted for former football coach Derek Dooley for Senate, saying he didn’t like Collins. He also backed Rick Jackson over Burt Jones for governor because he doesn’t like data centers.

“They’re putting a data center right in my backyard, so I’m not really a happy camper,” Tobias said.

The General Assembly convenes Wednesday in a special session called by outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp in response to the court's Louisiana v. Callais decision, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander.

Kemp, who is in the final months of his second term, deviated from other governors who fast-tracked new congressional maps for the November midterms partly in response to President Donald Trump's pleas to shore up the party's chances at maintaining control of Congress. Kemp instead wants Georgia lawmakers to draw districts for the 2028 elections. Yet the governor moved ahead of his Southern counterparts by asking the Republican-controlled Assembly to redraw its own boundaries, as well.

That would make Georgia the first state to apply Callais to its legislature and demonstrate the cascading effect of the high court's decision across Southern states that have the nation's highest proportion of Black voters and Black lawmakers.

The issue is especially salient in Georgia, where the Capitol complex includes a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and sits blocks from where the slain civil rights icon lived, preached and led the movement that yielded the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Still, neither Kemp nor Republican legislative leaders had unveiled proposed changes as of late Tuesday, frustrating Democrats and activists who plan daily demonstrations throughout the session.

“They have not been transparent,” said state Rep. Tanya Miller, a Black legislator from Atlanta who is the Democratic nominee for attorney general. “Something as fundamental as voters getting to choose their leaders ought not to be done in the dark, ought not happen in back rooms.”

The governor told The Associated Press he wasn't ready to discuss details.

“I’ll talk about redistricting on Wednesday,” Kemp said as he campaigned for fellow Republicans ahead of Georgia’s primary runoffs that were held Tuesday.

House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, a veteran of earlier redistricting efforts, said the outcome “will be a legislative prerogative” — a notion Kemp aides confirmed. But Jones said that even as a top-ranking Republican on the committee that would consider new maps, she hasn't “been in any room creating maps.”

Asked directly who is drawing new districts, she replied: “I don't know.”

Conservative justices gave the green light

Before Callais, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was understood to require maps — for Congress, state legislatures and local legislative bodies — that gave historically marginalized minorities a reasonable chance to select candidates of their choice. Nationally and in Georgia, those so-called “opportunity districts” have disproportionately elected Black and other nonwhite representatives.

For example, about a third of Georgia's 180 state representatives are Black. Latino, Asian and other minorities bring the total nonwhite share to about 40% — roughly reflecting the state's overall population. Georgia's U.S. House delegation has five districts out of 14 total where the electorate is majority or plurality nonwhite. All elected Black Democrats in 2024.

With the Callais ruling, issued earlier this spring, a conservative majority of justices concluded that jurisdictions drawn with racial makeup in mind are discriminatory and violate the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause. The justices declared that apportionment should be “race neutral.”

Their stated reasoning did not hinge on party interests, and federal courts have said partisan gerrymandering is constitutionally permissible. But in Southern states, especially, party loyalty dovetails considerably with race and ethnicity. So the decision has allowed Republicans — a party dominated by white people — to redraw maps to goose likely GOP districts by redistributing nonwhite voters who tend to support Democrats.

That, many civil rights activists and experts argue, makes it impossible for Southern legislatures to be genuinely “race neutral” when drawing boundaries.

Emory University professor Carol Anderson compared Callais and the resulting redistricting push to poll taxes and literacy tests imposed by white Southern conservatives — and blessed by the Supreme Court — during the Jim Crow era.

“They used racially neutral language for policies that were clearly racially targeted,” said Anderson, who is also a board member of Fair Fight Action, a group organizing against the Georgia redistricting.

There are risks for Kemp and Republicans

It's not guaranteed that Georgia Republicans can get what they want from new maps.

Partisan gerrymandering involves redistributing voters — packing certain citizens into fewer districts or dividing them across more districts. Around metro Atlanta, spreading nonwhite, Democratic-leaning voters across more districts could make more seats seem to lean Republican. The risk, however, is that more battleground districts emerge because white metropolitan voters are trending less conservative, which could give Democratic candidates of any race or ethnicity more chances to win.

That's perhaps not a major factor in the Georgia state Senate, which already is considered gerrymandered for Republicans. But it could be a consideration when drawing state House and U.S. House maps.

Kemp is effectively asking Republicans, especially in metro Atlanta, to redraw their own boundaries and take on new, unfamiliar territory.

Trump started the fight before the Supreme Court decision

Nationally, a partisan redistricting battle started last year when Trump urged Republican-controlled states to redraw congressional boundaries to shore up the GOP's narrow House majority in Washington this November. Texas answered the call first.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in Sacramento answered with their own gerrymander that voters later approved. A succession of states followed. The outcome would have been close to even had the Virginia Supreme Court, controlled by conservatives, not struck down new Democratic-drawn maps approved by the state’s voters. All told, Republicans think they could gain as many as 16 seats from their redistricting efforts while Democrats think they could gain six seats from new districts in California and Utah.

That still may not be enough for the GOP to hold a congressional majority, given Trump's lagging approval ratings. But it could mitigate Democratic gains and set Republicans up well for 2028 and beyond.

Messi scored his first goal in the opening minutes on a nice feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second on a rebound early in the second half. Shortly after he got his third on a strike from the top of the penalty box, he subbed out to a standing ovation from a heavily pro-Argentina crowd.

The trio of goals gave him 16 for his career, putting him in a tie with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the career record. They also allowed him to join Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo as the only players to have scored in five World Cups.

“The first matches at the World Cup are always tough,” Messi said after playing in the tournament for a record-setting sixth time, “and we’re seeing that nobody’s giving anything away.”

Well, almost nothing. Algeria made some crucial mistakes on the first two of Messi's goals, which came 20 years to the day that he made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro — he scored in that one, too.

“We're not talking about any old footballer,” Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “Unfortunately we also afford him the opportunity with the first and second goal, and we actually made it easier for him. But Messi, with his clear thinking in crucial stages of the game, is able to do things that much more easily.”

Messi's brilliant hat trick helped Argentina get off to a much better start than its last World Cup. Four years ago, La Albiceleste were beaten by Saudi Arabia in their opening match in Qatar, only to rally from there to win their third world title.

“The first match is always tricky,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “We had stumbled in the last World Cup and we needed to have a good debut today.”

Messi, who turns 39 next week, nearly had two other goals against Algeria, never once looking like the mild hamstring injury that worried fans in the run-up to the tournament was a problem. One found the back of the net but was called back because he was ever-so-slightly offside, and another strike in the second half just cleared the crossbar.

He was a pest on defense, too, helping Argentina lock down the overmatched Les Fennecs.

“Argentina have a special player who can change a game on his own,” Algeria star Riyad Mahrez said.

Algeria's best chance came in the opening minutes, when Fares Chaibi's would-be goal was taken away by a VAR review that showed he was offside. Messi scored moments later, and the rest of the night belonged to him and Argentina.

“I like playing soccer. It’s been my passion since I was little,” Messi said. “When I’m in good shape, I give it my all.”

The game played at Arrowhead Stadium fulfilled the longtime dream of the late Lamar Hunt, who not only founded the NFL franchise that calls it home, but who was instrumental in the growth of soccer in the U.S. from the 1960s through the early 2000s.

Hunt played a big role in the U.S. hosting the 1994 World Cup. His sons, Clark and Dan, are doing likewise with this edition.

Among those in the crowd on a picture-perfect night in the Heartland were Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who traded in his usual red-and-yellow football uniform for a blue sweatsuit and white shirt, and his wife, Brittany.

Argentina will continue its pursuit of back-to-back titles in Arlington, Texas, when it plays Austria on Monday and Jordan on June 27. Algeria plays Jordan on Monday in Santa Clara, California, before facing Austria in its Group J finale on June 27 in Kansas City.

“The goal,” De Paul said, “is always to arrive on the first day and leave on the last.”

___

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

The 57-year-old Frenchman had four days to get the team prepared for its second Group F game against Japan on Saturday.

“At the moment we need to be focused on ourselves,” Renard told reporters at the team’s training ground just hours after flying into Monterrey. “We still have a few days to be ready.”

Renard led Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the Green Falcons earned a shocking 2-1 victory over favorite and eventual champion Argentina. In the 2018 tournament, his Moroccan side earned a draw against Spain but failed to reach the knockout stage.

Renard said he was eager to experience the trill of the tournament again.

“It’s a World Cup,” he said. “I know the passion around this event. That’s what motivated me to come and it’s a challenge which isn’t easy.”

It’s not the first time Renard has replaced Lamouchi. The two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner succeeded his French counterpart in 2014 as head coach of Ivory Coast following its group stage exit at the World Cup.

It would be a tough ask for Renard to guide Tunisia out of the group stage for the first time in seven World Cup appearances. After their loss to Sweden on Sunday, the Eagles of Carthage need results against Japan and group favorites Netherlands if they are to advance.

“I’ve told them they have to keep their heads up, you’re here to represent your country,” Renard said.

___

Maya Koluder-Ramirez and Ethan Wilcox are students in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

"It feels like you're stepping back into his world," Ward said of the grounds in Hyde Park, New York, that once were home to the Roosevelt family. “The library and home collections reflect all his many interests — stamps, coins, birds he shot and had stuffed as a boy, model ships, children’s books, books about naval history, the pony-drawn sleigh he rode in as a child, and on and on.”

Since FDR helped launch the modern system of presidential sites in the late 1930s, a network of museums and research facilities has grown nationwide, overseen in part by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) but otherwise as varied as the men they honor. They are set everywhere from the scenic Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in California's Simi Valley to the small-town setting of the Herbert Hoover Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa, to the vast Obama Presidential Center that opens to the public on June 19, Juneteenth, in Chicago.

Historian Douglas Brinkley, who says he has visited all of the post-FDR libraries, calls them vital hubs for lectures, research, school tours and tourists.

“Each of the libraries have their own aura," Brinkley says. “Roosevelt came up with a perfect idea by gifting his home in Hyde Park to the people of America, instead of having his papers stored in a warehouse in Virginia or Maryland. He started a tradition of having them go where the president lived.”

A little presidential spin

Libraries carry with them a given president's personality and legacy. Brinkley and others note that while the library archives are managed by NARA, the museum is funded by private donors who are likely to prefer a given president's more favorable moments be emphasized or less favorable ones softened.

On the Hoover website, a page dedicated to the Great Depression emphasizes that some of the policies enacted by Roosevelt, who easily defeated Hoover for reelection, were first proposed by Hoover. The Richard Nixon library was for years at the heart of a battle between museum administrators and the former president and his supporters over everything from control of his archives to how much space should be dedicated to the Watergate scandal that helped lead to Nixon's resignation.

Max Boot, author of a 2024 biography of Reagan, contrasted his access to the Reagan archives with the museum itself. The late president's records were “administered by federal employees in an entirely professional and apolitical fashion. There is no attempt to hide anything.” The museum “naturally focuses on Reagan’s achievements and shortchanges his failures.”

“It’s designed to present a positive portrait. Thus, volumes critical of Reagan are not sold in the library bookstore,” Boot said.

Historian Ted Widmer, a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, said, “While it’s inevitable that the presidential libraries will present the highlights of a presidency, there has been some progress toward transparency in recent years.”

He praised the Lyndon Johnson library, located in Austin, Texas, for its willingness to take on LBJ's widely criticized handling of the Vietnam War. In 2023, the library helped revive interest in one of Johnson's most notorious campaigns — the 1948 Senate campaign now widely believed to have been stolen — by posting recordings on its website of interviews by Associated Press reporter James W. Mangan with a former Texas election judge who acknowledged certifying false votes that helped LBJ win.

“It is hard to know if future libraries will continue that trend, in an era in which history is increasingly politicized and polarized,” Widmer says. "But it’s healthy for our democracy to encourage the study of history as it really happened — not a sanitized version.”

The Obama experience

Obama officials have faced criticism for the center's size and aesthetic — “The building has an ominous presence, its mostly windowless heft recalling a menacing sci-fi headquarters,” wrote The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright — and for their decision not to have a NARA facility on site. A substantial amount of the former president's records are digital, a trend Brinkley expects to continue with future libraries.

As many as 1 million people are expected to visit the center's 20-acre campus each year, with highlights including a public library branch, an NBA-grade basketball court, a fruit and vegetable garden and a playground. Former President Barack Obama tested out one of the high metal slides in May.

“That was fantastic,” he said after zipping down, according to a video posted to the Obama Foundation’s social media. “I was a little tall for it.”

Obama also decided many of the center's details and features, from textured stone on the museum’s 225-foot tower to a pair of high-backed reading chairs inside the library. Among his favorite items, though, are charcoal grills that will be available for public use. He floated the idea to the public at a 2017 community meeting, and was met with warm laughs from the hometown crowd.

“We don’t have any folks who grill here?” Obama said at the time. “I thought this was the South Side of Chicago.”

___

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

Trump and his fellow leaders are closing the formal talks of the leading industrial nations at a lakeside resort in the French Alps on Wednesday with sessions on the future of artificial intelligence and fostering economic growth.

The U.S. leader also plans to make a stop for a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris before he jets back to Washington.

But first, Trump finds himself trying to quell skepticism about the Iran agreement, a difficult task given that neither the White House nor Iran have released the text of the deal. He also faces jitteriness from key ally Israel about ending the conflict under these terms.

“It’s a great document,” Trump said of the memorandum that has yet to be revealed, even though U.S. and Iranian officials are set to formally sign it at a ceremony on Friday at a stunning resort on Switzerland's Lake Lucerne.

“Here’s what it says: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. It won’t have one to buy, to develop — it will not have a nuclear weapon. And I would say that’s about 99.9% of what I wanted,” he said.

But Trump will continue to have to do a sales job. Some members of his own party are doubtful that the deal he's agreed to is strong enough to defang Iran's nuclear program. At the same time, he faces an anxious international community looking for him to follow through on his promise that the deal will reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, and keep it open.

What's in the deal

White House and Iranian officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in the agreement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, would violate the deal.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Araghchi said.

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he did not think an attack on Hezbollah by Israel would necessarily sink the agreement, though he said he was “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”

“It just goes on forever,” he said of Israel’s strategy. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed nearly 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and displaced more than 1 million since March 2. “Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed,” Trump said.

Trump's relationship with Modi has been impacted by the Iran war

Trump on Wednesday is also expected to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a choppy moment in the U.S.-India relationship, in part because of the war.

The leaders’ meeting comes just a week after three Indian sailors were killed in a U.S. military strike on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman in the midst of the American blockade targeting oil shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Indian Foreign Ministry has formally protested the incident.

Trump and Modi had a warm relationship during the U.S. president's first term, but it's become more complicated since Trump's return to office.

The president hiked tariffs on India, before lowering them, over its reliance on cheap Russian oil, and the Iran war has disrupted energy supplies to India. There's some angst as well in New Delhi that Trump's recent efforts to forge a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping could undercut India’s appeal as an alternative manufacturing hub.

Trump will also hold one-on-one talks on Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, one of the three Middle Eastern leaders who are attending the summit at the invitation of its host, French President Emmanuel Macron.

The G7 leaders met on Tuesday with el-Sissi as well as Qatar's ruling emir and the president of the United Arab Emirates for a working lunch. They discussed developing energy supply routes out of the Gulf, including via Egypt.

Before the Iran war, a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime chokepoint that Iran has effectively shuttered since the first days of the conflict.

“Part of the discussions were, ‘OK, how can we imagine, finance, and build infrastructures, sometimes on the terrestrial part, that will be able to go outside of the track of the Strait of Hormuz?’” French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said in an interview.

Macron will honor Trump with a dinner at Versailles

Trump on Tuesday didn't hide his giddiness over Macron's plans to fete him at the Palace of Versailles to mark America's 250th anniversary next month.

He said the opulent setting for the one-on-one dinner was a factor in his decision to extend his stay after the summit.

The palace was the residence of French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. It regularly hosts heads of state and foreign dignitaries.

“I’m a fan of beautiful places, and I was leaving in the afternoon, and then the French president who happens to be a very nice man, invited me to dinner at Versailles,” Trump said. “And Versailles is not gold leaf — Versailles is the real deal. And I said I’d like to do it.”

___

Madhani reported from Geneva. AP writers John Leicester in Evian-les-Bains, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed reporting.

Preventing Iran from attaining a nuclear bomb is a key reason that President Donald Trump said he launched the war alongside Israel in February, but the tentative agreement he has trumpeted leaves little runway to negotiate the long-running sticking point. The previous nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, which Trump pulled the U.S. from in his first term, took many months to negotiate.

Few details have been publicly released about the initial deal, set to be officially signed Friday in Switzerland, but it generally calls for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to global oil shipments, financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks, and a 60-day period for talks on ending the country's nuclear program.

There is deep skepticism among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, pro-Israel advocates and Israel itself that the deal is realistic, workable or would have any effect on nuclear talks.

“My skepticism is Iran itself. What would a good deal look like? No enrichment. And we’ll see if we can get there,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally and longtime Iran hawk, said Tuesday. “But whether or not we can get phase two, I don’t know.”

A nuclear deal takes commitment to the details

David Schenker, director of the Arab Politics Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that “this administration has proven that it has a hard time keeping its attention on these issues.”

Schenker, who served as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs in the first Trump administration, questioned whether the current administration would have the wherewithal to reach a nuclear deal even if the agreement is signed Friday.

“This is the kind of thing that requires dogged attention, attention to detail and numerous technical experts involved,” he said. “Trump loses his attention, moves on, and so does the administration. It’s like they don’t understand Iran’s strategy. They didn’t get it the first time, or the second.”

The Trump administration has maintained its confidence. Vice President JD Vance said much of the technical detail must be negotiated but that the U.S. must see action for Iran to receive incentives like sanctions relief.

“Our plan under this deal is, again, the Iranians are getting a lot of benefits so long as they dismantle that nuclear weapons program," Vance told Megyn Kelly on her podcast Tuesday.

“People always ask me, ‘Why do you believe it this time?’ I don’t believe them,” he added. “I don’t trust anything that anybody says. I trust what people do. And the way this deal is structured is that as they do more, they receive more. As they do less, they receive less.”

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.

It took over a year and a half to get the previous nuclear deal

The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, took more than 18 months to negotiate, starting with secret talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Oman at the end of then-President Barack Obama’s first term.

They required dozens of direct high-level interventions from Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, not to mention a team of dozens of technical experts traveling to Europe and elsewhere before the conclusion of the negotiations in Vienna, Austria.

Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 before most of its more contentious concessions had come into effect, and there is no indication now that Iran is willing to offer much more.

The JCPOA relied on very technical language and understandings, including limits on uranium enrichment, advanced centrifuges and heavy water production. In exchange, Iran was granted significant sanctions relief, amounting to billions of dollars.

As unhappy as critics were about the JCPOA — Trump called it the “worst deal ever negotiated,” while all Republicans and a number of prominent Democrats voted against it — all sides acknowledge it took more than 18 months to get to an even imperfect agreement.

Republicans say Congress must approve any deal

Republicans say any nuclear deal with Iran should be brought to Congress, as required by law. GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said he “would certainly anticipate that” the Senate will get the final say.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said he had little confidence Iran would abide by any agreement.

But Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., one of a handful of senators who has spoken to Vance about the agreement, said the shortened timeline could be an advantage.

“Iran’s modus operandi is to negotiate for the purpose of delaying, so they can rearm themselves,” Marshall said. “I think the president has to give them some type of a finite amount of time, or there’s going to be consequences. So I think it can be done.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., noted that what could help Trump’s negotiators to hammer out a nuclear agreement in such a truncated timeline is that there is “a base" to work from following the Obama-era talks.

Still, the JCPOA "took years to put together. You had allies and even adversaries — China and Russia — around the table, you had the IAEA at the table, the Obama chief negotiator had a Nobel Prize in physics, Ernie Moniz,” Kaine said. “I don’t know that either Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff have a Nobel Prize. So it’s going to be hard.”

Trump envoys Witkoff and Kushner, neither of whom had any prior experience in nuclear negotiations, made numerous but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to reach an agreement under Omani mediation during the first months of Trump’s second term.

Those tapered off after the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 — after which Pakistan emerged as the main facilitator.

There also is uncertainty about other issues besides nuclear that have been of concern to Arab countries, Israel, Europe and the United States.

It is not clear that any of those issues, including Iran’s ballistic missile program, its support for militant proxies in the region or repression of its own people, will be addressed by either the interim or potential longer-term agreements.

Without significant capitulations by Trump up-front, it is hard to imagine that nuclear negotiations with Iran will take only several months.

“A deal is better than more fighting, but the war America and Israel prosecuted against Iran has fallen short of achieving its stated objectives,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “This agreement is mostly about cleaning up an unnecessary mess and putting the best face on it.”

___

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim and Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.

All eight people aboard were killed in Monday’s fiery crash of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was taking part in a test mission as part of a program to keep the oldest aircraft in the U.S. fleet flying for decades to come.

No cause has been determined. Officials at the base said it could take six months to complete the investigation.

The bomber took off shortly before noon on a clear day, heading southwest into the prevailing winds. It flew straight and crashed on the same 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway. The compact wreckage indicates the plane dropped sharply.

Officials have not yet released the names of the crash victims.

Lauren Smith told Eyewitness News KBAK-CBS and FOX58 that her husband, Jeromy Smith, was among the victims. He was a flight test engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and died doing what he loved, she said.

“It is such a horrible hurt, and I’m still processing everything that happened,” she said.

The airfield remained closed Tuesday. Crews were making the crash site safe for search and recovery teams to enter, after fires flared up overnight, said Mike Paoli, a spokesperson for the 412 Test Wing at Edwards.

The aircraft was supporting a “radar modernization program,” Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 Test Wing, said Monday. In 2025, Boeing sent a B-52 to Edwards with a modernized radar system that is key to keeping the bomber in the air through at least 2050, nearly a century after it first entered service.

A test team planned to conduct ground and flight test activities on the aircraft throughout 2026 to feed a production decision, the Air Force said in a 2025 news release. The modern Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system replaced the aircraft’s antiquated radar. It was unclear if that was the same aircraft involved in Monday’s crash.

AESA replaced 1960s radar technology and offers improved navigation and targeting capabilities, according to a 2023 news release from Raytheon, which designed the new system for the Air Force’s entire B-52 fleet.

B-52 began flying in the 1950s

The B-52, a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955, is designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. It has been used in conflicts involving the U.S. military from Vietnam to Iran.

Along with a new radar, the fleet of 76 B-52s are scheduled to receive additional upgrades, including new engines, crew compartments, conventional and nuclear communication systems, avionics and weapons. The military said the goal is to make the B-52 a complement to the Air Force’s newest strategic bomber, the B-21 Raider.

Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft that went down at the base in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles (161 km) northeast of Los Angeles. Officials determined no one could have survived after reviewing footage of the crash, Hayes said at a news conference.

Those on the B-52 included government contractors, Boeing employees and uniformed military.

Edwards is home to the 412th Test Wing, which conducts regular developmental testing of all Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their life span. Test missions take place at Edwards daily, Hayes said.

The base is where Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager reached a speed of Mach 1.05 and broke the sound barrier in 1947.

Investigators will closely examine the flight controls and engines

Aviation safety experts have said their first thoughts about what might have caused the crash were about a malfunction in the flight controls or engines, but it is way too early to know. And investigators will consider a myriad of factors, including the age and maintenance of the plane.

J. Joseph, a retired Marine Corps colonel and airline pilot. said that even in a B-52 with eight engines, a malfunction can make the plane difficult to control if the pilot loses the outboard engines, and the forces pushing the plane get out of balance in a condition Joseph called asymmetric thrust. Although if there is time, the pilots can adjust the other throttles to rebalance the forces.

Heather Penney, a former F-16 combat pilot and aviation expert, said she knew one of the people who died aboard the B-52 personally — reinforcing how tragic this crash is for the close-knit community of military aviators. She declined to name the person before officials do.

She said it is unlikely that pilot error caused this crash given the expert training and experience of the test pilots on this flight. The age of the B-52 also opens up the possibility of problems with the structure of the plane.

“The youngest B- 52 was delivered to the Air Force in 1962. That was before the Cuban missile crisis, before the first man walked on the moon, before we had personal computers,” said Penney, who is director of Studies and Research at The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “These are old airplanes. They’re structurally robust, but they are old aircraft. So structural failure can’t be ruled out.”

All the modernization efforts and upgrades that have been made to the B-52s over the decades have extended the life of these planes. At some point, these bombers will have to be replaced, but for now they continue to play a crucial role for the Air Force.

“The B-52 fleet that we have today, is the backbone of America’s bomber force. It’s over 50% of our bomber force, and it can go further, have larger payload, and stay airborne longer without refueling than any of our other bombers,” Penney said. “There’s no other bomber in our force has the attributes of the B-52. It’s been a workhorse. It’s going to continue to be a workhorse.”

___

This story has been updated to correct details of the bomber’s flight based on data analysis by AirNav Systems. AirNav now says the plane took off toward the southwest, not the northeast flew straight and crashed almost immediately, and was not airborne for 3 minutes and did not make a turn. It flew straight and crashed almost immediately.

___

Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press journalist Konstantin Toropin contributed from Washington, D.C.

Morning sunshine will give way to increasing clouds, followed by rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.

Widespread rainfall is anticipated, with most areas likely to receive one to two inches.

Some locations could see more than three inches, increasing the risk of flash flooding.

While flooding appears to be the primary concern, a few storms could also produce gusty winds, and an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.

Parts of the area remain under Marginal and Slight Risks, Levels 1 and 2 out of 5, for severe weather.

High temperatures on Wednesday are expected to reach the mid-70s.

Thursday

A few lingering showers may persist into early Thursday before drier conditions return for the afternoon.

Highs will remain seasonable in the lower 70s.

Friday

Looking ahead, sunshine and pleasant conditions are expected on Friday, with temperatures returning to the mid-70s.

Weekend forecast/next week

The weekend forecast calls for highs in the low to mid-70s, with the next chance for rain arriving Sunday and continuing into Monday.

Find the latest forecast from the 4Warn Weather team here

Remember to download the free 4Warn weather app -- it’s easily one of the best in the nation. Just search your app store under WDIV, and it’s right there, available for both iPhones and Androids! Or click the appropriate link below.

• Download for iPhone
• Download for Android

The 41-year-old is set to enter the World Cup on Wednesday when Portugal meets Congo after impressive performances by the tournament’s other top stars.

France’s Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland of Norway each had two goals as they opened their World Cup campaigns on Tuesday, while Lionel Messi scored a hat trick for Argentina. That gave Messi 16 career goals in the World Cup, tying him with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the all-time record.

Ronaldo is also looking to make history by becoming the first player to score in six World Cups. Messi, too, is playing in his sixth World Cup but failed to find the net in 2010.

“Well, I wish him the best — I hope that he scores but not against us," Congo coach Sébastien Desabre said of the Portugal forward.

Ronaldo's focus has been on his team's success.

“We go match by match, but not with the expectations of winning it all,” Ronaldo told reporters in Portugal last week before the team’s departure. “It has to be step by step. A good start is the most important thing,”

Some Portugal supporters question whether the aging star will be a help or a detriment to the team.

After scoring just once in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo was upset after he subbed off against South Korea and benched for the club's first knockout-stage match against Switzerland. He also failed to score in the 2024 European Championship — the first time that has happened at a major international tournament.

But Ronaldo has also shown signs of his old productivity.

He scored eight goals during Portugal’s 2025 UEFA Nations League title, including an equalizer in the final against Spain. And, he recently won his first Saudi Pro League title with Al-Nassr, scoring a club-high 28 goals.

What to watch on June 17

— Portugal vs. Congo, 1 p.m. EDT in Houston (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)

— England vs. Croatia, 4 p.m. EDT in Arlington, Texas (FS1/Telemundo/Peacock)

— Ghana vs. Panama, 7 p.m. EDT in Toronto (FS1/Telemundo/Peacock)

— Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, 10 p.m. EDT in Mexico City (FS1/Telemundo/Peacock)

Kane, England seek strong World Cup start vs. Croatia

Harry Kane, one of the world’s dominant goal scorers, leads England into its first match against Croatia with the Three Lions seeking their first World Cup title since 1966, when they won on home soil.

Kane has been a force over the past year with 61 goals in 51 matches for Bayern Munich across all competitions. The 32-year-old striker has eight goals in two previous World Cups and won the Golden Boot in 2018 by scoring six times in Russia.

But he didn’t score in England’s semifinal loss to Croatia in 2018. In 2022, he missed a penalty late against France in a 2-1 semifinal loss in Qatar when he sent the ball over the crossbar.

Kane’s eight World Cup goals are two shy of Gary Lineker's England record.

Ghana to be without Partey for opener after appeal denied

Ghana will play its opening match against Panama without midfielder Thomas Partey after a Canadian judge on Tuesday rejected a bid to allow him into the country as he awaits trial on rape charges.

Partey's visa application was denied last week.

He will remain in the United States while his teammates play in Toronto on Wednesday. He will be eligible to play in Ghana’s next two matches — both in the U.S.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticized the visa denial, calling it a “high-handed and extremely unfair decision.” Its appeal was heard by the court earlier Tuesday.

Partay is awaiting trial in Britain while facing allegations from several women dating to his time playing for Arsenal from 2020-25. He has pleaded not guilty.

England's Livramento will miss tournament with injury

England fullback Tino Livramento was ruled out of the World Cup on Tuesday because of a calf injury, forcing coach Thomas Tuchel into a late squad change ahead of his team’s opener against Croatia.

Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah was called up as a replacement and due to head to the England training camp in Kansas City. Livramento was injured during training on Sunday.

“A subsequent scan and medical assessment on Monday unfortunately confirmed he could play no further part in England’s tournament,” it said in a statement.

Uzbekistan ready to make World Cup debut

Uzbekistan will mark the biggest moment in the country's soccer history on Wednesday when it participates in its first World Cup, facing Colombia.

Coached by Fabio Cannavaro, Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning captain and a former Ballon d’Or winner, Uzbekistan finished second in Asian qualifying to earn its way into the expanded 48-team field.

Colombia is back in the World Cup after failing to qualify in 2022.

More World Cup news

— France striker Kylian Mbappé scores 13th and 14th World Cup goals, moving into tie for 3rd all time

— US official says Iran knew team would have to leave shortly after match

— Social media star Tim Payne leaves New Zealand for Paraguay’s Olimpia

— Tunisia fires coach Sabri Lamouchi after 1 match at the World Cup and appoints Herve Renard

— US forward Christian Pulisic practices on his own in calf injury rehab, team says he is ‘day to day’

— This Sweden defender at the World Cup isn’t your typical soccer player: He’s a baron!

— Highlights from Day 6 in photos

Stats of the day

England has struggled against European opposition at the global showcase, losing six of its last eight matches. Its overall record versus UEFA teams at the World Cup includes 14 wins, 12 losses and 13 ties.

___

AP Sports Writers Jim Vertuno and Kristie Rieken contributed to this report.

___

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

The incident occurred on Tuesday (June 16) at 7 p.m. in the 12000 block of Vaughan Street when officers from the Detroit Police Department’s 6th Precinct responded to a report of shots fired.

Police said the victim was transported to a Metro Detroit hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Officials said the shooter was taken into custody in connection with the shooting.

Police said preliminary information indicates the shooting followed an altercation between the victim and the person who was taken into custody.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is asked to contact Detroit police Homicide at 313-596-2260 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak Up.

All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous. Click here to submit a tip online.

Ryan Walker of West Bloomfield said he has been running for as long as he can remember, starting with 5K races as a child alongside his grandfather.

In 2018, while recovering from a broken leg, Walker set a goal of running six miles a week—a routine that helped him rebuild his fitness and eventually led to longer distances.

“I set a goal of running just six miles a week, and I was like, if I can be consistent and run — just do six miles a week — that’ll be 300 by the end of the year, and I ran my first half marathon that year,” Walker said.

Half marathons turned into triathlons and eventually into an Ironman.

Walker said he decided to run for a cause tied to his mother, Lori Picard, who died in 2008 at age 44.

He said she was known for her willingness to stop and help people.

“She would always be willing to stop and talk to anybody. If someone needed something, she would literally want to give them the shirt off her back, not just hand over a dollar and keep walking, but like sit down with us, have a meal, and that was very consistent,” Walker said.

Walker said his mother struggled with addiction and bipolar disorder, but he remembers her as someone who tried to support others in need.

He said he discovered HOPE Shelters three years ago and felt the organization’s mission aligned with how his mother lived.

“We came to know Ryan about three years ago, and he came to us, and he had this passion, and he wanted to do this in memory of his mom, so now this is the third year, and we are so grateful,” said HOPE Shelters Executive Director Katonya Jones.

Walker has raised more than $30,000 for the organization through previous fundraising challenges, including a 100-mile run, a bike ride, and swim around Mackinac Island.

Now, he’s preparing for an Ultraman — a grueling, three-day, 320-mile event that combines swimming, biking, and running. Walker is doing the race self-supported, with up to 12 hours per day.

He launched a GoFundMe that has already raised more than $13,000, with proceeds benefiting HOPE Shelters.

HOPE Shelters helps an average of over 500 people a year, working to help them find stability and permanent housing.

“We rescue them, we restore them, and we give them stability with housing, to put them back out in the market and help them find jobs,” Jones said.

Walker said he’ll have a support system along the route.

“There’s a lot of people that are planning to meet me along the way, whether it’s to run a few miles or ride their bike for a little bit — and that’s the part I really want to be present and take it all in,” Walker said.

Walker will complete the Ultraman from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Each day, he plans to divert from his route to pass HOPE Shelters’ location on Baldwin Avenue, where staff members said they will be cheering him on.

You can make a donation here.

Three fans bicycled nearly 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers) from South America to Kansas City, Missouri — without tickets in hand. One group drove 20 hours, living off sandwiches to save money. Daniel Otero, a 73-year-old attending his seventh tournament, is shelling out around $100,000 so he and his two sons can watch the team play over the coming weeks.

“We are crazy for Argentina,” he said. “That’s why we spend so much money to see our country, our national team.”

The obsession was rewarded in Kansas City as the team made opened its World Cup defense, defeating Algeria 3-0. Scoring all three of those goals was the legendary Lionel Messi who, turning 39 next week, could be playing in his last World Cup.

“Argentina now is like the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan,” said Juan Martin, 43, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, before the match. “In his prime, he had fans around the world. Argentina has fans around the world with Messi.”

Martin plans to spend the next month following the team with his girlfriend, 31-year-old Agostina Gomez Uvia, a quest that he estimates will cost them $20,000 each. Similarly Otero is spending $40,000 on tickets alone.

Otero and his son, Franco Otero, 27, marveled that U.S. families also were wearing Argentina jerseys, emblazoned with Messi’s name.

“I can't remember an Argentinian team without Messi,” Franco Otero said.

“He changed the game,” agreed Manuel Valdes, a 29-year-old engineer from Corrientes, Argentina, who traveled to the match with his father and younger brother. “There’s a before and after in football.”

In the parking lot outside the stadium, 11-year-old Andre Cornuz, of Miami, joined his father as he set up a flag atop a van before the game. In front, members of the band Los Sin Entradas (translation: Those Without Tickets) lined up drums. Passersby stopped to pose for photos in front of the display, which included a giant banner that read, “Lio Te Quiero” — “I love you, Lio” — and a photo of Messi.

“I have been raised with Messi,” said Andre, whose father is from Argentina and who often travels back to visit his family. “I am very connected to the land.”

The band's next stop is Dallas, where Argentina is playing next, and then “wherever it takes us,” Andre said.

Pam Kramer, the chief executive of the Kansas City organizing committee, has marveled over the past week at the lengths that Argentina fans have gone to support the three-time World Cup champions, including the trio that cycled their way to Kansas City in time for the opening match.

“We had those three Argentine cyclists come here, and they came here without tickets. And the people in Johnson County (Kansas) were like, ‘You know what? We’re fans too. We’re going to make sure you get to a match,’” Kramer said, “and that’s genuine. Nobody is doing it for show. We want people to see what we see, that this place is pretty special.”

Three hours before kickoff, fans already were lining up to get into the stadium. Jorgelina Skorput, 34, of New York City, waited with her friends as police officers on horseback patrolled the crowd. They drove two days to get here, munching on sandwiches and staying at an Airbnb an hour out of town because it was cheaper.

All told, she figures the trip cost her $2,000, including the $800 game ticket.

“I felt like this is the only time, the only opportunity I’m going to get to see the World Cup,” said Skorput, who was born in Rosario, Argentina, and moved to the U.S. when she was 9. “We’re the last champions.”

___

AP Sports Writer David Skretta contributed to this report.

___

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

Mbappé scored his 13th and 14th World Cup goals on Tuesday in France's 3-1 tournament-opening victory against Senegal. Those were his 57th and 58th playing internationally, tying and passing Oliver Giroud for the most in the country's rich history.

“I play to make history with my country and help my team win the World Cup,” Mbappé said in French, adding that he was thinking of his family, friends and loved ones when he scored.

Mbappé first scored in the 66th minute after having several quality scoring chances denied by goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, including earlier in the second half. He scored again from long range in the sixth minute of stoppage time, mere seconds after Senegal got its first goal.

“It was crazy,” France defender William Saliba said. “We just conceded the first goal for Senegal, and just one minute after, we score a banger. I was so happy. Yeah, a crazy goal.”

Mbappé's second goal broke a tie with Pelé. He celebrated by mimicking playing a flute, after comedian James Corden suggested that on his Fox show.

After scoring his second of the afternoon to pass countryman Just Fontaine, the 27-year-old playing in his third World Cup is now tied with Germany’s Gerd Müller for the fourth most in tournament history. Mbappé is one behind Brazil's Ronaldo and two away from the record of 16 held by Miroslav Klose of Germany and Lionel Messi, who had a hat trick for Argentina hours later to match that mark.

“Of course I think he has everything to beat the World Cup (record),” Saliba said. “I hope he is going to do it in this tournament because for sure he has everything, and I’m sure that he will do it.”

France coach Didier Deschamps liked what he saw from Mbappé even before putting the ball in the net.

“Before he scored the first two goals today, as a captain and outside of the field he does a lot for the group,” Deschamps said through an interpreter. “He’s got a global aura due to his real talent. He’s a very decisive player at all times.”

Deschamps called Mbappé an iconic player, while acknowledging there will always be criticism. That does not seem to be a problem for a player coming off scoring 25 goals this past season for Real Madrid.

“The critics? It’s not about revenge,” Mbappé said. “If I started playing for all the people who criticize me just to silence them, I’d have to play until I was 80.”

Mbappé helped France win the World Cup title in 2018 and reach the final in 2022, when he was awarded the Silver Ball as the second-best player. Joined up front by Désiré Doué and reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, France went into this year’s tournament as the co-favorite along with Spain.

Mbappé had little trouble finding room between Senegal defenders several times in the first 14 or so minutes. But he was sloppy with the ball for much of the rest of the first half before he and his teammates started to mesh.

Then the goals materialized, a good sign for France given the lofty expectations. Mbappé will be counted on to keep scoring to contend to win the World Cup.

“For him, it’s a good thing to achieve this thing to be the best scorer of the French national team,” teammate Adrien Rabiot said. “Great achievement. We are happy for him. And I hope he will continue like this for the tournament.”

___

AP Sports Writer Eric Nunez contributed to this report.

___

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

Mbappé scored twice to move past Pelé with 14 World Cup goals, celebrating by mimicking a flutist as he had promised, and Les Bleus beat Senegal 3-1 Tuesday in their World Cup opener.

“He could have scored four or five goals, OK, theoretically, but we’re happy with two goals,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.

Mbappé had 14 touches in the scoreless first half, the fewest of any player, then put France ahead in the 66th minute. He burst past Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly, turned onto a diagonal pass from Michael Olise and slid the ball past goalkeeper Édouard Mendy from just outside the 6-yard box.

In a segment with Mbappé taped May 20 and aired Friday by U.S. broadcaster Fox, award-winning actor and television host James Corden suggested the 27-year-old star striker celebrate his next World Cup goal by imitating a flute player. Mbappé practiced the instrument for a year or two as a child at the behest of his parents.

“I’ll do it for you first game,” Mbappé said.

Mbappé ran toward a corner, brought both hands to his lips and air-tooted for a few seconds.

“If he wants to miss the first half again and score two goals in the second half in another match, that’s OK with me,” Deschamps said.

Bradley Barcola doubled the lead in the 82nd, two minutes after entering, and Ibrahim Mbaye cut the deficit in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Mbappé scored just 68 seconds later on a spectacular right-footed shot from 30 yards. The ball dipped perfectly between Mendy's outstretched left arm and the crossbar.

“A crazy goal,” French defender William Saliba said.

Mbappé, who led the 2022 tournament with eight goals, moved one ahead of Lionel Messi and fellow Frenchman Just Fontaine on the World Cup career scoring list before Messi scored his 14th, 15th and 16th for Argentina later Tuesday. Mbappé is tied with Germany’s Gerd Müller, trailing Messi, Germany's Miroslav Klose (16) and Brazil's Ronaldo (15).

“I’m sure that he will do it,” Saliba said of Mbappé setting the record.

Mbappé also became France's career scoring leader with 58 goals, one more than Olivier Giroud.

“He can from time to time miss a game or two but on one action he really is able to tip the scales and bring his team to victory,” Deschamps said. “People say he doesn’t defend enough. Well, he’s not here to defend.”

Mbappé brushed off critics.

“It’s not about revenge,” he said. “If I started playing for all the people who criticize me just to silence them, I’d have to play until I was 80.”

Trying to reach its third straight World Cup final, France plays Iraq on Monday in Philadelphia, then closes Group I on June 26 against Norway at Foxborough, Massachusetts. Senegal meets Norway on Monday at MetLife Stadium and finishes the first round against Iraq at Toronto.

With fans in Senegal denied visas by the U.S. government, supporters of the Lions of Teranga appeared limited to a few sections in MetLife's southwest corner on a sunny 77-degree Fahrenheit (25-degree Celsius) afternoon.

While most of the stadium was filled with a just-under sellout crowed of 80,545, there were empty seats in a mezzanine club level, which has air-conditioned suites behind the outdoor chairs.

Two hours before kickoff, tickets dropped to as low as $69 on FIFA’s resale site. FIFA sold tickets at $220-$620 in December.

France was outshot 5-1 in the first half. Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson’s 25th-minute shot hit a post, rebounded off the heel of goalkeeper Mike Maignan and bounced into touch.

Les Bleus then outshot their opponents 10-1 in the second half, when Olise shifted centrally from the right flank.

“If we had been more efficient, by halftime, we would have been able to lead 1- or 2-nil,” Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said.

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

___

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

Pratt made his major league debut and went 0 for 3 in a 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night after getting called up from Triple-A Nashville. The Brewers made room for Pratt by designating third baseman Luis Rengifo for assignment.

“This is a kid we’ve signed for the long term,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said before Tuesday's game. “We feel confident he will be our shortstop of the future. He’s going to play.”

Pratt, 21, found out he was going to the big leagues when Nashville manager Rick Sweet notified him during the Sounds' game on Sunday.

“It was magical, man,” Pratt said. “It didn’t quite feel real.”

The news came at an ideal time for Pratt because the Brewers were off Monday, enabling his family to make it to Milwaukee for his first MLB game. Pratt's father, Russell Pratt, doesn't travel by airplane.

That meant a 700-mile drive from the Pratt's family home in Oxford, Mississippi. Those long-distance drives were common during Pratt's road to the big leagues.

“We drove in travel ball for like 20 hours sometimes, from like Mississippi to Arizona,” Pratt said. “Arizona to Texas. We drove all over.”

Pratt signed an eight-year deal on April 3 that includes club options for 2034 and 2035. The $50.75 million contract includes escalators that could raise the value by $10 million if he repeatedly finishes high in MVP voting and the team exercises those two options.

In the weeks after agreeing to that deal, Pratt felt pressure to live up to that contract. His batting average in Nashville didn't climb above .200 for good until April 26.

He has performed better lately. He was hitting .241 with a .349 on-base percentage, six homers, 32 RBIs and 17 steals in 58 games with Nashville at the time of his promotion.

Pratt's defense is ahead of his offense at this point in his development. He won a Gold Glove as the top shortstop in the minor leagues in 2024.

“Now we’re well aware of a guy making his first trip to the big leagues, it could go many different ways,” Murphy said. “When are they ready? When is it a perfect time? Right now, in my opinion, it doesn’t really matter. It matters he gets comfortable in the big leagues, understands it, starts to make his adjustments he needs to make, and then we roll from there.”

Murphy has a connection to Pratt's family. Pratt is the nephew of BYU coach Trent Pratt, who played for Murphy at Arizona State from 1999-2000.

The Brewers can afford to be patient with Pratt’s bat as long as he fields the way he did in the minor leagues.

Milwaukee has received little offensive production from the left side of its infield all season, yet the Brewers still entered Tuesday leading the NL Central by 4 ½ games over St. Louis as they chase their fourth straight division title. The versatile David Hamilton had been splitting time with Joey Ortiz at shortstop and with Rengifo at third base.

Hamilton entered Tuesday battting .231 with a .316 on-base percentage, .320 slugging percentage, three homers, 11 RBIs and 14 steals in 58 games. Ortiz was hitting .207 with a .299 on-base percentage, .262 slugging percentage, one homer, 14 RBIs and five steals in 60 games.

Rengifo was hitting .205 with a .280 on-base percentage, .254 slugging percentage, no homers, 19 RBIs and three steals in 57 games.

Murphy mentioned that he now might have Hamilton and Ortiz splitting time at third base, with Hamilton primarily starting against right-handers and Ortiz getting the call against lefties. Ortiz was Milwaukee's starting third baseman in 2024.

“I've had many meetings with Joey, and he totally understands what's happening," Murphy said. “Six weeks ago, I sat with Joey and said, ‘Joey, this has happened. They signed this guy. Do you understand that? ... But it doesn’t mean you can't have an incredible career in the big leagues, including playing shortstop for us at times.' ”

Pratt was one of two Brewers prospects to sign a lucrative long-term deal this year while still in the minors. Luis Lara, a 21-year-old outfielder playing for Nashville, signed a seven-year deal worth $31 million last week.

___

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

The Department of Justice will take on enforcement of civil rights in education, while the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education, administration officials announced. With those moves, the Education Department has now carved away the vast majority of its functions for other agencies to handle.

The two Education Department offices involved — the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights — defend the rights of children with disabilities and those who experience discrimination based on race, sex or religion. Advocates worry the change could mean lapses in communication for families and school officials who need help.

Trump, a Republican, campaigned on shutting down the Education Department, saying he would “move education back to the states where it belongs.” While only Congress can close the department, Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, a billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has formed agreements with other federal agencies to handle much of her department’s work.

McMahon said the agreements align federal responsibilities with the agencies best positioned to support them.

“The Trump Administration has been clear: as we scale back federal micromanagement when it hinders success, we are equally committed to bolstering the efficacy of federal oversight where it is essential,” McMahon said in a written statement.

Critics warn of impacts to student services

Advocates said the changes would create uncertainty around services relied upon by millions of students and families.

“As is too often the case, traditionally underserved students — including students with disabilities, Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students from low-income backgrounds, and students in rural communities — will bear the greatest burden created by this reckless decision, to which the disability and civil rights communities have already been vehemently opposed,” said a written statement from EdTrust, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advocates for educational equity.

The Education Department already has offloaded some of its programs through 10 earlier internal agreements, but the offices affected by Tuesday’s announcement were among the most closely watched.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services manages billions of dollars in grants and oversees state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The Office for Civil Rights, which has been thinned by mass layoffs, investigates complaints of discrimination at the nation’s schools and universities.

The Department of Justice also will take over work protecting student privacy and will provide some training and advisory help to schools.

While Justice and Health and Human Services will handle over most day-to-day duties of the assigned offices, the Education Department will continue to perform some tasks, such as responding to audits and issuing final determinations in civil rights cases, which it is explicitly required to do by law.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said the announcement Tuesday was a political one intended to fulfill the president's campaign promise. The changes, he said, will likely widen inequities for students of color and students with disabilities.

The agreements are scattering education programs to agencies that do not have the expertise to manage them, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

“Instead of helping kids get a great education, this administration is spending its time, energy, and taxpayer resources fixated on where employees sit and illegally trying to shutter the Department of Education,” Murray said in a written statement.

Rachel Gittleman, president of the union that represents department employees, said the moves will create chaos for families, students and schools.

“This will leave our most vulnerable students and families who have been shut out of our education system without the services they need and without protection when they face discrimination,” Gittleman said in a written statement.

Families of students with disabilities opposed the decision

The transfer of special education to Health and Human Services most alarmed disability advocates, who say oversight of whether schools are adequately serving children with disabilities is best handled by education experts — not medical experts.

“The IDEA is intended to equip students as they learn alongside their peers, not cure them — the HHS is not prepared to oversee and administer the IDEA program effectively. Health and education systems speak in entirely different languages, including variations in terminology, training and disciplines," said Jennifer Coco, interim executive director of the Center for Learner Equity.

The Education Department said McMahon spent over six months in listening sessions with families, advocates and educators to better understand concerns around how the department's dismantling could affect special education. Many families raised concerns about obstacles to obtaining proper services for their children, but Coco said participants in those sessions were united in their opposition to moving special education oversight out of the Education Department.

“I think we agree on the problem,” Coco said. “We have stark disagreement on the solution and these transfers today don’t feel like a solution to that problem.”

___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

In his tournament debut, he showed he’s more than up for that challenge.

Haaland scored two goals, including one off a defensive blunder, on Tuesday to propel Norway to a 4-1 victory over Iraq in Group I.

The Manchester City striker's 56th and 57th international goals came in Norway’s first appearance in the tournament since reaching the knockout round at the 1998 World Cup in France — two years before Haaland was born.

Haaland said he will do his best to meet the expectations he created with this performance.

“Of course I will try,” Haaland said. “It’s about continuing and don’t think too much. It’s difficult at this stage. But I’ll focus on (the) next (game) and of course be happy. But also stay calm.”

Norway coach Stale Solbakken said he had a feeling Haaland was ready after watching how loose he was in the team's last training session before the match.

“You could see that he lived up to the occasion,” Solbakken said. “The occasion wasn’t too big for him.”

Leo Ostigard scored in the 76th minute off a corner kick from Martin Odegaard. An own-goal by Iraq forward Aymen Hussein just before the final whistle completed Norway's scoring.

Hussein also scored for his team, an equalizer just nine minutes after Haaland’s first strike.

Haaland put the Norwegians in front for good just before halftime when he sneaked in front of a poor back pass to Iraq goalkeeper Jalal Hassan. Haaland beat Hassan to the ball, preempting his attempted clearance, and then used his shin to put the ball in the back of the net.

“It's one of those things. It happened,” Iraq coach Graham Arnold said. “It is what is and we have to learn from it.”

Haaland’s first goal, which came in the 29th minute, followed a cross into the box from David Moller Wolfe. Haaland slid and used his right heel to finish it off. It ignited waves of cheers from the Norway supporters, who dominated the stands clad in red as they broke out in synchronized Viking row chants.

Iraq, playing in the World Cup for just the second time after debuting in 1986, held its own with a sizable contingent of supporters that was mostly concentrated behind one of the goals.

That energy helped Iraq briefly get back into the game.

In the 38th minute, Amir Alammari corralled a ball on the baseline halfway between the left corner and the goal and fired a cross in front of the net. It eluded Norway’s defenders, allowing Hussein to punch a clean header that bounced under the hand of diving goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to even the score at 1-1.

It was Hussein’s 34th international goal. That includes his winning goal against Bolivia in Iraq’s final World Cup qualifying match in April that gave the country the last spot in the 48-team tournament field.

“It’s a proud moment to be back in the World Cup after 40 years. To lose 4-1, it hurts,” Iraq's Hussein Ali said.

___

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

Mystikal, whose given name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in March with a sentencing cap of 20 years, five years less than the maximum punishment for the crime. His plea deal reduced the charge from first-degree rape, which carries an automatic life sentence.

Days before his Tuesday sentencing hearing, he asked a judge to withdraw his guilty plea, saying he “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully consider the consequences," according to ABC affiliate WBRZ.

The victim spoke in court before sentencing and asked the judge to give Mystikal the maximum sentence, WBRZ reported. She reportedly said the rapper had punched her, choked her, pulled out her braids and forcibly raped her at his home in Prairieville, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) from Baton Rouge.

“If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” he said in response, according to the local TV station.

A lawyer for the rapper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mystikal has been held without bond at the Ascension Parish Jail since his arrest in 2022.

The Louisiana rapper rose to national recognition in the 1990s and is known for his 2000 hit “Shake Ya A(asterisk)(asterisk),” which was nominated for a Grammy in the best rap solo performance category.

In 2003, he pleaded guilty to sexual battery and was sentenced to six years in prison. That same year he was a Grammy nominee in two categories: best rap album for “Tarantula” and best male rap solo performance for his single “Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against The Wall).”

Huang has been optimistic about AI’s potential to rapidly transform society, creating faster economic growth and more scientific breakthroughs. But as the head of a computer chip company now developing AI systems, he and others are confronting a public increasingly concerned about the potential harm the technology might bring. Huang has felt obligated to respond to critics who warn of job losses and threats to humanity itself.

“We need to create new social norms,” Huang said in an interview. “I would advocate that everybody use AI. Just go engage it.”

Huang made his case as AI has emerged as a political flashpoint, with objections to plans to build more data centers and fears that the speed with which it’s being adopted could spur the layoffs of workers who might not have a safety net. Such questions have threatened public support of the technology at a time when a race has kicked off with China, a contest Huang believes can best be won by a U.S. that is open to competing globally in AI.

His close relationship with President Donald Trump also has been a source of criticism among Democrats, even as he emphasized that the computing power created by AI is vital to adding the factory jobs that have been promised for decades without much enduring success. It was an argument delivered by a 63-year-old man who has watched the technology develop and described himself as “boring” because his own life revolves mainly around work and his family.

Huang disclosed during the interview some personal details, saying his favorite movie is “Kingdom of Heaven,” the 2005 epic about the 12th century Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. He said he had watched the movie “Project Hail Mary" three or four times and “I think we might watch it again this weekend.”

Huang said the ability of AI to design a website, analyze complex documents, guide advanced research or even plan a kitchen remodeling has helped to close the technological divide in America. People can now do advanced work on computers without having to know how to program or write software, he added.

Huang contended that there is a need for some government regulation and safety standards for AI, emphasizing that national security also needed to be a priority for the technology that has been powering stock market gains and U.S. economic growth in recent years.

Huang said society will adapt to AI just as it did to automobiles. He said cars were once portrayed as killing children, but the world changed its norms by having sidewalks and crosswalks and stopping kids from playing in the streets.

Huang skeptical of what government ownership of AI companies would achieve

With a market capitalization of roughly $5 trillion, Nvidia has soared in valuation in recent years to become the world’s most valuable company. AI modeling companies OpenAI and Anthropic are potentially set to also clear the $1 trillion mark once their stocks are publicly traded.

That explosive surge in wealth concentrated in AI companies has prompted renewed worries about economic inequality. Trump has tried to defuse those concerns, recently musing about the prospect that the U.S. government could own some shares in AI firms, so any windfalls would be more broadly shared with the public. That idea has also been advanced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Huang expressed skepticism about the idea, saying he expects the country will already benefit broadly from AI advancements.

“I’m not exactly sure what they’re trying to achieve,” he said regarding government ownership. “I haven’t had a dialogue with them about that. But just remember that these are American companies. Their success benefits the stock price, of which many Americans are investors in. It generates taxes, which helps many Americans. It creates a lot of jobs.”

He noted that AI companies could also lead to higher profits for energy, construction and hardware technology firms.

“Americans have a stake in American companies already, naturally, in a whole lot of different ways,” Huang said.

Huang says national security needs to be a priority on AI

The Trump administration has recently reversed course from using a light touch on regulating AI to taking a heavier hand.

It placed export controls on the AI company Anthropic’s latest models, leading the company on Friday to shutter all public access to those models over security concerns. Trump, a Republican, also signed an order to have new AI models voluntarily screened by the government before their release.

Huang said the government was properly focused on national security issues, but it was important to provide clear guidance.

“National security should always be the top concern of all technologies,” Huang said. “But having said that, you know, you have to be very specific about the risk that you’re concerned about, before setting up policies for export controls.”

During the Biden administration, Nvidia pushed back against export controls that were designed to restrict its ability to sell chips to China, rejecting the administration’s premise that a ban would preserve an American edge on AI. Huang had warned that the export controls might limit America’s ability to develop the world’s AI ecosystem, as China would respond with its own advanced chips.

Huang says energy is key problem for America’s AI development

Huang stressed that the U.S. is vulnerable because of its deficient energy supply. The data centers performing the computations used in AI are creating a huge demand for electricity, which could be a strain on the power grid.

Some data centers will be constructed with their own electricity sources, but Huang said the U.S. is starting from a disadvantage on energy. And without more energy, it can be harder to play to American strengths in its AI infrastructure, models and computer chip development.

“The United States is woefully behind in energy production,” Huang said. “We just suffocated energy production for too long.”

Huang complimented Trump on his approach to generating more energy in the U.S.. The president has aggressively supported the use of oil, coal and natural gas, but he has scorned the use of solar and wind power.

The Nvidia CEO was not commenting on Trump's opposition to climate-friendlier energy sources. But the gap he identified goes to some of the fears that U.S. households have about AI increasing their utility bills.

Huang was speaking Tuesday in Sherman, Texas, at an expansion of the Coherent factory to develop a laser for transmitting data among chips, which could cut power use by AI systems by up to 50%.

Trump’s fondness for Huang started at a Mar-a-Lago dinner

Trump, not known for technological expertise, quickly developed a friendship with Huang. The president has called him “smart" and “amazing," insisting that Huang accompany him on foreign trips. Most recently, Trump had Air Force One pick up the leather-jacketed CEO in Alaska while en route to his state visit to China.

Their relationship started last year with an invitation to dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s home and private club in Florida. Huang was in the area to receive the Edison Achievement Award for his AI work.

“He says drop by for dinner, and so I did,” Huang said. He went with his wife, Lori.

“He was incredibly engaging, incredibly charismatic, conversational, asked a lot of questions,” Huang recalled. “From the moment that I met him, the only thing that he’s ever talked to me about is creating more jobs, reindustrializing the United States, protecting national security, winning.” He added that Trump "calls me in the middle of the night and wants to talk about one of these topics.”

But his proximity to Trump has also led to criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., objected to Huang not testifying before a Senate committee even as “he has time to attend a $1 million-a-head dinner at Mar-a-Lago."

Huang said he wants the U.S. president and other officials — regardless of party — to succeed. “We could differ with politics, but we should want him to succeed," he said. "Because when President Trump succeeds, our country succeeds.”

New statistics released by the U.N. reveal that 2,300 people have been killed across Haiti so far this year, with another 100 kidnapped, while 1.5 million have been displaced. Among those abducted is James Boyard, cabinet director of the Defense Ministry, who was kidnapped last week in one of the few relatively safe areas of the capital.

Guterres’ one-day visit to Port-au-Prince comes after more than 30 people were killed, injured or missing last weekend in Cité Soleil, a seaside slum, according to Cooperative for Peace and Development, a local human rights organization.

His convoy sped past a neighborhood once fully controlled by gangs that left in their wake decimated car dealerships, abandoned homes and dozens of concrete buildings pockmarked with bullet holes. A colorful bus known as a tap-tap rumbled past, its windshield peppered with bullet holes.

Graffiti scrawled on a crumbling concrete wall read: “Down with Viv Ansanm, long live the police.” Viv Ansanm is a powerful gang federation that the U.S. government designated a foreign terrorist organization. It is estimated to control 70% of Port-au-Prince.

Guterres traveled past dozens of Haitians who fled the clashes and now live in makeshift homes under large pieces of canvas strung up with frayed rope.

They are among the more than 300,000 people displaced by gang violence across Port-au-Prince — a record. Among them are more than 18,000 people who fled the Cité Soleil slum in May, according to the U.N. International Organization for Migration.

“Haiti’s displacement crisis is entering an even more alarming phase,” Gregoire Goodstein, IOM chief of mission in Haiti, said in a recent statement.

Guterres’s first stop was the headquarters of the new gang-suppression force, which the U.N. Security Council approved in September. It replaces a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police that aimed to help Haiti’s National Police fight gangs but remained underfunded and understaffed. So far, Jamaica, Chad, El Salvador and Guatemala have deployed troops that number less than 1,000 to form part of the growing force, which is due to start operations in the coming weeks.

They are expected to work with Haiti’s National Police and its growing Armed Forces, with hundreds of Haitian men and a couple of women lining up on a dusty road hoping to interview to join.

Guterres then met behind closed doors with Prime Minister Alix Didier-Fils-Aimé, who is under pressure to hold elections in the country of nearly 12 million people that hasn’t had a president since Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence in July 2021.

“We had a frank conversation about what’s happening in Haiti, the vision the government has for the future,” Fils-Aimé told The Associated Press after the meeting.

He said security is a priority so the transitional government can hold elections and “get back to republican rule.” Fils-Aimé added that Guterres can help with that effort by ensuring that the countries backing the gang-suppression force “live up to their engagement.”

Forced to flee to makeshift shelters

Guterres also stopped by a makeshift shelter in a former school where dozens of the people living there crowded around him.

Forced to flee their homes after gangs shot up their community and set fire to it, some had been living there for up to four years.

“Solino is not ready,” 31-year-old Clifford Lala said of going back to his community. It was one of the last holdouts in Port-au-Prince until gangs overran it.

Guterres ducked into a hot classroom and met privately with a group of six women who decried the lack of privacy at the shelter, even to shower or use the bathroom, and said they worried about their young children.

"It’s skin-to-skin and mouth-to-mouth,” said one woman.

The shelter houses more than 1,200 people who sleep side by side, and only one meal a day is guaranteed.

“We’re going to do our best,” Guterres told the women.

Outside, a man began to slap the building’s metal siding and bellowed, “We want to go back home!” His voice grew louder and angrier as security walked into the room and whisked Guterres away.

Wendy Cejour, 26, told the AP that he and his family have been living at the school for a year and a half.

“As long as we’re alive we have hope, but … things are difficult,” he said. “We ask ... to return to our neighborhood to live better, because we don’t have a life here.”

A day before Guterres’s visit, Human Rights Watch published a letter urging him to protect the population and target the root causes of violence and human rights abuses. Guterres said he was deeply impacted by what he saw.

“What I saw will not leave me,” he said. “Each day is a fight to survive. ... The women and the children pay the highest price.”

___

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

Griffin’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nevada, says that in 2025 her former middle school classmate “told The New York Times — and through it, the world — that Amy Griffin is a fraud and a thief.”

The lawsuit says that in the woman's telling, “Mrs. Griffin stole the rape of another woman and built a bestseller on it.”

A Times spokesperson said the lawsuit misrepresents its story and reporting. The former classmate said her account will prove true in court.

In “The Tell,” a hit that became an Oprah's Book Club selection, Griffin, a venture capitalist and memoirist, recounts being sexually abused as a child by a teacher at her middle school in Amarillo, Texas, and writes that years later she recovered memories of the experience by undergoing therapy using the psychedelic drug MDMA.

The Times story published six months after the book included stories from a classmate who said some of Griffin's experiences were eerily similar to her own. Then in March the woman filed a lawsuit in California state court, which Griffin is fighting and seeking to have dismissed.

The Associated Press doesn’t typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly or otherwise consent. The woman who sued Griffin filed her lawsuit as Jane Doe, and her name did not appear in the Times story.

Griffin says documentation backs her in every aspect

Griffin's lawsuit says the most essential fact is that she put her account of her abuse in writing in 2020, and in 2021 she provided another detailed and documented account in an interview with the Amarillo Police Department. Both accounts match up with the book, and both came before Griffin is alleged to have extracted the woman's abuse story by having someone posing as a talent agent call her in 2022, according to the lawsuit. The statute of limitations prevented the criminal investigation from moving forward.

Griffin's lawsuit says the woman falsely claimed to be another middle school classmate who appears in “The Tell” under the pseudonym “Claudia,” whose meeting with the author is recounted in the book. The lawsuit Griffin had not talked to the woman in more than 35 years, had never been part of the same church youth group as alleged, and was demonstrably not in the Palm Springs area in 2019 — or the years before or after — when the woman claims the two of them met for coffee.

Griffin's lawsuit says the coffee shop conversation with “Claudia” took place thousands of miles away in the presence of a collaborator, and that the woman in the Times story had been unable to produce any evidence the meeting with her had taken place.

“Amy Griffin’s accuser has had every opportunity to set the record straight," Griffin's lawyer Tom Clare said in a statement to the AP on Tuesday. "This lawsuit’s purpose is to make the truth known. The New York Times knowingly promoted her false allegations and must also be held accountable.”

Accuser says this is an attempt to silence her

In an email to The Associated Press sent through her lawyers, the woman said the shame and humiliation from her sexual assault were unimaginable and she was “violated all over again after reading about my own experiences in Amy’s book.”

“Despite trying to remain anonymous, Amy has now chosen to use her immense wealth and influence to try and silence me,” the email said. “She has had her lawyers identify me publicly as well as sue me. I am shocked and disappointed that she would choose to take this route, especially since she herself knows the truth."

Griffin's attorneys said in filings that the woman's attorneys gave them her name — which they have used unredacted in exhibits that they've shared — and have not proceeded with the case anonymously under California law.

Griffin's lawsuit seeks a declaration that the allegations that she stole the woman's abuse stories are false, along with financial damages to be determined at trial.

New York Times stands by its reporting and story

Griffin's lawsuit, while not naming the Times as a defendant, is harshly critical of the paper, saying it "deemed the story too good to scrutinize” despite Griffin's lawyers making it clear the woman's account was “demonstrably false.”

Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in an email to the AP that the lawsuit and related filings “repeatedly misrepresent The New York Times story and its reporting,” and that the article “is markedly different in key aspects put forth” in both women's lawsuits.

Rhoades points out that many of the allegations Griffin is pushing back against did not appear in the Times' story, including that the woman they spoke to was “Claudia,” or that a person posing as a talent agent on Griffin's behalf called to get her stories of abuse.

And Rhoades said the Times story did not say Griffin “misappropriated” the woman's story, and she said claims that the reporters did not vet their story are false, and that they “engaged extensively with Ms. Griffin’s legal representatives prior to publication including meticulous fact checking.”

“Our story was about a publishing phenomenon, the reliability of memories recovered while under the influence of MDMA and the impact of a bestselling memoir on the author’s hometown,” Rhoades said. “Our reporters’ only agenda was to pursue the facts, including corroboration of accounts from all sources.”

Investigators recovered high-powered firearms from several of the suspects and reviewed encrypted text messages between roughly 20 participants who shared detailed maps and aerial photographs of the area and discussed the need for a “safe house” and escape routes after the intended attack, the documents show.

But it's unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers could have come to being able to carry out the plan had it not been thwarted.

Several suspects or co-conspirators who were questioned by the authorities said they did not intend themselves to carry out violence but planned to instead observe others. One said he would have traveled to the UFC event as a protester but had to return home after his vehicle malfunctioned. And though the participants spoke of using drones rigged with explosives, charging documents suggest they were still looking to acquire such equipment when the plot was interrupted.

“It didn't even get close to the point of execution,” Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday evening on Fox News Channel, describing the planning as “not that advanced.”

“They weren’t in town. They had not really done that much planning,” he said.

United by conspiracy theories and anger over the country's direction

Law enforcement officials learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza on the White House’s South Lawn, “and thanks to the rapid action of the FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Director Kash Patel said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Five people from states including Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California were arrested on federal charges, the Justice Department said.

Asked about the arrests Tuesday, Vance said there was “more violent rhetoric coming from the left than the right these days.” But the charging documents paint a more muddled view of their views, depicting them as espousing a tangled web of anti-government sentiment, antisemitic grievances, fury over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and conspiracy theories about a powerful elite that sacrifices and consumes children.

Both Trump and Vance said they had not been briefed in advance of the plot. A top Secret Service official suggested Tuesday the investigation was continuing and an announcement might have been premature.

“Anyone that believes that case was worked in a bubble is naive,” Deputy Secret Service Director Matthew Quinn told reporters at an unrelated news conference. “I'll tell you the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I'll tell you that it's ongoing. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it.”

Communications took place on TikTok and Signal

Among those arrested was Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old Ohio man whose mother contacted law enforcement last week with concerns about his firearms purchases and online communications, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.

Proper told officials he participated in the planning of an attack, according to the affidavit, which says some members of the group began communicating with each other last March through a TikTok group called “Vanguard of the Old.”

“The members of the group stated that they wanted to protect the United States, which they believed was headed in the wrong direction,” the affidavit says. “Members of the group believed that the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt. Some expressed a desire that people who were involved with Jeffrey Epstein should not govern the country.”

Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, was friends with Epstein many years ago but has said he ended their relationship before the disgraced financier’s crimes became known. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

A lawyer for Proper, who is charged with firearms offenses and crimes including attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The logistics were discussed via Signal, an app that uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services, through a primary chat of “approximately 19 individuals" and smaller side chats, authorities said. Messages obtained from Proper's phone show he identified by name several Republican lawmakers he said should be targeted because they apparently received donations from causes supportive of Israel, the affidavit said.

Proper told law enforcement officials that he had been planning to drive with weapons and body armor to a meet-up spot in Fredericksburg, Virginia, court papers say. He said though he did not intend to shoot people at the White House, others in the group did, the affidavit said.

The plan called for the use of drones that would be detonated over the north side of the White House, prompting an evacuation into the line of fire of waiting snipers in an attack Proper said was designed to “jumpstart” a revolution, authorities said.

Investigators who examined Proper's phone and TikTok account identified additional suspects.

Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, California, told officials he viewed himself as “the planner and advisor for the group, and while he was not willing to take action himself, wanted to guide and instruct others on how to carry out attacks" designed to overthrow the government, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.

The agent said Thomas believed the U.S. government was “run by an elite group of individuals who sacrifice and consume infants who also were deeply involved" with Epstein and are now protected by Trump.

Another suspect, Bryan Omar Roa, also of California, told the FBI he had planned to attend the event as a “protester” but he had to return home because his car was broken, an agent said.

It was not immediately clear who their lawyers were.

Two other suspects were identified as Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri, who officials say said in a group chat that a target of the attack should be “big and someone a majority of the country knows,” and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, an Omaha, Nebraska, man who the FBI said posted detailed plans with the co-conspirators.

A lawyer for Alvarez declined to comment and a lawyer for Eskridge did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

___

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Évian-les-Bains, France, and Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed to this report.

The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 208 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat traveling in the water before being hit by the strike and bursting into flames.

Southern Command said it "immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors."

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.

The strikes have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The U.S. military’s first strike in early September drew particular concern from some lawmakers and those who study military law.

Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them. The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.

But some legal scholars said a second strike killing survivors would have been illegal under any circumstance, armed conflict or not.

The Pentagon’s watchdog said in May that it plans to look into whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the strikes.

However, the evaluation is focused specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not on the legality of the strikes, the inspector general’s office said.

The veteran right-hander will return to the Tigers’ rotation Sunday (June 21) against the Chicago White Sox, per Detroit’s post on X on Tuesday, capping a rehab process that included two minor league starts and a simulated game.

Must-see JV. pic.twitter.com/mHZdao45KR

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) June 16, 2026

Verlander, 43, reunited with the Tigers this season after signing a one-year free-agent contract.

He made one start before landing on the injured list due to left hip inflammation.

The Tigers placed Verlander on the injured list on April 4, retroactive to April 1.

Verlander has spent the recent weeks building back toward a return, throwing on June 2 and again on June 10, then completing a four-inning simulated game Monday at Daikin Park, before the Tigers took down the Houston Astros 9-3 in the series opener.

Steady progress through rehab

Verlander’s first rehab outing with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens produced five scoreless innings on 64 pitches.

His second appearance, against the Minnesota Twins’ Triple-A affiliate, the St. Paul Saints, on June 10, was more turbulent, as he allowed four home runs during an 86-pitch, 5 2/3-inning outing.

Verlander’s only major league start this season came March 30 against the Diamondbacks in Arizona, where he lasted 3 2/3 innings in a 9-6 loss, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks.

Historic milestones within reach

The future Hall of Famer enters Sunday’s start as Major League Baseball’s active leader in wins (266) and strikeouts (3,554).

His return gives Detroit another experienced arm as the Tigers continue their season.

Saturday starter still uncertain

Back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal is scheduled to start Friday’s series opener against Chicago.

Saturday’s start remains unsettled.

Troy Melton was scratched from his scheduled start on Monday against the Astros due to back tightness and remains a possibility for Saturday if he recovers in time.

With Verlander back on track, Detroit is preparing to add one of baseball’s most accomplished active pitchers back into its rotation.

The initial quake was centered inland about 43 kilometers (27 miles) east-southeast of Palu, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep.

The strong shaking sent people fleeing into open areas in and around Palu, a city of about 400,000 people and the capital of Central Sulawesi province. Several hospitals evacuated patients, some with IV drips, outdoors as a safety measure.

Four regencies close to the epicenter — with a combined population of 1.3 million — have yet to be fully assessed. A preliminary report said at least 312 people have been displaced by the powerful earthquake. Also, one person died, 38 others were reported injured and rushed to a nearby hospital, including 13 with serious injuries in the hardest hit Sigi regency, according to Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Management Agency's spokesperson.

He said the earthquake also caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure, including 67 houses, six places of worship, four public facilities, two bridges, two government office buildings and three business sites. A section of a provincial road linking Palu city and its neighboring regencies of Sigi and Poso was cut.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency also recorded that at least 71 aftershocks continued throughout the day, raising concerns among residents shaken by memories of a devastating 2018 earthquake and tsunami in the region. The aftershocks prompted residents to flee buildings and gather in open areas.

People also moved away from coastal areas as a precaution in case the quake set off a tsunami. The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami but warned aftershocks could continue.

“The earthquake shaking was extremely strong,” Palu resident Muhtar Ahmad said. “We are still traumatized by the previous earthquake, so we chose to remain outside because we are afraid that aftershocks may continue.”

Images from the area showed heavily damaged structures with partially collapsed roofs, shattered walls and debris scattered across the streets.

“We have evacuated all guests from the hotel, including several guests who remained in their rooms,” said Effendi Natali, a general manager of a four-star hotel in Palu.

“They all panicked, which is a natural reaction during an earthquake, but everyone is safe,” Natali said, adding that the hotel sustained only minor damage.

Many Sulawesi residents are haunted by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that devastated Palu in 2018, setting off a 3-meter (10-foot) high tsunami and a phenomenon called liquefaction in which soil collapses into itself. More than 4,000 people were killed, including many who were buried when whole neighborhoods were swallowed in the falling ground.

In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake near the city of Mamuju on Sulawesi island left at least 100 people dead, with thousands sleeping outdoors for days out of fear of aftershocks.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

___

Associated Press journalists Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta contributed to this report.

The deal, which is between the U.S. and Iran, has not been made public, and officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in it. While Israel is not party to the agreement, it is part of the war after joining the U.S. in launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Israel also has fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon would violate the deal.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Araghchi said.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement, has said the deal does not call for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary.”

The negotiations to end the war have been plagued by such disagreements before, leading to a prolonged but uneasy ceasefire that has failed to develop into a permanent end to hostilities and has left the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world’s energy supplies, effectively shut.

Switzerland’s foreign ministry said the signing ceremony for the deal will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near the city of Luzern.

Iran's call for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon complicates any deal

Pakistan has said the deal called for an end to military operations, including in Lebanon, as Iran long insisted. But Araghchi’s call for an Israeli withdrawal adds a new wrinkle.

It puts Israel into a dilemma as it tries to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities without undermining an agreement championed by its most important ally, the United States. Israel invaded southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border during the first week of the war. Since then, it has expanded its military footprint to levels unseen in decades and struck targets deep inside Beirut.

Though Hezbollah has been weakened, it retains the ability to strike Israel, leaving open questions about the effectiveness of Israel’s campaign.

As of Tuesday evening, Netanyahu had not seen the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, said a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door details. Another person, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations between Israel and the U.S., said Israeli officials have not asked U.S. negotiators for the memorandum.

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House declined to comment on whether Netanyahu or Israeli officials have reviewed the agreement.

The Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, told NPR that while Israel does not know the details of the deal, the apparent inclusion of Lebanon is “unnecessary and unhelpful.”

The extent of Israel’s strikes has at times opened a public fracture between its leaders. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that he was “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”

“It just goes on forever,” he said of Israel’s strategy. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed nearly 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and displaced more than 1 million.

“Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed,” Trump said.

Lebanese government welcomes prospects for a ceasefire

Israel and the Lebanese government have entered their own U.S.-mediated direct negotiations, of which Hezbollah was not part. Those talks have yielded several announced ceasefires that were never implemented on the ground.

Lebanese officials initially tried to keep Lebanon separate from the U.S.-Iran negotiations, not wanting to be seen as beholden to Iran, but they have since welcomed the announcement that the deal to end the U.S.-Iran war would include a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Araghchi’s latest comments appear to match the understanding of two regional officials with direct knowledge of the interim deal. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, said it would require Israel to leave nearly all the territory it occupies in Lebanon, minus a few hilltop points along the border seized earlier.

The officials say Iran insisted the accord include Lebanon in the last days of the negotiations.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL reported that Israel and Hezbollah are still exchanging fire but at a “significantly reduced level,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday.

Many questions loom ahead of ceremonial signing

Other major questions hang over the planned ceremonial signing.

The agreement is meant to provide a meaningful truce in a monthslong war that has killed thousands across the Middle East and raised the prices of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the region.

The agreement provides for the “immediate” opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement.

At least two oil tankers left Iran on Tuesday and crossed the U.S. military blockade without being stopped, ship tracking websites show. They represented Iran’s first crude oil exports in two months, merchant shipping tracking website TankerTrackers.com said.

The site said it corroborated the departure of the Iranian-flagged tankers Diona and Hero II with satellite imagery and that they were carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil. U.S. Central Command said it had no comment.

Next, the U.S. and Iran will begin 60 days of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and the potential lifting of sanctions, Pakistani officials who helped broker the interim deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unpublished text.

The pact also includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds and a $300 billion fund to help rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, senior U.S. officials told reporters Monday. Trump later said the United States would not “invest” funds in Iran.

U.S. officials have not yet explained how they see the agreement addressing Iran’s nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran is in compliance and who will destroy or remove highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last summer.

Iran has agreed to discuss ways to possibly “dilute or remove” the uranium, the regional officials said. However, it remains unclear whether Tehran would agree to that, particularly with hard-liners opposed.

Trump said he’s open to sending the emerging agreement to the U.S. Congress for review. Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

___

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Julia Frankel and Koral Saeed in Jerusalem, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, Aamer Madhani in Geneva, Darlene Superville in Evian-les-Bains, France, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

The U.S. sprinter clocked 14.67 seconds to beat a field of runners including Australia’s teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout.

Lyles, who won the 100 at the Paris Olympics and is four-time world champion in the 200, capitalized on a fast start before using his speed to cruise to the finish line.

He beat the previous best set by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson at 14.92 in April at Miramar, Florida.

Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa placed second in 14.78 and 18-year-old Gout was third in 14.96.

Gout set the under-20 world record in the 200 — a time faster than Usain Bolt’s best at that age — in winning the open Australian title in 19.67 seconds in April.

The young Australian has spent time training with Lyles and had earmarked the rarely-raced 150 as a chance to go head-to-head with the champion American.

___

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

The Washington Monument is once again visible in the refilled pool, but Trump's vision of an azure expanse between the D.C. landmarks has been complicated by the harsh realities of chemistry and biology known to any backyard pool owner. The work has been confounded by the unique challenges posed by the scale of the structure, bigger than 10 Olympic-sized pools — which Trump has called a lake — and the source of its water: the often-fetid Tidal Basin.

Algae has plagued the site since it opened more than 100 years ago, but Trump set his sights on addressing it as part of his aggressive push to beautify Washington as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. Contracts worth at least $14.8 million have been awarded for the project, announced in April by Trump, who said he was inspired by complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark and disgusting.

Teams of National Park Service employees and contractors deployed chemicals and ozone nanobubbles Tuesday in a bid to keep the algae in check, not dissimilar from efforts to clean the pool before Trump's renovation kicked off.

“What do you expect?” asked Cochise Wanzer II, president of the Pool Service Company in Arlington, Virginia. “You’re basically taking natural, untreated river water, pumping it in and expecting it to do something different from what it would do out in the open.”

And the new coat of paint on the bottom of the pool has added an additional twist to ensuring the cleanliness of one of Washington's most memorable destinations: “Now that the bottom is nice and dark, it elevates the temperature and the algae grows better,” said Wanzer.

The chemicals and ozone nanobubbles — a water purification treatment used to avoid some harsh chemicals — were one part of the effort underway to clean the Reflecting Pool. Workers used a swimming pool-type vacuum cleaner to suck up algae from the bottom, leaving behind clean patches of American Flag Blue paint adjacent to enormous swaths of green algae in a pattern familiar to anyone who has ever vacuumed a carpet before.

The park service said in a statement it is also using hydrogen peroxide, a milder treatment than chlorine and one used in spas and natural swimming pools. “There are no harmful side effects to marine life or to the environment,” it said.

As the mitigation work continued, a contractor took off his socks and shoes and rolled up his pants to his knees and proceeded to wade into the pool to place an ozone nanobubble tube as tourists and locals milled about on a sunny morning.

Rick and Ariana Pettit, a couple from Las Vegas who are road tripping in their RV across the United States, posed for photos at the iconic site of protests and marches as cleaning continued. Dressed in American flag-themed leggings and a Make America Great Again leotard, Pettit remarked to her husband, attired in an “Veteran for Trump” American flag button-up: “Look, it’s already looking more blue.”

Wanzer was blunt in his assessment of what it would take to maintain the pool as an algae-free space: “They may want to drain it, hose it all down, and start from the beginning with fresh water and treat it as the water comes in.”

The ruling means Partey, whose visa application was denied last week, will remain in the United States while his teammates face Panama in Toronto on Wednesday. He will be eligible to play in Ghana's next two matches — both in the U.S.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticized the visa denial for Partey, who awaits trial in Britain, as a “high-handed and extremely unfair decision.” Its appeal was heard by the court earlier Tuesday.

Partey faces allegations in Britain from several women dating to his time playing for Arsenal from 2020-25. Partey, who played in Spain for Villarreal this past season, has pleaded not guilty.

In March, a lawyer for Partey said the player intends to plead not guilty to two new charges of rape after a woman alleged Partey twice raped her on the same day in December 2020. Partey had separately been awaiting trial on five counts of rape related to two other women and one count of sexual assault involving another woman, and the new allegations arose after the first set of charges were publicized.

Partey’s lawyer, Mackeda Bramwell, told the court Tuesday that as a World Cup host nation, Canada had a “public interest” in allowing the “orderly participation of accredited national team athletes.”

In a statement submitted to the court, Partey had said he would remain under constant supervision of team officials, and will leave Canada when the team does.

Millions of his countrymen are hoping the team advances to the knockout round, he said.

“I have not been convicted of any offense. I have pleaded not guilty, and I remain presumed innocent,” Partey said.

Canada officials have said immigration decisions are made on a case-by-case basis regardless of the World Cup.

“He's a tremendous player, everyone knows his ability, and it’s an unfortunate situation,” Ghana forward Brandon Thomas-Asante said Tuesday. “I think we just, as players, we have to adapt.”

Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said earlier Tuesday before the ruling that the team would be ready but declined to comment on the appeal.

Ghana's base camp for the World Cup is in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Partey remains eligible to play June 23 when Ghana faces England in Massachusetts. Ghana concludes group play June 27 against Croatia in Philadelphia.

“As a team, as a family, we are going to give everything for him to be happy and be proud of us,” midfielder Kwasi Sibo said.

___

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

The NAACP and other groups say Musk's xAI subsidiary failed to get a permit for its power plant — which is located near homes, schools and churches — creating health risks for families in North Mississippi and nearby Memphis and violating the federal Clean Air Act.

The Justice Department, in a motion late Monday, sought to intervene in the case and dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the plant is needed to power an artificial intelligence data center that is “critical to the economy” and the U.S. military.

The state of Mississippi — not the federal government — is responsible for any permits for the power plant and “decided no permit was required," the Justice Department said in a statement.

“Ultimate responsibility for enforcing federal law belongs to the Executive Branch, not private interest groups,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who is No. 3 at the Justice Department. The motion to intervene in the case is intended to protect national security and promote American energy and innovation, he added.

Trump wants to assert American leadership in AI

The Trump administration has made AI a top national and economic security priority. It has also upended policies meant to address climate change and has worked to undo environmental regulations on business.

President Donald Trump also has had close ties to Musk, who led his federal government cost-saving initiative, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, early last year. Crowned the world’s first trillionaire Friday when SpaceX went public, Musk financed Trump’s presidential campaign more than any other donor and is pouring money into midterms.

The Justice Department action comes just days after SpaceX, Musk's rocket company and the parent of defendant xAI, pulled off the biggest initial offering of stock ever, partly due to the Trump administration's help supplying it with billions of dollars in federal contracts. SpaceX has a total value of more than $2 trillion, making it bigger than Exxon Mobil, Bank of America and Coca-Cola combined.

The NAACP lawsuit, filed in April, accuses xAI of running dozens of portable natural gas turbines without proper controls to limit emissions and without the permitting required by the Clean Air Act., which requires industrial polluters to obtain air permits before construction or operation.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday referred questions on the case to the Justice Department, saying it is not a party in the dispute.

The Justice Department action was not about national security, but instead was a “desperate attempt to protect wealthy tech companies from obeying the laws meant to protect people from pollution,” said Laura Thoms, director of enforcement for Earthjustice, an environmental law firm that represents the NAACP with co-counsel Southern Environmental Law Center.

“Trump’s Justice Department wants to shield Elon Musk’s data center company, xAI, from being held accountable for its illegal pollution — and it’s attempting to grab power from impacted communities, the courts and Congress to do so,'' Thoms said.

AI data centers are turning communities into ‘sacrifice zones,’ critics say

The data center and its pollution are “turning our communities into sacrifice zones,” Thoms added.

Abre’ Conner, the NAACP's director of environmental and climate justice, said the Clean Air Act was designed to hold polluters accountable for decisions that cause harm to communities. "This should not be up for debate, and the NAACP will continue to stand up for democracy and against federal bullying and authoritarianism,” Conner said.

The NAACP brought the complaint under a provision of the Clean Air Act that allows groups or individuals to sue in “citizen suits” to compel enforcement of the law -- a power that the Trump administration now is saying it can undo.

“This is particularly audacious because it is supposedly grounded in constitutional powers,” said Ann Carlson, a professor at the UCLA School of Law. The Justice Department is saying it “can step in and dismiss a lawsuit on any ground and all grounds.”

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said xAI is building a “self-generating power facility” to ensure area residents don't face rate increases from surging demand, an action he said conforms to Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Tech giants including xAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, OpenAI and Amazon signed the pledge in March as a backlash grew against data centers over fears about rising electricity prices and concerns about pollution and water consumption.

The NAACP lawsuit seeks to “materially slow or outright stop the largest private investment in Mississippi's history,” Reeves said in a letter included in the Justice Department filing. The overall project has created thousands of construction jobs and will create hundreds of permanent jobs once it is completed, Reeves said.

The Justice Department, in a statement Tuesday, said the Pentagon is one of many federal agencies that use AI.

"Overly burdensome regulation, including private lawsuits that seek to implement their own environmental enforcement, can threaten technological growth, American energy independence and national security,'' the statement said.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. It has previously said that it is in full compliance with the law and takes its environmental responsibilities seriously.

___

Condon reported from New York.

“We were clear this was the process,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said after Monday's night's 2-2 draw with New Zealand that the team had been ordered to leave the U.S. and return to its training base in Mexico only a few hours later. Ghalenoei said the team had expected to spend the night in California to maximize the normal recovery process after its opening game.

Iran winger Mehdi Torabi's entry visa had also expired after the first game. Team officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon that they had secured Torabi a new, multiple-entry visa after he visited the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana.

“This issue has been resolved,” the State Department said Tuesday. “As soon as we became aware of the issue, we worked to ensure that the player can participate in every game.”

Giuliani said during an interview broadcast Monday night on CBS News that some of the Iranian team’s support staff and team officials were denied entry into the U.S. But he said that all the players and coaches had received visas. He also outlined the conditions by which the Iranian team would be able to come into the U.S. for their games.

“The team will be allowed to come in, match day minus one, so the day before the match. They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match. And they’ll be able to do that again in Los Angeles. They’ll be able to do it again in Seattle,” Giuliani said. The team's next match is Sunday, in LA.

When asked about why some support staff and team officials had been denied entry, Giuliani wouldn’t go into details but referred to previous comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio about denying entry to people with direct ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

“Secretary Rubio said very clearly: Anybody with direct ties to the IRGC is not coming into the United States of America, and they’re not going to let the World Cup be the reason why they can come in,” Giuliani said. “So I think it’s very clear why.”

Iran's federation said in a statement Tuesday evening that it had asked FIFA to follow up on the cases of those who hadn't received visas, noting that “the team’s media duties were being handled by one of the analysts, which is neither professional nor an appropriate arrangement.”

“Like the other 47 participating teams, the Iranian delegation is expected to have its full operational staff in place, including a team manager, a media officer, and an administrative manager,” the federation said. “Their absence creates obvious challenges for the team’s daily operations and is not consistent with standard tournament procedures.”

The Iranians’ World Cup cycle has been in upheaval since the U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran ultimately decided to compete even after FIFA rejected its request to move its three group-stage matches out of the U.S.

Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said the team endured five hours of travel and security checks during what’s normally a very short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.

“I think FIFA have to help us more than this,” Taremi said.

___

Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington and journalist Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed reporting.

___

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

The burning cross was discovered June 9 in Grant Park, where Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech when he was elected the nation’s first Black president in 2008.

A man identifying himself as a 21-year-old college student told WMAQ-TV that he was the shirtless person in an image distributed by police when they were looking for a suspect. But police did not immediately say Tuesday if he's the person in custody. The man said he was protesting President Donald Trump and not making a racist statement.

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” the man told the TV station. “Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”

Cross burnings in the U.S. have historically been seen as symbols of hate and intimidation against Black people and have often been connected to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Chicago Police Department's communications office confirmed that a person was in custody in connection with the case, but no other details were released. An email seeking comment from the prosecutor's office was sent Tuesday.

“I can’t speak to anyone’s motives. We can only speak to the impact. And the impact was devastating," Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is Black, said when asked about the cross and the man’s remarks to WMAQ.

The man interviewed by the TV station said he was protesting the “ruling class” and Christian nationalists who support Trump. He said he put a red hat on the cross to signify a MAGA hat worn by the president's allies.

The man said he doesn't consider what he did a hate crime.

“I understand why it was interpreted that way, and I apologize for that, but no, the intent was not there,” he said.

Gina Miranda Samuels, faculty director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, said the man seemed sincere that he was not trying to send a hateful message to Black people.

Nonetheless, she added, “it says a lot about how uninformed people can be” about certain symbols, “and that it would be acceptable to use a symbol of hatred and terror in this way.”

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, senior pastor with the local Catholic church The Faith Community of Saint Sabina, said he doesn't buy that the man went to the trouble of making the cross but didn't know it was a symbol of hate.

“Your Lawyer Schooled you well,” he said in a post on Facebook.

Officials from the church had posted on social media a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the cross burning. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the man interviewed by WMAQ-TV said the hat on the cross was red, signifying a MAGA hat. It was not an actual MAGA hat.

It helps that the guy doing the reading — a victim impact statement in court — is Mark Ruffalo, who is very likely to get an Emmy nomination next month for playing a former priest-turned-FBI agent seeking some kind of redemption for himself and his son who's about to be sentenced for killing his mother, Ruffalo's wife.

“I think that stuff was some of the earliest we wrote,” “Task” creator and showrunner Brad Ingelsby told The Associated Press in an interview. “It was like, 'OK, now, so that’s the emotional journey of the show and then we've got to figure out what the plot is.'”

Ingelsby, who previously took Kate Winslet on a similar journey in similar Pennsylvania terrain in 2021's “Mare of Easttown,” said the idea was “a man of faith and lost his faith in the face of this tragedy that sort of would have to have to find his way back to some belief.” The title “Task” refers both to the police team Ruffalo leads the religious responsibilities that linger in him.

For the court statement, Ingelsby read about experiences of real-life parents of children whose mental disabilities have brought domestic difficulties.

“I specifically remember reading a parent saying, ‘I hate Fridays. I hate going to school and seeing the parents pick up their kids because they’re going off to have a weekend. And for me, that’s the worst day because now I’m home with my child for two days on my own.’”

Ingelsby has been writing films for 15 years, but really hit his professional stride with “Mare of Easttown,” his first foray into television, which won Winslet and her “Delco” or Delaware County, Pennsylvania accent (think “water” as “wooder”) an acting Emmy.

The screenwriter was born and raised in the area outside Philadelphia where urban and rural intertwine both physically and culturally. He moved back around the time of “Mare,” set “Task” there and spoke to the AP from his production office there.

That means he’s been walking around in the place, and among the people, he’s writing about.

“I feel the burden of it when I’m writing things all the time. I feel like if anything, it makes me very vigilant about getting the details right,” he said. “There’s always somebody who says ‘they would never listen to that song or they would ever wear that T-shirt or they wouldn’t drink that beer.’”

He adds, “It’s important to me. I want to do right by them. Even if they don’t like the characters or the decisions of the characters, I want them to feel like we got the place right.”

“Task” was intended as a limited series like “Mare,” but in November HBO announced a second season.

That means that for the forthcoming Emmys, in a move made in recent years by “The White Lotus” and “Shogun,” it shifted from the limited categories to drama.

Along with Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, who played the lost-soul criminal at the center of the story, is likely to get a nomination, and “Task” could easily get a raft of others.

Ingelsby has never done a Season 2 of anything before.

“It’s still weird to me that we’re doing another season, because in my head, in many ways, the story had a clear end,” he said.

The idea came from HBO. Ingelsby entertained it simply because the collective cast and crew were such a good hang.

“It really started with just an openness to come back and just work on the show, and that really stemmed from, you know, really loving all of just the time we got to spend together,” he said.

The Season 2 cast includes two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as a DEA agent. Martha Plimpton, who played against type but felt perfect as Ruffalo’s FBI supervisor, will be among the few returning.

“She was such a find because I just felt like we really need to have some humor in the show,” Ingelsby said, “and Martha’s able to find the humor always.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Ingelsby.

The 300,000-square-foot space is planned along Franklin Road near Square Lake Road in Bloomfield Township. The venue would accommodate up to 600 people and include a banquet space for special events and culinary training, according to developer Chef Zack Sklar.

Residents question the data

At a tense meeting, Brett Northcutt, a neighboring resident, said a property analysis submitted by Peas and Carrots Hospitality Group through real estate firm Signature Associates was fabricated.

“The report from Signature and Associates, that was supposed to be a property analysis, was completely made up,” Northcutt said. “Every single address was fake, the street names were made up, and they were relying on that to address our concerns about property value.”

Signature Associates had presented data showing the five closest homes to each comparable venue appreciated an average of 52% over the past 10 years. Attempts to reach Mark Woods of Signature Associates were unsuccessful.

Sklar disputed the fraud allegation, telling this reporter the inconsistencies in the data presented to residents and the Bloomfield Township Planning Commission were not fraud, but rather a fat-fingered compilation of data.

Concerns mount

Property values are not the only issue. Residents hired an independent acoustics expert, who determined the sound from the venue would be four times louder than what was presented to the commission.

One commissioner voiced concern about the level of community opposition.

“When you have so much opposition to a project, you are going against an entire population in that area — that’s a problem for me,” the commissioner said at the meeting.

Commission delays vote

The Bloomfield Township Planning Commission voted to allow a banquet space in the zoning area but stopped short of voting for or against Bloomfield Hollow itself.

Township officials said the commission is taking additional time to review the information presented. A date for a new vote on Bloomfield Hollow has not been set.

Previous coverage --> Planning commission tables decision on Bloomfield Hollows project in Oakland County

He was speaking shortly after Monday's stunning 0-0 draw in Atlanta against the European champions, when he had gone from about 50,000 followers to more than 1 million. Less than 24 hours after the game, Vozinha already had nearly 10 million Instagram followers — more than NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama (6.2 million) and NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes (6.4 million).

“Crazy, that's crazy,” Vozinha told Brazilian YouTube channel CazéTV after the match that turned him into the biggest new name of the World Cup so far. It was CazéTV, the only channel in Brazil with the rights to all 104 World Cup games, that was taking credit for the huge surge in followers.

CazéTV is anchored by the popular Brazilian streamer Casimiro Miguel, known as Cazé. The channel has more than 31 million subscribers on YouTube and is known for sports broadcasts marked by a more informal and conversational approach, with a focus on community-based fan engagement. While watching Vozinha's performance during the broadcast, Cazé realized that the goalkeeper did not have many Instagram followers and began asking his audience to start following him.

Spain, one of the World Cup favorites, was widely expected to cruise past the tournament debutants. But La Roja could not find a way past Vozinha and a stubborn defense that had an answer to everything Spain’s superstars threw at them.

“Normally we ask for subscribers,” Cazé said. “We are not going to ask for subscribers today, we are going to ask for followers. For Vozinha. He is stopping Spain. He is shocking the world. He is the standout player of the first half. Why not show him some love?”

His followers increased by a few hundred thousand shortly after that, and kept growing and growing throughout the day. Vozinha, who only began playing professionally at 25, is one of the few players 40 or older in the tournament. He made several crucial saves against Spain's powerful attack and was named the man of the match.

The result sparked celebrations in Cape Verde, the group of islands off Africa’s west coast that is home to about half a million people. Cape Verde is the third-smallest nation by population to ever qualify for the World Cup.

Working on mom’s visa

Vozinha said after the game that his mom was not able to make it to the United States to watch him play because of difficulties getting a visa.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it had no record of her ever applying for a visa, but that it was working on resolving the situation with Cape Verde authorities. The department said it had notified all players from World Cup countries affected by the $15,000 visa bond requirement that they and their families would be exempt from posting the bond.

“All relatives of players are eligible for visa bond waivers, and the department is actively reaching out to this player’s family to assist with visa services,” the department said.

A person familiar with the situation said that the State Department believes that Vozinha's mother did not apply for a visa because she did not hold a valid Cape Verde passport, but that she is now in the process of getting one.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential visa deliberations. A request for comment was sent to the team Tuesday afternoon. The team's next match is Sunday.

Payne's similar case

A similar case to Vozinha's virality happened last month, with New Zealand defender Tim Payne, after an Argentine influencer called on his followers to make the little-known player a “hero” of the World Cup.

El Scarso, a soccer influencer also known as Valen Scarsini, identified the 32-year-old Payne as the least-known player at the World Cup based on his small social media following.

Payne had around 4,700 followers on Instagram before being singled out by El Scarso. That number quickly rose to more than a million. He had nearly 6 million followers on Tuesday.

Push for new audiences

FIFA has made a push to engage a new generation of fans by giving younger audiences more options to access soccer’s showcase event. For the 2026 World Cup, it reached what it described as a record number of deals with broadcast partners carrying digital-only platforms, and partnered with TikTok and YouTube to allow users to see parts of matches live.

Brazil historically has been one of the countries with the most engagement on social media and digital platforms. FIFA took notice and four years ago did a type of a test run with CazéTV after Cazé's success on Twitch. He broadcast 22 matches during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, leading to a bigger deal for this year's tournament.

“Thank you,” Vozinha told CazéTV. “The Brazilians have always supported us. We felt it during our campaign to qualify for the World Cup and now we are feeling it again at the biggest stage. We are thankful for it.”

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed reporting from Washington.

___

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

Eugene Hurd said the issue began as a small spot when he first moved into his unit, but has since grown despite his efforts to clean it regularly.

To some, the toilet may look simply dirty. Hurd is convinced it’s mold.

“Lysol, bleach, chemical spray, and lemon,” Hurd said, listing just some of the products he says he uses on the toilet every week. “Nothing seems to help it.”

Ford said he also believes there is mold in other parts of the bathroom, like directly behind the toilet.

He said he reported the problem to the apartment’s management but felt his concerns were dismissed.

“When they came out, they said that we need to use the fan and that it’s moisture,” Hurd said. “So the hot and the cold, because this sweats, this sweats a lot, and he said there’s nothing they can do about it.”

Unsatisfied with that explanation, Ford filed a complaint with the city in April against the property management company.

He said nothing had been fixed, and as he began to feel sick, he went to the doctor last week to report his concern about mold.

He was prescribed medication to treat upper respiratory symptoms.

Ford then filed a second complaint with the city.

In response to questions about those complaints, the city of Ypsilanti said.

“We can confirm that both complaints have been received and addressed by city staff. The city was notified by both the landlord and tenant that the initial complaint was resolved after a violation notice was issued,” the city said.

Hurd disputes that the problem was ever resolved, but said he was encouraged by an email he received today regarding his latest complaint.

“Your complaint has been assigned to Inspector Jamaica Berry. Inspector will be reaching out to you,” Hurd read out loud.

Local 4 also contacted the property management for Ford’s complex. The company did not respond to an email request for comment. A staff member reached by phone said she would pass along the message.

Hurd said he hopes that once the city inspects his unit and sees the conditions, his landlord will either fix the problem or help him move into another one of the company’s rentals.

The city of Ypsilanti recently launched an online form to make it easier for renters to report housing issues without visiting city offices in person. Residents can describe their concern, submit the form, and wait for a follow-up.

City officials said staff members respond within two business days of a complaint being filed by scheduling an inspection and, if necessary, issuing violation notices in accordance with city ordinances and building regulations.

The city typically receives one to two property maintenance complaints about rental properties each month. Before submitting a complaint, tenants must notify their landlord of the problem in writing and allow the landlord 10 days to make corrections.

If a landlord fails to respond or address the issue, then a property maintenance complaint form must be submitted to the city’s building department.

During a news conference Tuesday, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the defendants “violently opposed the enforcement of federal law” by setting up blockades around government buildings, throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles and “stalking” agents as they moved through Minneapolis.

He said the defendants were part of two groups that he characterized as “antifa,” an umbrella term for a diffuse movement of militant left-wing activists.

Defense attorney Kevin Riach said his client, Isaac Sant, had no affiliation with antifa, which he called “a boogeyman invented by the far-right.”

“The purpose is to intimidate people who came out to observe and protest ICE’s numerous violations of the law,” Riach added. “It’s an affront to the First Amendment.”

President Donald Trump declared last September that he would label “antifa” a domestic terrorist group, urging federal agencies to “investigate, disrupt and dismantle” its members and affiliates.

In March, eight people accused of having ties to antifa were convicted on terrorism charges in a Texas shooting, a first of its kind case that raised concerns among some civil liberties groups.

Asked about the Justice Department’s definition of “antifa,” Rosen said the question was “beyond the scope” of the indictment, but noted that several defendants had self-identified with the term.

The 15 people charged Tuesday were part of “Direct Action Minnesota,” a left-wing coalition of protest groups that trains its members in the “surveillance, operational planning and rapid mobilization against law enforcement,” Rosen said.

The alleged conspiracy began in January, shortly after the Trump administration launched its sweeping immigration crackdown, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, in response to reports of fraud within Minnesota’s Somali community.

The operation — described by the Department of Homeland Security as the largest in its history — brought thousands of federal agents, who often wore masks and traveled in unmarked SUVs, into the Twin Cities and surrounding areas.

Their arrival drew fierce protests from Minnesota residents, who quickly set up a sprawling network of anonymous Signal chats to track the movement of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Protesters then used whistles and car horns to draw attention to detentions as they were happening.

The indictment cites Signal communications between some defendants, who allegedly discussed setting up trailers to block federal vehicles and handing out plastic shields to demonstrators. Rosen declined to say whether any federal agents were injured as a result.

One of the defendants, Kyle Wagner, 37, was previously arrested on charges that he made online threats against ICE officers and their supporters. An attorney listed for Wagner in that case did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Each of the defendants was charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Three others faced additional charges, including interstate stalking, assault on a federal officer and destruction of government property.

Riach said his client and several other defendants made their initial appearance in federal court in St. Paul on Tuesday afternoon and were released without bail.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of protesters clashed with federal agents, who at one point deployed pepper spray to push the crowd away from the door.

Federal prosecutors said Operation Metro Surge resulted in more than 4,000 arrests.

The administration framed the operation as a response to a burgeoning federal investigation into billions of dollars in fraud within Minnesota programs tied to Medicaid. Dozens of Somali immigrants have been convicted or implicated. Trump has called the state’s Somali population “garbage.”

Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sought to defend the Somali population and condemned Trump for sending federal officers where they weren’t needed or wanted.

In the months since, federal authorities have sought to prosecute protesters they blame for violence, while state and local Minnesota officials have pursued assault charges against at least two federal officers. The agents who fatally shot two protesters, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, have not been charged.

Walz and Ellison did not immediately respond to email messages Tuesday seeking comment on the federal indictment.

The order from Kennedy, one of the nation’s most prominent critics of vaccine mandates, lockdowns and other government public health restrictions, spurred outrage from some advocates and legal scholars, who called it illegal and rooted in politics rather than public health.

Five weeks after she left the cruise ship, the passenger, Angela Perryman, is still symptom-free. She remained in quarantine as of Tuesday.

“I want to be able to walk outside and put my feet in the grass,” Perryman said in an interview. “I want to be able to feel fresh air on my face when I want to. I want to be able to see people that are not in full PPE. I don’t want to be dehumanized anymore.”

Courtney Spencer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the state of Florida chose not to comply with federal requirements for how tightly to monitor Perryman if she returned home. Perryman needs to be quarantined to protect both herself and her community, Spencer said.

Because symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks, the Americans at the Nebraska facility were to be monitored either there or at home for 42 days — a period set to expire at the end of the day on Sunday, June 21.

Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert who helped shape current federal quarantine regulations, called the decision to keep Perryman in Nebraska “an egregious violation” of a U.S. citizen’s rights.

“She’s being held, deprived of her liberty,” Gostin said, adding that a broad medical consensus supports allowing her to complete quarantine at home.

Kennedy's order strays from the CDC official's recommendation

Kennedy's order keeping Perryman in Nebraska quarantine came Monday. It followed a medical review earlier this month that was overseen by Dr. Michael Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency within Kennedy's HHS.

Bell reviewed testimony from CDC officials and an outside medical expert concerning Perryman’s challenge to an earlier order confining her to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Bell said federal officials insisted that anyone returning home needed daily in-person monitoring and round-the-clock surveillance by local law enforcement or public officials.

Florida officials refused those conditions — which Gostin called “overkill” and a “waste of resources” — and proposed instead that Perryman simply do once-daily temperature checks and symptom assessments.

Experts at the meeting agreed that Florida's proposal was reasonable. Bell recommended Perryman be allowed to go home, according to a June 11 report obtained by The Associated Press. Kennedy signed the quarantine order anyway.

Perryman says prolonged time in the facility is limiting

Perryman said life in the facility is like being confined in an airport hotel room. Sometimes she can go to its roof for an hour as armed guards watch. Nurses wearing gloves, masks and face shields deliver meals and take her temperature. She said it feels like a “prison.”

The 47-year-old learned that she would be required to stay in the facility until June 21 when Kennedy’s order was slipped under her door on Monday.

“I was appalled,” she said. “I was horrified that the secretary, who is not a physician, would override the doctor and violate the law just to keep me locked up.”

Perryman said she lives primarily in Ecuador but keeps a permanent home with friends in Florida. She said she wants the chance to cook her own food and spend time in more than one room, either in her home or a rental property.

Her quarantine was voluntary, until the order came

Perryman was among 18 Americans aboard the cruise ship who were evacuated to the Nebraska quarantine center on May 11. As of Tuesday, eight of the passengers were still there. The others went home earlier this month, after their states agreed to federal officials' monitoring plan. They'll be watched until June 21.

Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. However, the Andes virus at the center of this outbreak, which killed three people, may spread between people in rare cases.

At first, Perryman said, a CDC official assured her the Nebraska quarantine was voluntary. At his urging, and at the urging of the facility’s medical director, she agreed to stay until May 22 to protect public health because some medical experts say most people who develop symptoms do so within the first three weeks. She was later told she couldn't leave on that date.

Perryman and one other passenger received orders from U.S. health officials requiring them to quarantine at the facility until May 31. Quarantine orders, which can be enforced with fines and prison time, are a rare legal step that can be taken if someone objects to a public health request. The initial orders were signed by the CDC’s acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

Perryman said she was told she could leave after May 31 if Florida accepted the federal monitoring requirements. When the state declined, she was ordered to remain in Nebraska.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy questioned universal government-imposed quarantines and argued that the costs of lockdowns should be debated, saying, “quarantines kill people too.”

Gostin said the recent decision clashes with Kennedy’s broader “medical freedom” message.

“This seems to me to drip with hypocrisy,” Gostin said.

____

AP video journalist Shelby Lum in New York and AP writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

____

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Now, as Trump tries to finalize a deal to end the war with Iran, he's unloading on Netanyahu with rhetoric that no other American leader has dared to use publicly.

He claimed credit for Israel's existence — “without me, there would be no Israel” — and cursed his judgment in interviews. He even described him as “crazy.”

Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister spans four U.S. presidents, and he's frustrated all of them at one point or another. But none has voiced that as openly as Trump, who started the conflict in tandem with Netanyahu.

The tension comes as Trump criticizes recent Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which threatened to jeopardize negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Trump has been pushing for a deal as he faces political blowback at home, where the war is unpopular and has driven up gasoline prices.

“If Netanyahu gets in between something Trump really wants, and that’s out of this war, he’s prepared to use the leverage that he has,” said Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations over two decades.

An agreement is scheduled to be signed on Friday in Geneva. Speaking on Tuesday at the annual G7 summit in France, Trump said he told Netanyahu that he's been unhappy with his recent moves.

“Without the U.S., there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel because no other President was willing to do what I did,” Trump said. “I have had a great relationship with Bibi. Now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.”

There has long been a bipartisan consensus around supporting Israel in Washington, but that has frayed in recent years. Liberals have been increasingly outraged by Israel's treatment of Palestinians, especially during the war in Gaza, and conservatives have questioned the importance of longstanding American support for Israel. There are concerns about antisemitism on the left and the right.

Trump’s latest comments drew swift criticism from left-leaning groups.

“He is framing Israel’s mere existence as contingent on him,” said Halie Soifer, who leads the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “It’s deeply offensive to the vast majority of Jews who care about Israel’s future.”

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris often disagreed with Netanyahu during the war in Gaza, and sometimes they criticized him publicly. But they were more circumspect to avoid facing accusations of being anti-Israel.

Conservative, pro-Israel groups were divided on the seriousness of Trump’s public condemnation of Netanyahu.

Republican Jewish Coalition President Matt Brooks described Trump’s criticism as little more than the inevitable disagreement among family members.

Brooks dismissed that any muted criticism of Trump’s comments from his party represented a political mixed message because Trump has been reliably supportive of Israel as president.

“If Biden or Harris said something critical, it came from the position of someone who was hostile toward or didn’t have the same level of support for Israel that President Trump has,” Brooks said.

He noted the first Trump administration’s role in moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the return of Israeli hostages from Gaza during the president’s second term, among other acts.

Biden had criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza, though Trump’s criticism of Netanyahu comes with a “tremendous reservoir of goodwill on this issue that neither Biden nor Harris ever had.”

Pro-Israel advocate Mort Klein said Trump should have kept the comments private, especially in light of his public praise over the years of authoritarian leaders in Turkey, North Korea and China.

Klein, president of the conservative Zionist Organization of America, said he worried that Trump was making the comments in public to appeal to Israel critics “because he sees that Americans have become more hostile toward Israel than they’ve ever been.”

“That worries me,” Klein said.

Mayweather was scheduled for an initial appearance Monday in Las Vegas Justice Court. He was not physically present for the hearing, but an attorney represented him on his behalf, according to the Clark County District Attorney's office. His case is scheduled for a hearing in September.

Mayweather, 49, was charged in April with theft as well as drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with the intent to defraud, according to court records.

Prosecutors in Clark County allege that in December 2024, Mayweather wrote a $200,000 check through Wells Fargo Bank to Las Vegas designer resale store Gold and Beyond, despite having insufficient funds in his account, according to the criminal complaint.

Mayweather's attorney and representatives did not immediately return requests for comment.

The felony charges come as Mayweather faces other legal battles. He was sued in New York over his alleged failure to pay rent at a Manhattan apartment earlier this year, and he was in financial disputes with multiple jewelers. He also filed a lawsuit in New York against his former business manager, alleging a yearslong fraud scheme.

Mayweather, the former five-division world champion, announced earlier this year that he was coming out of retirement and returning to competitive boxing this summer. Mayweather was scheduled to be in Athens, Greece, for the “Battle of the Legends” boxing match on June 27, according to an earlier press release. In April, Mayweather confirmed he would be at a match in Athens.

DeWine, 79, said during a news conference that data indicates the death penalty is not serving as a deterrent to violent crime, which he had always believed was its moral imperative.

“I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change,” he said. “Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.”

To bolster his case, DeWine brandished charts and graphs detailing the diminishing number of death sentences meted out by courts and showing the exceedingly long wait times that elapse as legal appeals play out for those on death row. He said condemned murderers are increasingly unlikely to ever be executed, sometimes dying by natural causes or by suicide before their execution date arrives.

“In summary, each decade that the death penalty has been in effect, the chances of a murderer getting executed get more and more and more remote,” DeWine said.

He also cited years of pain brought to victims’ loved ones by the delays and the toll taken on the mental health of state employees who serve on execution teams.

DeWine, facing a term limit in December, said he felt compelled to share his observations now, having had 50 years of experience with the issue from the time he was a young county prosecutor, through being a congressman and U.S. senator, then as Ohio's attorney general. But he said his outright opposition has only crystallized over the past year.

Divided reaction to DeWine’s position

Headed into the announcement, any chance of a legislative repeal of the death penalty appeared unlikely. Republican House Speaker Matt Huffman has said he would oppose such an effort.

In repeatedly extending Ohio’s unofficial death penalty moratorium by postponing scheduled executions, DeWine has cited pharmaceutical suppliers’ unwillingness to provide the drugs used in lethal injections. In January 2025, President Donald Trump ordered then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to help states try to resolve that issue.

Interim Ohio Republican Attorney General Andy Wilson expressed relief that DeWine didn’t choose to use commutations and that his office will continue working to uphold the current law.

DeWine has already said he expects no further executions during his term, but he said the compelling nature of the death penalty data remains the same whether you include the past seven years, when executions have been on hold, or not.

Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, said the governor’s decision is in line with “an evolution on the death penalty” across the political spectrum in Ohio.

“Nobody supports a system that harms victim families, convicts innocent people and wastes millions of dollars without a shred of improved public safety,” Werner said.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, said his group had been anticipating DeWine’s announcement, which he called “well-reasoned.”

Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports the death penalty and crime victims’ rights, said DeWine may be right that Ohio’s death penalty isn’t currently serving as a deterrent.

However, "what is needed is the political will and effective leadership,” Scheidegger said.

Death penalty's future being debated nationally

The governor noted that Ohio is far from the only state where such trends exist. Use of and support for the death penalty has been on the decline nationally for two decades.

Currently, 27 states allow the death penalty and 23 do not, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. Ohio is among four states where executions are paused by executive action. The center reported in 2023 that more Americans now believe the death penalty is administered unfairly than fairly, a first.

Texas has executed 600 people since it resumed the death penalty in 1982. Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach, who has met with death row inmates and advocated for reforms, led a group of state lawmakers last year who successfully halted the first execution in the U.S. tied to a murder conviction for shaken baby syndrome.

Then-Illinois Gov. George Ryan, also a Republican, signed off on the execution of one killer then decided not to carry out any more. In virtually his last act as governor, he emptied death row with pardons and commutations in 2003. Numerous governors have commuted some number of death sentences or granted broad blanket clemency to condemned inmates in the years since to empty portions of their death rows.

But the nation remains divided.

Since 2019, Colorado, New Hampshire and Virginia have eliminated the death penalty, while five states have approved nitrogen gas executions since 2024 to get around issues with lethal injection protocols. Meanwhile, Trump pushes to expand federal executions. During his first term, Trump’s administration carried out 13 federal executions, more than under any president in modern history.

DeWine’s position has evolved over time

Pushing back execution dates has left Ohio with 30 scheduled over the next four years, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Ohio hasn’t put an inmate to death since July 18, 2018, the year before DeWine took office.

The state reinstated capital punishment in 1981 under a law co-written by DeWine. Ohio resumed death penalties in 1999, and 56 people have since died by lethal injection in the state.

DeWine’s support has slowly shifted since his political career began in 1976. As attorney general, DeWine ordered the Ohio prison system to consider alternative lethal injection drugs. A year later, in 2020, he said lawmakers would have to choose a different method before any more inmates could be executed.

Since then, neither a bipartisan push to ban the practice nor a competing effort to bring nitrogen gas executions to Ohio has gone anywhere. A nitrogen gas execution in Alabama was halted last week, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to set aside a lower-court ruling that found the method unconstitutionally cruel.

___

Associated Press writer John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed.

The next comparison could come this week.

Not since Woods has anyone completed the career Grand Slam in his first attempt, at least not in the modern era that dates to 1960 when it became a thing in professional golf.

Woods took only 35 days between his epic 15-shot victory in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and his eight-shot victory in the British Open at St. Andrews.

Scheffler reached the cusp of the career slam when he overwhelmed yet another field at the British Open at Royal Portrush. Now comes the U.S. Open, the major he has played more than any other, and a Shinnecock Hills test that will be new to him.

Does he want to win? Without question. Does he need to? That goes a little deeper with Scheffler, who cares more about the process than the result.

“For me, would it be a dream to win the U.S. Open? Of course,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, the Grand Slam has never been a motivating factor for me. I always just wanted to be the best version of myself, and that got me this far.”

It brought him two Masters titles in 2022 and 2024, the PGA Championship and British Open last year, all of them without drama when he walked up to the 18th green.

“So when it comes to this golf tournament, I'm going to step on the first tee and remind myself I’ve done everything I possibly could in order to play well, and now it’s just a matter of going out there and trying to execute and going back to enjoying the competition versus feeling like you have to win for some reason,” he said.

He didn't go as deep as he did at Portrush last year, when he delivered a remarkable soliloquy asking why he wants to win so badly when the joy lasts only a few minutes.

But it's clear he relishes the challenge, and Shinnecock figures to be every bit of that.

Tuesday brought more wind, this time from a different direction, and there's really no escaping it. Part of the genius of this William Flynn design are three sections of holes that form a triangle, ensuring players face a different wind for each of them.

The USGA has done its part to make sure it doesn't get out of control, keeping the course as green and hydrated as possible in anticipation of a windy week.

“I think it’s the best championship test in the country,” said Rory McIlroy, who last year at the Masters became only the sixth player to win the career Grand Slam. "I think it tests all aspects of the game — driving, iron play, you need to have your wits about you on the greens. It’s a lot of strategy, thoughtfulness.

“Look, it’s a golf course where it can turn very quickly. You get a day like yesterday with a lot of wind and dry, clear conditions like this, and I think we’re just going to have to be mindful of that as the week goes on.”

McIlroy and Scheffler were at Shinnecock on the same day June 1 for a sneak preview, both noticing wider fairways, even though McIlroy was the only one of them who was in the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock, just not for long. He shot 80 the first day, 70 the next and was on his way home.

Adam Scott has his own love-hate relationship with Shinnecock. It's among his favorite courses in the world, so much that he plays it often in social settings — he once set the course record of 63 in one such round — but missed the cut in the U.S. Open in 2004 and 2018.

“I still love the golf course,” Scott said, who is playing his 100th consecutive major this week. “I think it's as good as any test we have at the U.S. Open.”

He has played 15 U.S. Open courses during the streak.

This is the ninth U.S. Open for Scheffler — two of them as an amateur — with his closest call in 2022 at The Country Club, where he finished one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick.

But he is the favorite, as is the case at every tournament he plays, even though this year has been one in which he has similar numbers except for the trophies he has accumulated. His only victory was his first start of the year, The American Express in the California desert.

There were three straight runner-up finishes, including the Masters. He had an astonishing run of 18 consecutive top 10s end at Riviera in February. His worst result was a tie for 24th at Bay Hill.

But that one win was five months ago.

“I’d say I feel like I’ve been close most of the year,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I just haven’t been as sharp as I needed to be. I think the margins in this game are so small. For me to be winning a lot of tournaments, you’ve got to just be really, really sharp."

One week at Shinnecock can change that. And then for Scheffler, it would be on to the next one.

___

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

That vision might hinge on a factory groundbreaking an hour north of Dallas.

Nvidia on Tuesday formally unveilied plans for a major upgrade to its AI infrastructure as part of its $2 billion partnership with the factory’s owner, Coherent. The factory will produce the material for a laser to transmit data among computer chips, allowing those chips to work as a single system with more power, speed and efficiency, according to executives who discussed the technology before the public announcement.

“AI factories are the infrastructure of the new industrial revolution," Huang said in a statement.

The factory represents a fundamental test of whether, as Huang believes, AI will be a source of job creation instead of a technology that supplants workers as it becomes possible to write software, analyze a spreadsheet, run an assembly line or even drive an automobile without much human effort.

Huang has led Nvidia as it became the world’s most valuable company, worth roughly $5 trillion, to a point where it's looking beyond chips to developing entire AI systems. The companies expected to rely on those systems to further develop AI models could soon join the elite circle of those with a valuation of more than $1 trillion. Just how that wealth spreads and the consequences of the technology have rapidly evolved into fundamental debates about how America itself is structured.

AI is powering academic breakthroughs and it creates the promise of rapid economic growth. But even if stocks are buoyed by those possibilities, there are voters who see reasons for concern over its use of electricity, the potential for job losses and the newfound national security risks.

A shifting approach on AI

President Donald Trump's administration, which once saw a light regulatory touch as essential for fostering AI’s development, has recently begun to reverse course. It placed export controls on the AI company Anthropic’s latest models, leading the company on Friday to shutter all public access to those models over security concerns.

Trump, a Republican, signed an order to have new AI models voluntarily vetted by the government. He has also mused about the government owning a stake in the companies that develop AI, so that the public could benefit from the expected windfall even if that would blur the lines between the public and private sectors.

Still, Trump depends on the AI boom to fuel economic growth, drive future gains in manufacturing and construction, and push the stock market to new heights. He has insisted on Huang accompanying him on foreign trips, most recently having Air Force One pick up the leather-jacketed CEO in Alaska while en route for the state visit to China.

Trump has called Huang “smart,” a “friend” and “amazing” — and he’s publicly recounted that he once mused about breaking up Nvidia because of its dominance, only to admit that Huang was someone that he needed as an ally.

“We are proud to have you in our country,” Trump told the Taiwanese immigrant last year.

AI buildout creating jobs

Coherent’s factory in Sherman, Texas — which includes Nvidia as a major customer — relied on bipartisan government support. The Biden administration approved $33 million in backing from the CHIPS and Science Act to help fund its buildout, while the Trump administration provided an additional $17 million grant to help ensure a key part of the AI infrastructure would be made in America.

“The reason the award was expanded, and we announced this today, was because we continue to grow capacity,” Coherent CEO Jim Anderson said in an interview. “We saw the opportunity with the tremendous AI demand to grow capacity even more than we had originally planned.”

Including construction workers, Coherent estimates that the factory will create 1,000 jobs, with about 550 of them in advanced manufacturing, engineering and technical roles. Anderson said the floorspace of the plant would double and its output would quadruple with the additions being built.

The factory expansion will increase production of Indium Phosphide, which is used to make a laser that has the optical intensity of the surface of the Sun. Each second, the light pulses a few hundred billion times through a fiberglass straw the width of a human hair. That allows Nvidia’s computer chips to share information and work together as one system in what Huang has dubbed “AI factories.”

Power consumption would be cut up to 50%, enabling computations to occur faster and at a drastically lower price. The prospect of reducing the cost of tokens — the industry’s term for AI usage — would make it easier for AI to expand its reach and abilities.

In a paper published this month, the economists Jessica Wachter and Jonathan Wachter noted that the five largest U.S. technology firms invested $380 billion last year as part of the AI buildout and that sum could roughly double this year. Based on that investment, they estimate the possibility of rapid economic growth as AI accounts for more of U.S. gross domestic product. While AI is roughly 3% of the economy now, that figure could grow to a range of 8% to 39%.

One Nvidia executive, who insisted on speaking on background to describe its industrial strategy, stressed that the company was moving from developing computer chips to providing entire AI systems. That has meant clustering more production in the U.S. with chipmaking increasingly centered in Arizona and the assembly process increasingly located in Texas, so that there is a reliable domestic supply chain.

The executive said that Nvidia was selling brains and a nervous system to its customers, so that the intelligence generated can then be applied to their businesses in ways that create new products and identify new savings and business lines. That could allow manufacturers that depend on foreign suppliers to restore production in the U.S., taking an AI that so far has largely been accessed on laptops onto factory floors where it can, in their words, “move atoms.”

The possibility has not been lost on Trump, who sees the industry as essential to American greatness.

“It’s an amazing industry,” Trump said to reporters last week. “It’s bigger than any industry anyone’s ever seen. We are leading China by a lot. And whoever leads that is going to really lead the world to a large extent, that’s how big it is.”

Marcelo Cipriano Alvarado is accused of scamming more than 25 people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to police.

Alvarado appeared in court on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Lincoln Park, where he’s facing 10 felony charges -- including conducting a criminal enterprise.

Alvarado is also facing a theft by deception charge in Toledo, Ohio, and has been ordered to appear in court there on July 2, 2026.

Read our original coverage from June 4, 2026, below:

An alleged auto scam that spans multiple southeast Michigan cities and counties, and reaches into another state, has left more than 25 people out hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to police.

Victims said the man behind it is Marcelo Cipriano Alvarado. This is a man the Investigators at Local 4 have been investigating since September of 2025.

Alvarado, 31, of Dearborn is now charged with 10 felonies out of Wayne County including running a criminal enterprise, using a computer to commit a crime, and eight counts of false pretenses.

“It is alleged that the defendant took advantage of honest, hardworking people by taking their money to repair cars and in some instances purchase a car on their behalf,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told the Investigators at Local 4. “He took their money and took advantage of them.”

Alvarado is accused of taking payments for cars that never arrived, of taking cars to repair and never returning them and of issuing bad checks. Multiple victims Local 4 spoke to said Alvarado gave them excuses like two family members died or their parts were “on the way.” They said eventually, Alvarado would stop answering the phone to buy time.

The Investigators at Local 4, went through hundreds of pages of police reports, complaints and documentation gathered by the Metro Detroit Auto-theft Recovery Team (MDART) -- a task force investigating Alvarado, along with dozens of criminal and civil cases from other agencies. Local 4 also spoke to two alleged victims in depth about their experiences with the man they call a “slick swindler” and “crooked as f---.”

“The victims are shocked that someone they trusted would do something so cruel,” Prosecutor Worthy added. “I would urge these victims not to beat themselves up over placing their trust in this man. He is an alleged practiced and heartless grifter. They have done the right thing coming forward to seek justice.”

If you need something investigated you can reach out to the Investigators at Local 4 through the ClickOnDetroit Help Desk or by emailing us directly at Local4Investigators@wdiv.com.

You can contact Investigator Erika Erickson directly at eerickson@wdiv.com, and Kayla Clarke at kclarke@wdiv.com.

James Balina’s story

James Balina is listed as a victim in the 10-count case against Marcelo.

Balina said he first noticed cars displayed at a storefront in Allen Park in 2021 under the name AP Service Center 1. He said Alvarado convinced him he was buying a Chrysler 300 Hellcat. Balina said his father and brother also bought cars after learning about the pricing, calling Alvarado “very convincing.”

“He’s a slick swindler, and he’s a snake in the grass -- he’s a crook,” Balina said.

Balina said he and his family gave Alvarado money and parts they had already purchased to build one of the cars. At first, Balina said, Alvarado sent photos and texts showing cars “on the way” or “in the shop.” Then, Balina said, the more colorful excuses began. So many, that later, Balina said Alvarado appeared to lose track of his lies.

“He’ll give you the world, and he’ll snag it right under ya and take it and run,” Balina told Local 4. “He has told me his mom has died multiple times. He’s told me brother has died . . . I mean, how many times can you have the same family member die?”

Balina said his calls eventually went unanswered. Months later, he said, the storefront was empty and his family was out a total of nearly $80,000. Balina said they hired an attorney who tried to serve him with a demand letter, but it went nowhere.

“He ran in the house… (Alvarado’s) hiding in the house, so we call the police. We’re just like, ‘we just want our stuff,’” Balina said.

Balina then filed a report with Allen Park Police. His family said they remain without their money or cars years later.

Marvin Morris’ story

Marvin Morris, of Detroit, is also listed as a victim in the 10-count case against Marcelo.

Morris said he “hasn’t seen a dime” -- even after confronting Alvarado and recording him on his cell phone.

He told Local 4 he first met Alvarado at his storefront called Drive Dreams LLC, in Lincoln Park in early June of 2025.

Morris said he dropped his car off for enhancements, adding that his car was in working order. Morris said Alvarado told him that he inspected his engine and told him it required “a full engine teardown.”

After discussing it, Morris said he paid $5,000 up front, and later another $3,500 after being told the engine was being worked on. But Morris said he never saw his original motor or the new motor ever again.

Morris said he was told the motor was at a shop and that another man dealt with “the motor man.” When Morris asked to call the “motor man” directly, he said he was given a slew of excuses -- like he was “an hour away,” and the “shop was closed.”

Then, Morris said he pressed again and began showing up at Alvarado’s shop “every day” asking about his car. In September of 2025, Morris decided to take his car back, after noticing other parts slowly disappearing from it. He was able to retrieve his car, which was still missing “dozens of parts.” Morris said Alvarado then called him to give him excuses.

“(Alvarado) called me on the phone saying his mother died . . . he ain’t got the money. He’s got to pay for funeral arrangements,” said Morris.

Morris said he even captured Alvarado on video admitting to owing him about $12,000 because parts were removed from the car and the “entire motor disappeared.”

Morris confronts Alvarado on video on September 25, 2025:

Morris: “All right, this is recording. So, you’re going to give Marvin Morris how much money tomorrow?

Alvarado: “12 grand. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

Morris: “$12,000 tomorrow.”

Alvarado: “Correct.”

Morris: “All right.”

Known cases against Alvarado

The Investigators on Local 4 found reports of alleged fraud, embezzlement and larceny dating back to 2017.

In 2025, police in Trenton received two reports alleging fraud and larceny tied to Alvarado: one woman said she paid $6,500 and never received a car; another couple said they were scammed out of $3,500. Records show the couple also took Alvarado to civil court.

In Warren, records obtained by the Investigators on Local 4 showed Alvarado was arrested in October of 2023 on allegations that he swindled a woman out of more than $15,000 -- allegedly taking cash and then giving a bad check in return. In Clinton Township, a man told police in March of 2025 that he was “defrauded out approximately $18,000” by Alvarado. Records also show there is an active warrant for Alvarado’s arrest in Toledo, Ohio, for felony theft by deception; Toledo authorities said he issued more than $8,000 in fake checks to buy car engines.

Documents obtained by Local 4 from Michigan State Police and other agencies show Alvarado being investigated by Plymouth Township Police, Lincoln Park Police, Grosse Pointe Woods, Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Wyandotte, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Southgate, Warren, Trenton, Toledo, and Clinton Township -- with a note that some may be missing.

Records also said members of the MDART task force have documented “25+ victims” and “12 more complainants regarding Marcelo that have not been investigated yet.”

Civil cases, licensing records, wife’s financials under investigation

Alvarado has also been the subject of multiple civil lawsuits and is associated with at least two limited liability companies.

In Michigan State Police records, for example, one civil case against Alvarado described a couple being scammed out of $24,000. The Investigators on Local 4 contacted the attorney on that case, Steven Hickey, who said they still “haven’t gotten a penny.”

“This guy is an incredible scammer,” Hickey told Local 4. “I’d love to see someone expose this guy.”

“Not licensed mechanic” and “failed in every category multiple times,” were statements included regarding Alvarado in the hundreds of pages of documents obtained by Local 4.

Members of MDART, according to records, said they are also looking into the accounts of Alvarado’s wife, because “Alvarado has instructed some victims/customers to make checks payable to his wife.”

Attempts to contact Alvarado, his “deceased” mother and attorneys

Alvarado is currently incarcerated on a $10,000 bond out of Wayne County.

When Local 4 went to an address in Dearborn back in October of 2025, where multiple sources said and records show Alvarado had previously resided, we were told he no longer lived there.

When Local 4 went to his home again the week of November 3, 2025, someone who said they were related to Alvarado came outside. We asked if we could speak to Alvarado’s mother, because Alvarado had allegedly been telling multiple people that she was dead.

The family member confirmed that Marcelo Alvarado is related to them and that his mother was “not deceased.” They said his mother was working on cleaning out the garage during our conversation that day.

“She is very much alive,” the family member said, before asking us to leave.

Local 4 was eventually able to catch up with Alvarado before he went into court in December of 2025. After introducing ourselves and telling Alvarado why were there, he got on his cell phone and told us to leave:

• Alvarado: “If you could please leave, I’d appreciate it. Do I need to go get a court officer?”
• Reporter: “They said that you told them your mom died . . .”
• Alvarado (on the phone): “Hey, I have a reporter here. She’s not leaving me alone.”

We left and asked to speak to his now former attorney, Edward Ewald, who is also named as a co-defendant in a civil case against Alvarado. Here’s part of our conversation outside of court after multiple attempts to contact him, previously:

• Ewald: “The police department and Wayne County have decided to turn civil cases into criminal cases.”
• Reporter: “You were named as a defendant also in one of the civil cases. Do you have a comment on that?”
• Ewald: “No. That’s foolish.”

Ewald left the courthouse, but we caught up with him again outside. Here’s part of that conversation:

• Ewald: “You’re only getting part of the story and I’m not here to give you the rest of the story.”
• Reporter: Why?
• Ewald: “Because he’s been charged criminally and I’m not going to try the case in the public. We’re going to court. We’re going to try all these cases.”

Since Alvarado was charged with 10 counts -- including conducting a criminal enterprise, records show his new attorney is Ben M. Gonek of the Law Office of Ben Gonek, PLLC.

Ewald told Local 4 this week: “A decision was made that Ben was going to take over -- it was becoming too overwhelming for me.”

Ewald added that he “is not representing (Alvarado) on any other cases anymore.”

“They’ve got me roped in this lawsuit that I’m still trying to get out of,” Ewald added. He declined to comment any further.

Local 4 reached out to Ben M. Gonek, but he declined to comment on this case at this time.

Impact has been more than financial

Multiple people and their families told The Investigators on Local 4 that Alvarado’s alleged scam has taken a heavy emotional toll in addition to the hefty financial loss.

Balina said his family is “beyond fed up.” Many of Alvarado’s alleged victims have also said they do not believe the abuse and scamming will stop unless Alvarado stays in jail. Others said they don’t believe jail will stop him -- “it will just delay him.”

“How can you steal . . . from multiple people and be OK with it? Sleep?” said Balina.

“I just think everybody just needs to get together and speak up,” Morris said.

Investigators from multiple agencies urge anyone who believes they may be a victim of Marcelo Cipriano Alvarado, who some say also goes by “Celly,” or “Chelly,” to call police and file a report.

Alvarado is scheduled for a Probable Cause Conference regarding the 25^th District Court case (Criminal Enterprise) at 9 a.m. on June 16, 2026.

If you need something investigated you can reach out to the Investigators at Local 4 through the ClickOnDetroit Help Desk or by emailing us directly at Local4Investigators@wdiv.com.

You can contact Investigator Erika Erickson directly at eerickson@wdiv.com, and Kayla Clarke at kclarke@wdiv.com.

ICE said the standards, which apply to for-profit contractors and jails that hold detainees, were revised with input from partners to “reduce the burden on our detention operators.” Experts said the changes would help contractors limit legal liability, reduce costs and get more operational flexibility while doing little, if anything, to improve conditions for roughly 60,000 people currently detained.

“100% it’s going to result in deterioration of already problematic conditions of detention,” said Michelle Brane, a former Department of Homeland Security ombudsman who oversaw immigration detention practices during part of the Biden administration. “It’s consistent with their general practice, which is to eliminate accountability and oversight. They are not concerned with people’s basic rights or safety of detainees.”

The revisions come as ICE detention facilities are reporting deaths in unprecedented numbers and face accusations of medical neglect, inadequate food and other inhumane conditions. They come as ICE is flush with cash, receiving more than half of the $70 billion immigration enforcement spending bill signed by President Donald Trump last week.

Dr. Sanjay Basu, a public health researcher who has studied ICE custody deaths, said the changes include “genuine improvements” to suicide prevention standards and mental health care. But he said the overall trajectory is “toward weaker standards governing a growing share of the detained population.”

ICE said the changes streamline its rules and move toward more relaxed standards used by the U.S. Marshals Service to hold pretrial federal inmates in jails. The agency said it considered input from operators “alongside operational, legal and policy requirements when making a final decision."

Dr. Homer Venters, an expert on correctional health care, said the changes could curtail access to language assistance by eliminating mandates that required in-person and telephone interpretation and translation services.

New standard allows use of AI

The revised standard says facilities can use artificial intelligence tools such as machine-learning-based translation or generative AI for “noncritical communication” or “informal interactions with detainees.” That communication could include giving and receiving information to or from detainees during intake, having conversations with detainees in housing units and responding to a detainee’s grievance or other concerns, it says.

Venters called the changes alarming because grievances often include “very urgent or even emergent information such as when a patient has been denied lifesaving care.” He said the rule also leaves unclear whether health assessments, crucial to flagging medical and mental health conditions, could be conducted through AI.

ICE said the standards ensure contractors provide interpretation and translation services “at no cost to the detainees.”

Several experts said they were concerned by a change that bars facility operators from refusing to admit any detainee ICE sends them.

The change means facilities may not be able to immediately refer severely ill or disabled detainees whom they cannot accommodate to hospitals or other settings for care — but it could reduce their liability for subsequent deaths. A related rule change requires facilities to request that ICE transfer detainees they cannot serve elsewhere, but that might not happen for several days after they are admitted.

A favor to contractors

New language making clear that detainees who participate in voluntary work programs are not employees and therefore not entitled to wages and benefits “is a favor” to ICE’s for-profit contractors, said Dora Schriro, former director of ICE’s Office of Detention Policy and Planning during the Obama administration.

For years, advocates for detainees have argued in lawsuits that these programs, in which detainees have received a minimum stipend of $1 per work day, amount to forced labor. The lawsuits have sought millions of dollars in unpaid wages from ICE contractors like GeoGroup and CoreCivic, and now they could face tougher odds of success by strengthening their legal defenses, Schriro said.

Another change bars facilities from paying above the longtime $1-per-day minimum stipend, which was allowed under the previous standard and an argument that had been used against contractors in court, said Carmen Iguina Gonzalez, an immigration detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union. She said the work can include cleaning dormitories, cutting hair and other tasks that keep facilities running.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former DHS and ICE official who is an expert on detention standards, said ICE could use its increased budget to improve conditions instead of “lowering standards across the board.” She recalled that under prior administrations, she pushed ICE facilities to add soccer fields and other recreation and visitation improvements with leftover money.

“Their goal is to make it easier for the jail operators,” she said. “No longer are they trying to make sure the focus is on the detainees and their care and the experience in custody.”

Not so fast, experts say.

Even after oil starts flowing again from the Middle East, it could take awhile for consumers to see a difference at local fuel pumps, supermarkets and other places they shop, according to economists and industry analysts.

Fighting over the Strait of Hormuz disrupted not only supplies of crude and refined fuel but also the supply chains for fertilizer, food and even footwear. Businesses expect higher costs to linger, which means their customers might need to prepare for that too.

“It is not clear, despite three months of war, that anything has been achieved that makes the American consumer better off,” Brett House, an economist who teaches at Columbia Business School, said. “In fact, by almost any measure, not just the American consumer, but the world, is worse off as a result of this attack.”

If the deal between the U.S. and Iran holds, here’s how experts see the war's effects receding — or not — in the weeks ahead:

US motorists can expect some gas price relief

Following news of the tentative agreement, oil prices fell Monday to about $80 for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude. That compares to $67 per barrel before the war and the price of over $120 a barrel reached earlier in the conflict.

Refineries typically pay for crude oil a month or more in advance, so even after oil prices drop, they won’t immediately be processing cheaper products.

“The tendency of gasoline prices to fall slowly is partly because the raw material takes weeks to work through the system until it’s delivered to consumers,” said Michael Lynch, a distinguished fellow at the nonpartisan Energy Policy Research Foundation.

In places without enough refining capacity to meet their needs, such as the West Coast of the U.S., gas prices will take longer to drop, said Mark Barteau, a professor of chemical engineering and chemistry at Texas A&M University.

In some Asian and African countries that rely more on oil from the Middle East, the supply shock led to school and government office closures and instructions to work from home, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The bottom line is that getting back to ‘normal’ will be a lengthy process involving many parties and countries,” Barteau said. “Getting an agreement between the U.S. and Iran to open the strait is just the beginning.”

Flights won't get cheaper right away

Industry experts have spent months warning that even if the war ended, travelers should not expect airfares to go down immediately.

Airlines typically buy fuel in advance, adjust their schedules gradually and price tickets based heavily on demand, meaning lower oil and jet fuel prices can take weeks or months to get factored into the cost of commercial flights.

“I think it’s unlikely that we’re going to see a retreat or reduction in the cost of flying at any point this summer,” Columbia's House said.

Fuel surcharges that some airlines outside the U.S. added are one of the first areas where passengers might get a reprieve, said Gordon Ho, a professor at the University of Southern California’s business school.

“Consumers are going to say, ‘Wait a minute, why are you still charging me a fuel surcharge?’” Ho said.

Pressure on grocery prices will likely continue

Reopening the strait is unlikely to deliver instant relief at the grocery store, according to David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University.

Fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of the total cost of food, according to the Independent Grocers Alliance, a grouping of 7,500 global supermarkets.

But it can take months for an energy shock like the one caused by the Iran war to wind through the food supply chain and raise grocery prices. And once prices go up, it takes them a long time to come back down, especially when the future is unpredictable, Ortega said.

“We’re likely still looking at inflationary pressure on food in the coming months,” Ortega said. “There’s still a good deal of uncertainty about how the reopening will unfold, and it will take time for fuel, diesel and retail fertilizer prices to come back down.”

Rabobank, which is based in the Netherlands, said it expected war-related food price inflation to peak sometime next year in Europe. In the U.S., grocery prices are expected to rise 3.2% this year, which compares to a historical average of 2.6%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farmers remain strapped for fertilizer

Reopening the Strait of Hormuz would also be a welcome change for farmers and the production of food globally. Roughly 30% of the world’s fertilizer passed through the waterway before the war began. Prices soared as the supply was effectively cut off, and shipments probably will take a long time to return to pre-war levels.

The consequences of the shortage facing farmers now may only intensify down the road, regardless.

Many farmers around the world are going through planting seasons without the fertilizer they need or paying sky-high prices for both fertilizer and fuel needed to produce and transport their products. The World Food Program of the United Nations expects this to have a “devastating impact” on crop yields — and consequently, food prices and the availability of food — for months to come.

Retailers don't anticipate a cost reprieve

U.S. retailers that sell shoes were encouraged to see falling gasoline prices, hoping they would mean Americans have more money to spend on back-to-school shopping, said Andy Polk, senior vice president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America trade group.

However, shoe companies anticipate their own costs staying higher for the foreseeable future, Polk said. The group's members keep a two- to three-month inventory of finished products, but their next orders may include suppliers charging more for materials, he said.

Most of the footwear sold in the U.S. is imported, and Polk said he expects shipping costs to remain higher for the rest of 2026 and 2027.

U.S. tariffs imposed last year have made it more difficult for shoe sellers to absorb higher costs or pass them on customers, he said. In May, footwear prices were 5.2% higher than the same month a year earlier, according to government figures.

Shipping industry expects a slow recovery

Judah Levine, head of research at the freight booking platform Freightos, said the Straight of Hormuz closure has affected about 2% to 3 % of the total volume of container ships that are used for global shipping, but higher oil prices and disruption have impacted the shipping industry more broadly.

Josh Steinitz, chief strategy officer of the business logistics platform ShipStation Global, said consumers might notice higher shipping costs and more out-of-stock items online until the end of the year.

“I think fuel surcharges, which then flow into shipping costs, which then get passed along to consumers, are still going to be with us for quite sometime from many of the major carriers,” Steinitz said.

___

Associated Press writers Cathy Bussewitz, Anne D’Innocenzio, and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

They were among a trickle of residents who returned to the city to check on their homes after the announcement of a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end their war. Iranian officials have said the deal will also mandate an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon.

Although the fighting in southern Lebanon has not stopped, the strikes have been more limited since the U.S.-Iran deal was reached, and many people displaced from the area have taken the opportunity to check on their houses.

Jleilati and her 22-year-old daughter, Sukaina al-Muhtadi, lived on the first floor of a three-story building consisting of six apartments that collapsed as a result of the airstrike.

City subjected to intense airstrikes and shelling

Jleilati managed to pull out most of her husband’s scuba diving equipment, as well as some clothes, while her daughter’s main hope was to find a photo album that had pictures taken when she was a little girl.

“What can I say? All that we have gathered in our life has been wasted,” Jleilati said, adding that they knew that their home was destroyed on May 26, when al-Muhtadi saw the destroyed building on a social media platform.

Since the early days of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, the ancient city of Nabatiyeh has been subjected to intense airstrikes and shelling that have killed and wounded scores of people.

The once bustling market of Nabatiyeh suffered wide destruction and on Tuesday, several bulldozers were removing rubble and debris as some people returned following the late Sunday deal reached between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict.

Jleilati and other residents in the city are not sure whether the truce will last since previous ceasefires that first went into effect on April 17 have been fragile with Israel and Hezbollah continuing their attacks.

Over the past few weeks, Israeli troops have pushed deep into southern Lebanon reaching about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southeast of the city that has been a trade hub for centuries. It's famous for its Monday market when residents of nearby villages came to sell products in the city.

The importance of Nabatiyeh through the centuries

Since the state of Lebanon was created in 1920 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Nabatiyeh and its surroundings have been a center for religious and cultural activities, with Shiite clerics having strong links with the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in modern day Iraq.

Nabatiyeh historically was the capital of the predominantly Shiite Jabal Amel region from where some religious scholars went to Iran in the 16th century and helped its Safavid rulers convert much of Iran’s population to Shiite Islam.

Nabatiyeh is also a main center in Lebanon where Shiite Muslims mark Ashoura, a solemn day marking the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein. The 10-day mourning period that culminates on the 10th of the Muslim month of Muharram, begins on Wednesday.

Widespread destruction in the city as fighting rages nearby

At the center of Nabatiyeh, 75-year-old Kamel al-Kamel looked in shock at his giant business consisting of a supermarket and a coffee roastery burned to ashes while the century-old building housing it crumbled.

Walking with the help of a cane, al-Kamal estimated his losses at $2.5 million. He said that unlike previous wars he has lived through — from the 15-year civil war that broke out in 1975 to Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to various rounds of Israel-Hezbollah wars — the latest one has been the worst.

“Thank God we are still alive,” he said, adding that he wept as he walked into Nabatiyeh on Thursday.

Samar Zuraik was happy to find that her house is still standing but damaged and will need some repairs. But she said nothing can compensate her for the loss of her son Ali, 27, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the edge of the city.

She said that despite the Iran-U.S. agreement, Nabatiyeh is unlivable at the present time, still subjected to shelling and without electricity, telephones or internet.

“I wish I lost my house and my son stayed alive,” Zuraik said.

Human losses in the city

There are three major hospitals in the Nabatiyeh area the oldest of which is the Najdeh El Chaabiyeh Hospital on the edge of the city, where hundreds of people wounded in the latest war were treated.

The hospital’s medical director, Dr. Shafi Fouani, said the latest Israel-Hezbollah war was similar to the previous war in 2024.

“It was a very harsh war,” he said about the latest one that broke out on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks against Iran.

He said that during the current war, the hospital dealt with about 500 deaths and treated nearly 1,200 patients, some of whom who were in critical condition and were referred to medical centers in Beirut or the southern city of Sidon.

More than 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest fighting, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Also, 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

On Tuesday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells toward the outskirts of Nabatiyeh while Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli positions near the city. Thuds of the blasts could be clearly heard in Nabatiyeh as Israeli troops have fought for days in an attempt to capture the Ali Taher hill that overlooks large parts of the city.

Lebanese troops closed some roads that lead to areas where Israeli troops are inside Lebanon.

As Jleilati and al-Muhtadi searched through the rubble of their former home, the young woman found a watch that her mother gave her when she was a child. The women were planning to head back to a Beirut suburb later Tuesday where they have been staying, saying they are waiting to see if the truce will hold in order to come back to Nabatiyeh and rent an apartment until their building is rebuilt.

“We cannot live outside Nabatiyeh,” al-Muhtadi said.

The 79-year-old Republican cited his expertise on the issue as a former county prosecutor, member of both chambers of Congress and Ohio attorney general, as well as his seven years as governor.

But DeWine’s support for a policy change is far from assured to make waves, even in a state controlled by his own party. That is because DeWine is more moderate than many younger Republicans in the state, whose political aspirations rely on endorsements from President Donald Trump, a staunch death penalty supporter.

Here's a closer look at DeWine and his place in Ohio's political landscape:

Fifty years of experience with the death penalty

DeWine was first elected to public office in 1976, when he became prosecuting attorney in Greene County, where he grew up. He still lives in the historic home there where he and his wife, who had eight children, hosted a summer ice cream social each year to encourage and celebrate GOP candidates and officeholders. The event ended its 50-year run just last weekend.

When DeWine was elected to the state Senate in 1980, Ohio had no death penalty law. The old one had been declared unconstitutional, and DeWine was instrumental in writing the new one, which cleared both legislative chambers with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. It has been in effect now since 1981.

He said Tuesday that he always believed the moral justification for the death penalty was its potential to deter violent crime.

During his four terms in the U.S. House, DeWine supported federal legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan that expanded the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty. As a U.S. senator, he backed a bill signed by President Bill Clinton that attempted to speed up the review of capital cases in federal courts.

In between those positions, DeWine was lieutenant governor of Ohio under storied Republican Gov. James Rhodes.

He took a brief break from politics after losing a Senate reelection bid to Democrat Sherrod Brown in 2006, before being elected Ohio attorney general in 2010. In that role, he said Tuesday, he “vigorously” carried out the state's death penalty law.

Since he became governor in 2019, problems obtaining lethal injection drugs have led to an unofficial moratorium on executions in the state, which last conducted one in 2018.

Uneven relationship with fellow Republicans

DeWine may be the titular head of the Ohio Republican Party, but that doesn't mean his party always listens to him. Particularly in the Trump era, he has presided over a party rife with internal divisions.

Clashes became particularly fierce during the COVID-19 pandemic, when DeWine and then-state Health Director Amy Acton — now the Democratic nominee for governor — presided over one of the most rigorous virus responses in the country in early 2020. Within months, a faction of Republicans had mutinied against DeWine's mandates, particularly over business closures, threatening to pass a bill limiting his powers or even to impeach him.

In 2023, after DeWine struck down a ban on gender-affirming care and transgender athletes participating in girls' sports, the Republican-dominated state Legislature easily overrode his veto.

The divisions have also been seen in this year's critical elections.

DeWine had tried to position popular former Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel as a potential successor, appointing the moderate Republican as lieutenant governor last year. But the state GOP rushed to back Trump-endorsed biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy in the race in May 2025, before Tressel had even made up his mind whether to run. DeWine endorsed Ramaswamy in January.

DeWine said Tuesday that he had not shared his decision to call for an end to the death penalty with Ramaswamy, now the GOP gubernatorial nominee. The recent effort by the Trump administration to take on Medicaid fraud has found DeWine defending his administration's work on the issue, even as Ramaswamy, Ohio-born Vice President JD Vance and GOP lawmakers take aim at Ohio's existing fraud-fighting efforts.

Other Republican voices come to DeWine's side

Among proponents of DeWine's push to end the death penalty in Ohio were a host of fellow Republicans, including some staunch conservatives.

“For many years, I was a proponent of the death penalty," former congresswoman and current state Rep. Jean Schmidt said in a statement. "My views changed because of the risks of executing an innocent person, the exorbitant costs, and my belief in the sanctity of life. The death penalty is no longer a policy worth preserving.”

Former Ohio Auditor and Attorney General Jim Petro cited wrongful convictions among the flaws that make the death penalty no longer tenable.

Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, the great-grandson of President William Howard Taft and grandson of “Mr. Republican” Sen. Robert A. Taft Sr., also sided with DeWine.

DeWine “has been thoughtful and given this issue the careful consideration it needs,” Taft said.

The fundraising event was held on Friday, June 12, 2026, at Bald Mountain Shooting Range in Lake Orion and drew participants to a 14-station clay-shooting tournament, followed by an awards dinner, auction, and a program highlighting the foundation’s impact.

Ragnow founded the Rags Remembered Foundation in 2022 in honor of his late father, Jon “Rags” Ragnow, who died unexpectedly in 2016.

The nonprofit focuses on providing therapeutic outdoor experiences for grieving families and disadvantaged youth.

Proceeds from the annual Skeet Shoot Showdown help fund initiatives, including Camp Huddle Up, the foundation’s annual day camp at YMCA Camp Ohiyesa.

This year’s camp was held on June 13 and brought together more than 25 children and their family members for a day of fishing, archery, and fellowship.

Ragnow spent time with campers and their families throughout the event, helping create opportunities for participants to connect with one another while honoring the memories of loved ones they have lost.

The foundation says its programs are designed to promote healing through outdoor recreation and shared experiences, providing families with a supportive environment as they navigate grief.

Top honors at the 2026 Skeet Shoot Showdown went to Steve Mitchell, who earned Overall Top Shooter recognition, while The Ciaffone Party captured first place in the team competition.

Since its founding, the Rags Remembered Foundation has expanded its efforts to provide meaningful outdoor opportunities that encourage healing, resilience, and connection among families facing loss.

Senators of both parties have have been skeptical of the Trump administration's emerging Iran deal and frustrated by the White House's refusal to share details. They are expecting a briefing from the administration, but nothing has been scheduled before Friday's planned deadline for the two sides to sign the agreement.

The vote was 47-48, with four Republicans joining most Democrats in supporting the war powers resolution. That fell short of the majority needed to advance it.

“Join me in putting a check on this president’s lawless warmongering,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who proposed the resolution, in a speech before the voting.

“The time is always right to do what’s right,” he said.

The measure was the ninth time the senators have tried to advance a resolution to end the war that U.S. and Israel launched against Iran over the nation's nuclear program. Trump launched the war on his own, without congressional approval, but as it drags on lawmakers have grown concerned over the costs, strategy and end game.

Congress begins to exert influence over the war

The House for the first time approved its own war powers resolution to halt U.S. military action against Iran this month, when a small number of Republicans crossed over to join with the Democrats to pass the measure.

Meanwhile, the Senate has settled into a familiar pattern, one vote short of the tally that would be needed to pass the measure, if all senators are present and voting.

Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana voted in favor of the war powers resolution. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against.

Cassidy broke ranks with his party last month, voting for the first time to end the military action against Iran after having lost his own primary reelection bid in Louisiana. Trump had endorsed his challenger.

One Republican to watch, retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said he supports Trump's actions in Iran, even as he is closely watching the details of the administration's Iran deal.

“I just don’t think that it’s productive for me to cast a protest vote on something that I fundamentally support.” Tillis said. "I support the engagement in Iran. But I have a discerning eye over what the agreement will say.”

More votes ahead on Iran war

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia has been leading the party's efforts to halt the war in Iran unless Congress has authorized it. He vowed to keep pushing the measures forward on an almost weekly basis.

Kaine has argued that as negotiations are underway to end the conflict, Congress must work to ensure the U.S. does not resume military strikes in what has been a fragile ceasefire.

“If we're really in a period of maybe some stability here, let's not just allow it to start up again without Congress being involved in that decision,” Kaine said.

“If there are deals on the table, I don't know that we want the president to be the sole determinant of whether a deal's a good thing," he said. “He may decide, well that's not a good enough deal, let's go back to war. Well, hold on a second. We might want to weigh in on that.”

Senators are also beginning to discuss what Congress will do, if anything, to provide oversight of Trump's emerging Iran deal. Some senators have said the Senate must vote on any agreement the Trump administration strikes with Iran over its nuclear program. Others have said a vote in Congress is not necessary.

Congress in 2015 approved the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which spells out out requirements for the administration to submit any deal involving Iran's nuclear program for review by Congress.

__

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

The appearance was notable because it marked a rare foray for a Trump administration official into what they would consider hostile media territory, and it raised eyebrows since the Federal Communications Commission under the Trump administration has launched an investigation into the show over possible violations of the requirement that broadcast stations give equal time to political candidates when they appear on-air.

The long-running morning show, led by veterans Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, is generally dominated by its liberal hosts. It combines entertainment and political interviews and often features commentary critical of President Donald Trump.

Vance himself acknowledged the uncomfortable terrain, joking with the hosts at the start of the hour: "This is a show of MAGA Republicans, right? That’s what my media team told me.”

He did get a few questions about his new book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith," which he described as “actually way less political than you might think.” The tentative deal he has worked on to try to bring about an end to the Iran war did not, however, come up.

Vance asked to explain Trump's remarks on affordability

The show's hosts almost immediately began questioning Vance about the country's economic situation, specifically Trump's comments on affordability and inflation. In both circumstances, Vance turned into somewhat of a Trump translator.

Behar asked about Trump's dismissal of the affordability issue as a “hoax” started by Democrats while instead focusing on projects including refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, building a triumphal arch across the river from Arlington National Cemetery or refashioning the White House South Lawn into a UFC arena for Trump's birthday.

“Why is he doing them when everybody knows that Americans are struggling?" Behar asked. "What is he spending all this money for?”

Vance rejected Behar's characterization of Trump's comment. “What the president said is, the idea that Republicans caused the affordability problem is a hoax, and I think that’s true,” the vice president said.

After co-host Ana Navarro interjected with Trump's recent statement, “ I love the inflation,” Vance offered another Trump translation.

“What he said is that he loves the fact that the inflation is going to come down when this war is over,” Vance said, eliciting cross talk from the table.

“That's not what he said,” Goldberg responded.

"Are you his interpreter, or are you his vice president?” Behar added.

Vance tried to pivot, talking about increases in manufacturing jobs and other economic improvements.

“My view — I’m sure you guys don’t agree with it — is that we inherited a mess and we’re fixing it, but sometimes it takes a long time to fix a mess,” he said.

Vance acknowledges he's an Epstein ‘conspiracy theorist’

Vance was questioned at length about the Epstein files, as well as recent reporting from The New York Times that he had been a major advocate for releasing the materials, including during meetings in the White House Situation Room.

“I am, frankly, kind of a conspiracy theorist on the Epstein stuff,” Vance admitted, acknowledging he agrees with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on that point.

The vice president said he did want to defend his boss on the issue, referring to Navarro and others' assertions that Trump ejected Epstein from membership in his private club because of a business deal gone wrong and not Epstein's nefarious sexual proclivities.

“He was very frustrated when the Democrats were making this about him,” Vance added of Trump and the fractious political conversation over the files' release and their content.

Pressed repeatedly by co-host Sunny Hostin over other matters related to the files, including millions that have yet to be released, Vance said there are many duplicates, as well as others over whose release a court would need to rule, but that “we're not holding anything back.”

After promising Hostin he'd check on some files that remain unreleased, Vance playfully suggested a return to the purported show agenda when Goldberg shifted to another commercial break.

"Let's talk about the book. I’m here to sell books. ‘Communion!’” he said.

“Eventually, we will," Goldberg said. "But this is a good opportunity for us to get some clarity.”

Vance also dove into Trump's signature issue: immigration

The conversation shifted to Trump's signature issue as Vance explained the evolution of his relationship to the president, whom he once criticized and about whom he now says he — and others, chronicling Trump's political rise — got some things wrong.

“One of the things I underappreciated about Donald Trump is that so many of the things that people said about him weren’t actually true,” Vance said. “I read stories that said, ‘Donald Trump said that all Mexicans were rapists’ — he never said that."

After several hosts queried how Vance as both a Christian and father would explain Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and urged him to visit detention centers, Vance acknowledged the need to “strike a balance, of course,” between enforcing laws and treating people appropriately.

“Law enforcement is always inherently not a very pretty process, especially when you’re dealing sometimes with violent people, with people who are resisting arrest," he allowed.

As the show began to wrap up, Goldberg aimed to try to tie in the book, asking Vance about rationalizing his Catholic faith with a hard-line stance on immigration.

“I think it strikes the right balance here,” Vance said of Catholicism, that “you can have borders, you’re allowed to enforce your borders ... but you also have to take certain precautions and certain care.”

Hosts asked Vance about administration's stance on race

Some of the most impassioned moments of the show were when the hosts questioned Vance about some of the administration's moves when it comes to race.

“What did Black people do to this administration that has allowed it to really stigmatize folks of color?” Goldberg asked. Some audience members reacted negatively as Vance asked for more information.

When Vance responded that the question suggested that "allegedly the administration is holding back the appointments of people based on skin color,” Hostin jumped in with a correction.

“I’m talking about Black history getting erased from public spaces, Black voter districts are being dismantled, Black leaders are being sidelined from our ranks,” she said. “Where do Americans of color fit in this vision? Because it doesn’t seem like we fit.”

Saying that “everybody is welcome in our political coalition,” Vance pointed toward the administration’s efforts to increase safety in Washington, D.C., a heavily Black city, adding, “Black history is not erased.”

___

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

Detroit Police 1st Assistant Chief Franklin Hayes told the council that the expanded curfew for minors — which will take effect at 8 p.m. on June 22 and remain in place until 6 a.m. the following morning — is requested annually by the police department to ensure the safety of the popular downtown event.

“I do support the ordinance, I supported it last year and I’m going to continue to support it because it is responsible,” District 2 Councilwoman Angela Whitfield-Calloway said prior to Tuesday’s vote. “The whole intent is to keep people safe.”

However, some council and community members are rejecting that logic, saying it both excludes Detroit youth from a premier city event and penalizes them for others’ bad behavior.

“If we expect bad behavior, we get bad behavior, and this is exactly what we’re saying to our 16- and 17-year-olds,” said Councilwoman Mary Waters on Tuesday.

Council members Waters and Denzel McCampbell were the only “no” votes.

In a Public Health and Safety Committee meeting held on Monday, Hayes pointed to recent incidents at so-called “teen takeovers” across the country as further justification for the measure.

“We’ve seen what’s going on, quite frankly, around the country as recent as this past weekend,” Hayes said. “A neighboring city had to shut down a festival in Dearborn Heights as it relates to these mass gatherings of unsupervised teens.”

Several residents called into that meeting to share their opinions about the proposed change, with many of them speaking out against it.

“People shouldn’t be excluded from their own city, regardless of age,” one resident said.

At Tuesday’s regular council meeting, Hayes said that the expanded curfew is meant to be a deterrent for youth intending to cause trouble, but noted that officers will not be “carding” or seeking out individuals to remove from the event unless they’re doing just that.

Community Violence Intervention groups will also be on-site to help support Detroit police in securing the area and enforcing the curfew, he said.

Any youth who are removed from the event for violating curfew will be reunited with their parents or guardians at the Coleman A. Young Recreation Center, Hayes said.

In the event of rain, the curfew will be in effect for the rain date on June 23, through the following morning.

---> Here’s how to watch the 2026 Ford Fireworks live from Detroit

According to a petition filed by Nessel’s office, the AG received a “volume of complaints” from consumers in recent years about inflated prices at the BP station.

It’s located at the corner of Middlebelt and Wick Roads in Romulus, across the street from the airport rental car return lots. It’s operated by William Bazzi of M-Twelve Fuels, LLC.

“With the price of everything already squeezing families, the last thing Michiganders and our visitors who are rushing to return a rental car need is to be taken advantage of at the pump,” Nessel said. “Allegations of marking up prices, here by as much as 72% over the average, call for a vigorous investigation.”

Prices far above competitors

On Tuesday morning, the BP was charging $5.89 per gallon for cash and $5.99 for credit.

By comparison, a Sheetz down the road was at $3.48, a Marathon at $3.99, and nearby Shell and Mobil stations were at $4.07.

Nessel’s office received more than 16 complaints about the station in 2025 and 2026.

An investigator from the Michigan Department of Attorney General purchased fuel from the station back in April for $5.24 per gallon, while data from GasBuddy showed nearby stations charging between $3.79 and $3.99 per gallon.

The department has continued comparing the station’s rates to competitors in recent weeks, reporting a “gross disparity ranging from 22% to 72% more than its competitors for similar gasoline.”

Drivers frustrated

Many drivers say they already know to avoid the station. David Church of Romulus put it plainly.

“He’s always got the gas prices really, really, really high. It’s just absolutely ridiculous,” Church said.

Lavonne Fuller of Redford said she doesn’t even stop for gas there.

“I never get gas from here. I just come to the shop,” Fuller said.

Church has a direct message for the owner.

“Lower the prices. You know, just because you are by the airport doesn’t mean you have to skyrocket the price,” he said.

Prices dropped after station employee confronted

Local 4 visited the station on Tuesday to speak with owner William Bazzi, but was immediately kicked out after being told the owner wasn’t there.

About an hour later, prices dropped — from nearly $6 per gallon to $5.14 for cash.

This is also not the gas station’s first run-in with state investigators.

The Attorney General launched a similar investigation into the same location in 2023, when the station was believed to be under different ownership.

In April, Local 4 https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2026/04/11/564-per-gallon-metro-detroit-gas-station-faces-backlash-over-prices/.

The court granted Nessel’s request to investigate, and the Attorney General’s office is in the process of issuing Civil Investigative Subpoenas related to the matter.

If you believe a gas station is price gouging, you can file a complaint with the AG’s office here.

The court sentenced him to four years and two months in prison. All five justices considering the case agreed he illegally interfered by lobbying the U.S. government to threaten Brazilian officials to stop the trial.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also oversaw the former president's coup attempt case, said Eduardo Bolsonaro's job as a federal lawmaker “is not to lobby overseas against his own country.” De Moraes and his wife were sanctioned by the U.S. government in July last year.

Lawyers for Eduardo Bolsonaro disputed the verdict, saying there was not enough evidence to convict him. The former lawmaker has lived in Texas since February 2025.

U.S. President Donald Trump slapped Brazil with a 50% tariff last year in protest of Jair Bolsonaro 's prosecution for trying to overturn his electoral defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022.

Trump’s relations with Lula seem to have improved in early May, when the Brazilian leader visited the White House, but then in June the U.S. government once again proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil, claiming the world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in unreasonable trade practices.

Lula said that during his visit to Washington in early May, he handed Trump documents showing that the U.S. has a trade surplus with Brazil.

Eduardo Bolsonaro did not make comments about the Supreme Court's decision. He is campaigning for his brother Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, who is expected to challenge Lula in October's elections although his candidacy has faced a recent scandal related to a payment to a disgraced banker.

Eduardo and Flávio Bolsonaro recently visited U.S. officials in Washington, including Trump.

___

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

Family and friends of the 11 jumpers and pilot killed when their plane crashed shortly after taking off in Missouri said they loved their hobby — whether it was to find personal peace or to share a once-in-a-lifetime experience with others. They remembered the experienced skydivers as people who may have had regular jobs to pay their bills but free falling brought both the thrill and the serenity they craved.

Blake Thacker, 25, jumped for seven years since first skydiving on his 18th birthday. He was set to get his skydiving coach certification over the weekend, his mother Sherry said.

“Skydiving had given him the confidence to do other things in his life, to be successful and reach for things maybe he thought he wasn’t good enough to do," she said.

Thacker was an aviation software engineer and his mother saw that same methodical safety-oriented focus in his hobby.

“He said, ’Mom the danger in skydiving is really not the diving it’s the plane,'” she recalled.

Plane crashed shortly after takeoff

The plane was barely off the ground Sunday — only about 100 feet (30 meters) in the air — when it made an abrupt left turn before crashing on a sunny day. It appeared to be losing power, witnesses said.

Skydive Kansas City operated the single-engine turboprop Pacific Aerospace 750XL built in 2010 out of an airport in the small town of Butler, roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City.

The plane arrived in Butler for the first time on June 5, according to data from FlightRadar24.com. Pictures of the aircraft posted on social media showed it still had advertising from Chattanooga Skydiving Co. Its flight history showed it had previously been flying for weeks at a time in Tennessee and Wisconsin.

A woman who answered the phone at the Chattanooga Skydiving Co. hung up Tuesday when a reporter identified himself.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating all factors leading to the crash including how much experience the pilot had with this model of plane and any mechanical or structural problems with the aircraft.

The 12 people killed were identified as Thacker, Kurt John Roy, Michael Shanahan, David Hershberger, Sai Karthik Varma Datla, Matthew Swope, Dustin McKinney, Jen Sharp, Marcus Miller, Nicholas Nash, William Fischer and Dane Cordes, according to the Bates County Coroner's Office.

Skydiving helped one jumper get sober

McKinney’s wife said her husband was meticulous about safety when he jumped after his love for skydiving prompted him to get sober seven years ago.

“It feels like this is the only way that skydiving could have taken out Dustin, because it was such a freak accident,” Kathryn Nold said. “It was the most horrific thing. It’s still very surreal.”

McKinney, 44, worked at a furniture store and played drums in Kansas City-area bands. The father of two also had a part-time paying gig as a videographer for Skydive Kansas City.

“He could just immediately make people feel seen and warm and want to be around him, and I just feel infinitely lucky that we were the center of his world and able to experience that love from him that he gave so effortlessly to everyone,” Nold said of her high school sweetheart.

Honoring his sister by jumping

Shanahan took up skydiving just before his older sister Nikki died from breast cancer in 2016, his mother said Tuesday.

“He wanted to live his life and make it worth having fun, having a good time, doing something he enjoyed, and skydiving was something he had always wanted to do, unbeknownst to us,” Gloria Shanahan told The Associated Press.

Shanahan honored his sister by skydiving on her birthday, Mother’s Day and the anniversary of her death. He then visited her grave.

Shanahan, 54, jumped Saturday just for fun. He booked Sunday's jump as a backup in case the weather was bad but decided to go ahead and jump both days anyway, his mother said.

“We do not regret that he did. He got to live the life that he wanted to,” she said.

Shanahan's skydiving instructor was Hershberger, who was on the plane with him Sunday. The two had another bond. Hershberger taught violin to two of Shanahan’s grandchildren.

Hershberger, 54, also taught orchestra and played trumpet with the Kansas City Wind Symphony. His summers were spent at Skydive Kansas City, often harnessed to inexperienced jumpers exhilarated and nervous to cross something off their bucket lists.

Skydiving to find out more about yourself

Sharp, 55, took her first jump in 1989 when she was 18. Some 6,800 jumps later, she was a legendary instructor at the highest levels of the sport and the coach for Thacker's certification.

On her blog, Sharp wrote about how she jumped into Denver’s Coors Field ballpark while dressed as the queen of England and loved to go tandem with people skydiving for the first time and to see them test their resolve, grow personally and just feel alive.

“Being trained by Jen Sharp was like taking piano lessons from Beethoven,” her friend Greg Upper told The Associated Press, calling Sharp a philosopher. “That’s how big of a deal she was."

Swope, 39, worked in IT, but every weekend he was up in the sky as he searched for any bit of fun, especially something he could share with others, his best friend, Justin Williams, said.

“He loved it. He gets to take people on their once-in-a-lifetime adventure every weekend, multiple times a day,” Williams said.

After Swope's death, Williams said, he’s terrified to go skydiving again but also knows he has to because his friend knew to truly live is to take risks.

“It’s scary to be in the door, but the moment you let go, it dissolves away and induces a state of presence that you will not find anywhere else," Williams said of free falling. "You don’t worry about the future. You’re not sad about the past. You’re just present, and it’s the most peaceful experience.”

The skydiving industry says it has a strong safety record. The United States Parachute Association said that last year nearly 3.5 million jumps were completed and that 16 civilians died, the majority from human error.

___

Associated Press reporters Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.6% and pulled 1.3% below its record set earlier this month. The market was nearly evenly split between stocks rising and falling, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 328 points, or 0.6%, to set a record for the second straight day. But drops for some influential tech stocks pulled the Nasdaq composite down 1.2%.

Stocks that had benefited from the boom in artificial-intelligence technology weighed on the market in particular following vicious swings over the last couple weeks.

They’ve been leading the market up and down amid worries that their stock prices shot too high in the mania around AI. That’s taken a toll because chip companies, makers of computer memory and other AI winners have grown so massive that they’ve become some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks.

Drops of 2.4% for Nvidia, 4.4% for Broadcom and 6.2% for Micron Technology were the heaviest weights pulling the S&P 500 lower.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment sank 6.2% after reporting a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, while Robinhood Markets fell 1.4% after the investing platform said that it’s laying off about 10% of its full-time employees.

On the winning side of Wall Street was SpaceX, which rose 4.8% for its third straight gain since its debut on the U.S. stock market. It said it’s moving forward with a purchase of Cursor, a popular AI coding assistant, valuing it at $60 billion.

Yum Brands climbed 1.9% after it said it’s selling the Pizza Hut chain for $2.7 billion. Most of the restaurants will go to LongRange Capital, a private equity firm. Those in mainland China will go to Yum China Holdings.

All told, the S&P 500 slipped 42.94 points to 7,511.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 328.64 to 51,999.67, and the Nasdaq composite fell 307.60 to 26,376.34.

The strongest action was in the oil market, where optimism continued that a tentative U.S.-Iran deal on their war will reopen the Strait of Hormuz at the end of the week and get the global flow of oil going again. The price for a barrel of Brent crude fell 5.1% to settle at $78.96.

Significant hurdles remain in the negotiations, including what to do with Iran’s nuclear program. But the hope on Wall Street is that this agreement will mean a long-term fix to a conflict that has worsened inflation around the world. The price of Brent has come down sharply from its $100-plus level of a few weeks ago, though it could still take months for the energy industry to get back to full speed.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed performance in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 briefly topped 70,000 for the first time before ending with a modest gain of 0.1% after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 1%. That’s its highest level in three decades, and it followed a similar move by the European Central Bank last week.

The Federal Reserve began its own meeting on what to do with interest rates Tuesday, with an announcement on the decision scheduled for Wednesday.

It’s the first meeting under the Fed’s new chair, Kevin Warsh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump. Trump has been pushing for lower interest rates, which would give the economy a boost but also threaten to worsen inflation. The widespread expectation, though, is that the Fed will leave its main interest rate alone again.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.43% from 4.47% late Monday and from 4.56% earlier this month.

High yields in bond markets worldwide caused by expensive oil prices have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies.

High yields have already sent mortgage rates higher, and a report on Tuesday said construction crews broke ground on far fewer new U.S. homes in May than economists expected.

___

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

In a series of talking points sent to Trump supporters and Republican members of Congress this week, the White House proclaimed major victories, such as Iran agreeing to never have a nuclear weapon, reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz and fighting in Lebanon ending.

The talking points, on White House letterhead, were obtained by The Associated Press from two recipients of the document and go against some of the realities on the ground, especially regarding what Israel has agreed to in its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, expected to be signed Friday in Switzerland, is still a closely guarded secret, even among Republican allies in Congress and the Israelis. That has led to confusion, concern and skepticism among all but the most hard-core Trump supporters about what has been agreed to.

Republicans acknowledged that the initial deal, by remaining under wraps, has created a vacuum that is being filled by potential misinformation.

“You don’t know what’s true and what’s not true — is it in there?” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. “My speculation is that it’s probably still being written and fine-tuned, and the administration is not ready to release it until it’s all done.”

Asked why he was not releasing the terms of the initial agreement, Trump told reporters Tuesday at the Group of Seven summit in France that he would “like to get a formal setting first before we do that.”

“I’ll not only release it,” he went on to say, “I’ll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word, so that the press covers it accurately.”

Comparison with the Obama-era nuclear accord

Trump said he was open to submitting an eventual agreement to Congress for review and approval.

“I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” Trump said. “I mean who wouldn’t approve it?”

Yet submitting a nuclear agreement with Iran to Congress is not optional under a law that was passed following the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement reached by then-President Barack Obama, which Trump abandoned during his first administration. Some congressional aides argue that even the presumed memorandum of understanding to be signed Friday would also be subject to lawmakers' review.

The talking points claim that the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was never signed, which is partly true but misleading. The foreign ministers who negotiated the agreement did sign a copy of the deal, although it was viewed as an informal document meant to memorialize the occasion.

More important, the JCPOA was endorsed and approved by the U.N. Security Council, which enshrined its provisions into international law.

“President Trump solved a threat Washington spent forty years managing," according to the talking points. “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.” Copies of the talking points were provided to the AP by a congressional aide and an outside government adviser.

Iran’s position dating back decades is that it has no desire to develop a nuclear weapon. Many Iran critics doubt that pledge because the country has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Reopening the Strait of Hormuz

Meanwhile, the talking points say “the Strait of Hormuz is open again, and energy prices American families pay every day are coming down.”

“American Families Are the Big Winners,” the document says. “Start with what this means at home. American families no longer have to fear a nuclear-armed Iran. They are going to feel relief at the pump and at the grocery store.”

The Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil passed before the war began, had been open to all maritime traffic until Feb. 28 when Trump and Israel began attacking Iran. That means that an agreement to reopen the strait would start to return the situation to where it was on Feb. 27 before the U.S. and Israel spent billions of dollars to go to war. It could take weeks or even months for some normalcy to return.

Consumer prices in the United States and elsewhere only spiked after the war began and shipments of oil and other commodities through the strait were interrupted by Iran, which insists it will retain control of access to the crucial waterway no matter what.

Sanctions relief for Iran

The talking points say Iran will not receive any American taxpayer money for its eventual agreement with and adherence to an as-yet unnegotiated nuclear agreement and will only get financial incentives if it meets certain benchmarks.

They suggest that Obama's 2015 nuclear accord cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars, when the monetary sanctions relief provided to Iran then actually came from frozen Iranian assets and not the U.S. treasury.

The talking points mention “the pallets of cash” the U.S. sent to Iran after the JCPOA was signed. In fact, the shipment of cash, which came from an Iranian payment for a canceled arms sale to the late Shah of Iran's government, were unrelated to the nuclear deal.

That money was part of a swap that saw the release of several American citizens detained in Iran and of several Iranians imprisoned in the U.S.

Israel-Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon

The talking points trumpet Trump's claim that the agreement will end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

“This signed agreement ends military operations on every front," they say. “For the first time, that explicitly includes Lebanon, with a commitment to both Israel and Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

However, Hezbollah is not party to talks that have been taking place in the U.S. between Israel and Lebanon, and the Iranian-backed militant group has rejected any agreements reached during them. Israeli officials also have said they will not be bound by the terms of the tentative Iran-U.S. agreement and do not know the details of it.

“We’re less encouraged about the fact that it seems that Lebanon has been included in the agreement with Iran," Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told NPR. “And we think that that’s unnecessary and unhelpful.”

A senior U.S. official told reporters that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was not a condition of the memorandum of understanding. The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity Monday to discuss outlines of the unreleased agreement.

___

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Geneva, Darlene Superville in Evian-les-Bains, France, Koral Saeed in Jerusalem, and Michelle L. Price and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

Midfielder Sebastian Berhalter gives credit for this tenacity to coach Mauricio Pochettino, who has taken over a team that repeatedly flopped on the international stage and infused it with a stronger mentality grounded in a few core beliefs.

“I think one is that we’re American. We don’t take s—-,” Berhalter said Tuesday.

“I think that’s something that (Pochettino) really put in,” Berhalter continued. “Even though he’s Argentinian, he has that mindset of, like, ‘Look, this is what we do, and this is who we are, and this is what America is about.’ So I think he just, you know, even from an outside perspective, he showed us Americans what we’re about. He really drilled that into us, and I think that’s something that has helped us this last cycle.”

That mentality was partly forged last October when the U.S. faced Australia in what turned into a scrappy 2-1 friendly victory in Colorado. Pochettino lambasted his team at halftime, imploring the players to stand up for themselves after the Socceroos delivered physical tackles and punishing play while U.S. midfielder Christian Pulisic left with an injury.

“Watching that game last year, you could see they were up for it,” said Berhalter, whose father, Gregg, coached the U.S. team before Pochettino. “They were putting in challenges, and I think that’s one of the reasons Mauricio had that halftime rant, and said, ‘These guys can’t kick us around.’ I think he was right.”

The players heard their coach's pleas, and they responded with an increased physicality in a game that ended with a combined 19 fouls and two yellow cards.

The Americans have largely kept it up since then, playing with a confidence and assertiveness that manifested throughout their 4-1 victory over Paraguay last Friday in Inglewood, California. Although they haven't racked up a string of impressive victories since Pochettino took over, the team's improvements in temperament and tactics have been obvious, and the World Cup could be the place where everything blossoms.

“That game in Colorado was fun,” winger Tim Weah said with a grin. “That experience was fun. It was aggressive. I think from that game, we’ve changed a lot. We’ve gotten a bit more aggressive as well.”

Pulisic's health is again a concern for the Americans after he was forced to work out on his own for the second straight training session Tuesday because of the calf injury that limited him to the first half against Paraguay. The team described its playmaking attacker as “day to day” for Friday's match in Seattle.

Even if Pulisic is limited again, the Americans believe they can go toe-to-toe with Australia again. Berhalter could play an important role after he made his World Cup debut by replacing Pulisic for the second half against Paraguay.

“It’s going to be a physical game, but a fun game, and we’re excited,” Berhalter said. "(The Socceroos) are going to fight. We like teams that have that brotherhood, you know? We like teams that you can see they’re hungry, they want to fight.”

___

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

President Donald Trump nominated Blanche to lead the Justice Department this month, shortly after Blanche sparred with Republican senators in a contentious meeting about a $1.776 billion settlement fund. Blanche later testified that the fund would not go forward. But some Republican senators say they want more assurances from Blanche before they vote to confirm him as the nation's chief law enforcement officer.

“It’ll be an issue if the weaponization fund isn’t effectively dead by the confirmation hearing,” said GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, a potential swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Because I still have a real problem with it being out there.”

Another member of the committee, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, said Tuesday he had met with Blanche but that he would not make a decision until after the confirmation hearings, which are expected on July 15 and 16.

Trump fired his first attorney general, Pam Bondi, in April, and elevated Blanche to be acting attorney general. Blanche, who worked as one of Trump’s personal lawyers before joining the administration, will need support from all 12 Republicans on the Judiciary panel for his nomination to move forward, if all Democrats vote against him.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that Blanche will get a fair hearing, “and if he comes to the floor, we’ll do everything we can to get him scheduled and voted on, and hopefully confirmed.”

“We’ll let the process play out,” Thune said.

Blanche was on Capitol Hill meeting with senators Tuesday as he worked to shore up support.

Republicans seek assurances about fund

The questions over Blanche’s confirmation come at a time of heightened tensions between the Senate and the White House.

Blanche has been a public face of some of Trump’s most controversial actions, most recently the anti-weaponization fund that enraged many Republican senators.

The anger boiled over during a closed-door Senate meeting in May, when lawmakers confronted Blanche over the proposal. Sen. Ted Cruz later described it on his podcast as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”

Blanche told a House panel this month that “we are not moving forward with the fund, period.” But Tillis and other Republicans have sought further guarantees that the settlement fund would not survive.

Cornyn said his meeting with Blanche on Tuesday was “positive” and that Blanche had promised an additional briefing on a provision of the IRS settlement that would grant Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.

Path to confirmation is narrow

A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche played a lead on Trump’s defense team, including during the Republican president's hush money trial in New York. Democrats and other critics have long accused him of still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer, particularly as the Justice Department pursues longtime Trump foes.

“Democrats are going to fight this confirmation with everything we have, and if Republicans have any respect for the rule of law, they’ll do the same,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The biggest test for Blanche's nomination is expected to come in the committee. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., predicted Tuesday that Blanche would be confirmed but that it would be “tough.”

“Read the room,” Kennedy said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said he expects Blanche to be confirmed, pointing to the overwhelming Republican support he received when he was confirmed as deputy attorney general last year.

The hearings, however, will take place as the Senate races to clear a packed legislative agenda before its monthlong August recess. Among the unfinished business is legislation to restore a key foreign surveillance authority that lapsed last week.

Still, Grassley said he believes Blanche can be confirmed before senators leave town.

“I think we could easily get it done before the August break,” he said.

__

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed.

Campbell said on Tuesday (June 16) there were no significant new injury concerns entering minicamp, with only the team’s usual group of recovering players unavailable for full participation.

Tight end Sam LaPorta is progressing as expected and remains on track to be ready for the start of training camp.

“We like where he’s going,” said Campbell. “He’s trending the right way.”

The Lions also welcomed back several players who had recently been sidelined by illness, helping bolster participation for the two-day minicamp.

Competition heats up along offensive, defensive lines

Competition remains a central theme throughout the roster, particularly along the offensive and defensive lines.

Campbell said the coaching staff is eager to see battles intensify once training camp begins and contact resumes.

“You see what it’s going to be, what it can become going into training camp,” Campbell said. “When it becomes live and real bullets are flying, that fires us up.”

One of the most closely watched competitions will be at left guard. Campbell confirmed the position remains open despite Christian Mahogany taking the majority of first-team reps during organized team activities.

Mahogany, entering his third NFL season, has shown promise after appearing in several games last year, but Campbell emphasized that veterans and younger players alike will have opportunities to earn the role.

“There’s a reason why we brought in competition,” Campbell said. “We’re going to let this thing go and see what happens.”

Campbell on balance, burnout, brotherhood with coaching staff

Campbell also addressed the challenges of balancing the demands of coaching with personal well-being during the offseason.

Asked how he avoids burnout, the typically energetic coach joked, “I just burn to ashes and then come back up.”

Campbell acknowledged the consuming nature of coaching but said experience has helped him become more mindful of finding balance.

“This job is consuming,” he said. “But that’s because we love it. It’s addictive.”

Part of that balance included a recent annual retreat with his coaching staff and their families in northern Michigan. Campbell described the trip as an opportunity for coaches and their spouses to reconnect and recharge before the season.

“We’re like brothers,” Campbell said of his coaching staff. “To be able to bring the wives and everybody together and just kick back and relax, it always helps.”

Campbell also reflected on what a championship would mean to Detroit, comparing the city’s passionate fan base to those that have endured long waits for titles elsewhere.

“That’s what we’re striving for,” Campbell said. “It’s about winning a championship. That’s why we’re in this business.”

Young players drawing praise heading into training camp

Several young players drew praise from Campbell, including wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa, who emerged as a trusted contributor late last season.

Campbell said TeSlaa’s growth has continued throughout the offseason.

“He’s just steady. He’s consistent,” Campbell said. “He feels like a veteran right now.”

Campbell also highlighted running back Sione Vaki‘s athleticism and potential versatility, though he noted the former college defender is still developing at the position after limited opportunities due to injuries.

“If he helps us move the football and win, we’re going to find a way to put him on the field,” Campbell said.

Defensive back Dan Jackson and linebacker Colby Sorsdal also remain players the organization is watching closely after injuries limited their development.

Campbell said both will benefit most from gaining live repetitions during training camp and preseason games.

“Our eyes are open,” Campbell said. “He’s got an opportunity.”

Coaching staff adjustments round out minicamp conversations

Campbell concluded by discussing adjustments within the coaching staff.

With Jim O’Neil taking on assistant head coach responsibilities alongside associate head coach Scottie Montgomery, Campbell said some of his own duties will be delegated, while Montgomery will remain one of his primary trusted advisers.

“We’re fortunate,” Campbell said. “As a head coach, to have both of them.”

The Lions will conclude mandatory minicamp on Wednesday before breaking for the summer ahead of training camp.

Yum Brands said Tuesday that the private equity firm LongRange Capital will buy Pizza Hut, excluding the mainland China business, for about $1.5 billion.

In mainland China, Pizza Hut will be purchased by Yum China Holdings Inc. for approximately $1.2 billion, the company said. China is Pizza Hut's second-largest market outside the U.S., accounting for 19% of sales. Yum China Holdings Inc. spun off from Yum Brands and became an independent company in 2016.

Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell, began to explore its options for Pizza Hut in November. Last year, Yum Brands' global sales rose 5% but Pizza Hut's sales fell 2%.

In February, Yum Brands announced plans to close 250 U.S. Pizza Hut locations. Pizza Hut had 19,974 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year.

“Pizza Hut has long been the weak link in Yum’s portfolio,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote Tuesday. “Despite efforts to revitalize the brand and shut underperforming locations, it has become increasingly clear that pushing the division back into growth will require a level of investment and patience that Yum is just not prepared to commit to.”

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by two brothers who borrowed $600 from their mother to open the store. They chose the name because their sign only had room for eight letters.

Pizza Hut’s familiar red roof debuted in 1969 and by 1971 it was the top pizza chain in the world by sales. PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in 1977 but spun off its restaurant division — which became Yum Brands — in 1997.

By the 1980s, Domino's was the fastest-growing U.S. pizza company, buoyed by its promise of 30-minute delivery. As pizza carryout and delivery grew in popularity, Pizza Hut was saddled with large, dine-in restaurants. In 2020, even as pizza delivery boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pizza Hut closed 300 U.S. restaurants.

The chain has been further pinched in recent years by the growth of DoorDash, Uber Eats and other restaurant delivery companies which marketed access to a slew of cuisines besides pizza.

U.S. pizza sales have slowed considerably since the pandemic, growing less than 1% in 2024 and falling less than 1% in 2025, according to Technomic, a restaurant consulting company. But Pizza Hut performed worse than average, with U.S. sales down 8.2% last year, Technomic said.

By selling Pizza Hut, Yum Brands can focus more on its brands with stronger sales, Yum CEO Chris Turner said.

“Under LongRange and Yum China, Pizza Hut will be well positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry," Turner said in a statement.

Connecticut-based LongRange Capital was founded in 2019 by Bob Berlin, who previously engineered a turnaround at Arby's when he led private equity investments at The Baupost Group. Berlin said Tuesday he looked forward to working with Pizza Hut's executive team and franchisees “to drive its next phase of growth.”

“Pizza Hut is a beloved global brand with a rich heritage and a loyal customer base that few brands can match,” Berlin said in a statement.

Asked Tuesday if LongRange planned to close any Pizza Hut locations, the company said it had no comment beyond Berlin's statement.

Yum Brands, based in Louisville, Kentucky, expects the sale in U.S. and China to close in the third quarter. The company's stock rose nearly 2% Tuesday.

Britain's Defense Ministry launched an investigation after the yacht reported being fired on by a Russian navy vessel about 20 nautical miles (23 miles, 37 kilometers) south of the Isle of Wight, outside U.K. territorial waters.

There were no reports of injuries or damage to the sailing yacht, which continued its journey from the U.K. toward France.

The BBC reported that the yacht, which has no motor, had drifted toward the Russian vessel in foggy conditions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich tried to contact the yacht when it was seen sailing on a “dangerous course in close proximity with the warship.” It said the ship's crew launched flares and issued sound signals when the yacht did not respond.

“After the distance had closed to 150 meters (500 feet), the frigate’s commander decided to fire warning shots across the vessel’s bow using small arms,” the ministry said. It said the yacht then changed course and sailed away.

The ministry said the ship's crew “acted in strict accordance” with international navigation rules to avoid a collision.

Britain's account of the incident was similar.

“Following attempts to contact a British vessel in the channel, the Grigorovich fired warning shots. These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision," Britain's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, and patrol vessel HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian ship at the time of the reported incident and provided support to the yacht's crew.

The British military said last month that it had monitored the Admiral Grigorovich throughout April as the Russian ship escorted six Russia-linked civilian vessels near the U.K.

The altercation occurred two days after British commandos boarded and detained a sanctioned tanker in the Channel that is suspected of being part of the Russian “shadow fleet.” British defense officials said they don't believe the two events are linked.

The tanker's captain, an Indian national charged with shipping Russian oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, was ordered held in jail after appearing Tuesday in court.

The British military has had several close encounters with Russian vessels in the region and warned Moscow in November that it was ready to deal with any incursion into its territory after the spy ship Yantar was detected on the edge of U.K. waters north of Scotland.

In April, Britain and Norway said they had tracked a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K. for several weeks.

A Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel spent weeks following the Russian vessels and prevented them from carrying out “nefarious” activities against underwater infrastructure, then-Defense Secretary John Healey said.

He accused Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe.

Five years ago, Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the Black Sea to force the British destroyer HMS Defender out of an area near Crimea that Moscow claimed as its territorial waters.

The U.K. denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon. It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow acknowledged using live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West. The incident occurred about six months before Russia invaded Ukraine.

___

An earlier version of this story said the incident occurred about 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight. It is 20 nautical miles, or 23 miles.

Uncertainty lingered over the situation through the team's elimination in Game 6 of the final against Carolina on Sunday night. General manager Kelly McCrimmon announced Tuesday that Tortorella would not be back.

“We thank Torts for the guidance he provided our team since joining the organization in March,” McCrimmon said. “When the decision was made to bring Torts to Vegas, we needed an immediate impact to help us at a pivotal point in the season. Torts’ experience and leadership proved to be the boost that we were looking for, helping guide us to the Stanley Cup Final. We are grateful for Torts’ passion, sincerity, and commitment to our organization, and we wish him and his family the best.”

McCrimmon hired Tortorella on March 30 when he fired Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the season. The Golden Knights won seven of them and then got through three rounds before losing to the Hurricanes in the final.

Players spoke highly of how Tortorella handled jumping in this spring, and that praise continued on exit day after finding out he would not return. Rasmus Andersson said Tortorella “was a perfect fit at a perfect time for us.”

“Torts was awesome,” fellow defenseman Shea Theodore said. “I think he was really what our group needed at the end to kind of push us in the playoffs. A lot of credit to him. He was a fantastic coach.”

Tortorella, who turns 68 next week, is 22 years removed from coaching Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup in 2004. After his time with the Lightning, he spent time running the bench for the New York Rangers, Vancouver, Columbus and Philadelphia and was out of the league for roughly a year before getting the call from McCrimmon.

“It’s a tough situation for a coach to come in with that little time left," said Vegas' Noah Hanifin, who won gold at the Olympics when Tortorella was on staff as an assistant. “And just the way he was able to kind of get us back on the right track fast, and give us a chance, was pretty impressive.”

Tortorella took criticism in recent days for deciding to stick with goaltender Carter Hart, whose .863 save percentage was the lowest in the final since Minnesota's Jon Casey in 1991. Hart and Tortorella overlapped with the Flyers from '22-24.

McCrimmon is scheduled to speak to reporters on Wednesday. One avenue Vegas could go with for Tortorella's successor is promoting Ryan Craig, who has been coach of its top affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League, for the past three seasons.

___

AP freelance writer W.G. Ramirez in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

___

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

The actor may have ended months of speculation triggered by Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach’s claim in March that the couple had already held a wedding. In a very 2026 twist, artificial intelligence played a role in the reveal.

When Holland was asked by Esquire U.K. whether he had to inform family members about AI images that appear to show him and Zendaya at their wedding, the actor replied, “No, because they were all there.”

“That’s all you’ll get on that,” he said of the matter.

Elsewhere, in the story published Tuesday, Holland gushed about how the couple supported each other behind the camera.

"Our business can present very stressful situations and it’s really nice to have a bedrock of a relationship that will stand the test of time,” he said.

“So, for me, I found my person. She’s my best friend, and I’m the happiest I ever have been when I’m with her, but I also have never felt so supported and safe, ever. Period.”

Holland and Zendaya first met when they co-starred in the 2017 movie “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” They star together in big movies this summer: “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

A team spokesman described Pulisic as “day to day” after his second straight day doing individual workouts while his teammates practiced at the U.S. training base in Orange County. The Americans' next game is against Australia in Seattle on Friday.

Pulisic was limited to one half of action in the Americans' World Cup-opening 4-1 victory over Paraguay last Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The AC Milan forward was stellar in the first match of his second World Cup. He recorded an assist on Folarin Balogun's first goal, and he caused an own-goal by Paraguay with his playmaking from relentless runs down the left side of the U.S. attack.

Pulisic was kicked in the back of his left calf during training last week, and he was removed from the win over Paraguay at halftime when he felt stiffness. The U.S. was already ahead 3-0 after its highest-scoring half in a World Cup match.

Coach Mauricio Pochettino described the decision to shorten Pulisic's appearance as precautionary.

“I’m hoping I’ll be fine the next few days," Pulisic said after the match. "Just the back of my leg, sort of my calf area. I’m staying positive. I don’t think it’s anything.”

After traveling to Seattle, the Americans return to Inglewood on June 25 to conclude group play against Turkey.

___

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

Serena and Venus Williams won a combined 21 titles on the storied grass of the All England Club in their singles and doubles careers and now they're going for one more.

A doubles wild card invitation for the sisters was announced on Tuesday by organizers of Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks.

The move comes after 44-year-old Serena recently returned to competition after nearly four years away from professional tennis.

Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turns 46 on Wednesday.

“I think it’s going to be fun. My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus. She’s always right,” Serena said after losing a doubles match with another partner, Karolina Muchova, in Berlin on Tuesday. “So I said, “OK Olympia, we’ll see if we can do it.”

The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first of them in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

In all, their records at the All England Club look like this: Seven singles titles for Serena and five singles titles for Venus at Wimbledon; those six Wimbledon doubles titles together; a mixed doubles title for Serena with Max Mirnyi at Wimbledon in 1998; plus a singles gold medal for Serena at the 2012 London Olympics and a doubles gold for the sisters at the same Games. Count 'em up and it makes for 21 trophies and medals — because their powerful serves always did more damage on grass than any other surface.

With their six titles, the Williams sisters share the record for most trophies as a pair in women’s doubles at Wimbledon with Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, who won five consecutive titles from 1919 to 1923 and a sixth in in 1925.

The Williams sisters last played doubles together at the 2022 U.S. Open, where they lost their opening match. That was the first time they played doubles together in 4 ½ years.

In her first competition since 2022, Serena won her doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London last week and then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.

At the Berlin Open on Tuesday, Serena and Muchova were beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe.

Singles wild card spot left open

Serena has not ruled out a return in singles, too, and one of the eight wild card spots for women’s singles was left as “to be announced.”

Recent French Open finalist Maja Chwalinska received a singles wild card, as did six British women: Harriet Dart, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman, Mika Stojsavljevic, Katie Swan, and Mimi Xu.

Wawrinka, Dimitrov and Kyrgios

Men’s singles wild cards went to Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov and four British players: Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Jack Pinnington Jones and Toby Samuel.

Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion whose best result at Wimbledon was reaching the quarterfinals twice, plans to retire at the end of the year.

Dimitrov led eventual champion Jannik Sinner two sets to none in the round of 16 last year before having to retire early in the third due to an injured pectoral muscle. Dimitrov is now ranked No. 169.

Two more men’s singles wild cards were also left open.

In men’s doubles, a wild card went to the pairing of Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios was a singles finalist in 2022.

Matteo Berrettini, a Wimbledon finalist in 2021, was left off the list despite a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open. He’s ranked No. 49 but was ranked outside the top 100 when Wimbledon’s entry list was established. Still, Berrettini could get direct entry into the main draw depending on withdrawals.

Wimbledon starts June 29.

___

AP Sports Writer Ciaran Fahey in Berlin contributed to this report.

___

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

The spat reportedly led to the resignation of one of the team’s media officers on Tuesday. The national team has yet to confirm the resignation, which has been reported by some of the media covering the South Korean squad in Guadalajara.

Access for the media had apparently been cut off after the comments against Son were caught on camera. Players reportedly refrained from speaking to South Korean media outside official World Cup commitments, and scheduled interviews with players were canceled.

Mexican media said there was a meeting between the team's media officers and the South Korean media to discuss the incident.

There was no media access scheduled on Tuesday. The pre-match news conference is scheduled for Wednesday.

The South Korean soccer association said it regretted “the inappropriate remarks made by some media personnel during the national football team’s training at the Guadalajara base camp.” The organization added the comments caused “great shock and disappointment” within the squad.

The incident occurred during an open training session on June 7, days before South Korea beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in its first World Cup match.

The 33-year-old Son, running with teammates, was mocked by unidentified media personnel over his military record in footage recorded by broadcaster JTBC, South Korea’s official rights holder for the tournament. The video was later leaked, prompting a strong reaction on social media.

By helping South Korea win gold at the 2018 Asian Games, Son earned an exemption from the mandatory 21-month military service required of able-bodied men.

Son later completed alternative duties, including a three-week military training course in 2020 and community service.

The federation said in Monday's statement that it “will continue to prioritize the protection of the squad and strive to create a healthy media environment.”

Son, who left Tottenham for Los Angeles FC a year ago, missed chances in the victory over the Czech Republic, with Hwang In-beom and Oh Hyeon-gyu scoring in Guadalajara.

South Korea plays again in Guadalajara on Thursday when it faces Mexico in Group A.

___

Duerden reported from London.

___

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

Not just any soccer game, a World Cup match.

The international soccer tournament, held every four years, is ongoing at 16 sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Those include 11 markets that are also home to a combined 13 Major League Baseball teams.

Kansas City, where the Cardinals open a three-game series Thursday, is hosting six World Cup matches at the NFL stadium in the same complex with the Royals' ballpark. The Cardinals and Royals will be off Saturday, when Ecuador plays Curaçao.

“That is the goal, yes,” Marmol said when asked if he was going to that match.

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and his wife, who played soccer at Old Dominion, plan to be there.

“It’s strange, but it’s special circumstances,” Pasquantino said. “It’s awesome that Kansas City got access to World Cup games. So, however many years until the United States hosts again, we’ll be all right with some off days like that.”

World Cup matches are being played in the United States for the first time since 1994.

Getting their kicks in Texas

A tournament-high nine matches are being played at AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys that is adjacent to Globe Life Field. The neighboring Texas Rangers will host two split series, but also have a Monday off between home series on July 6, the day of a round of 16 match.

Texas is now in a three-game series against Minnesota that will finish Thursday, after a pause Wednesday when powerhouse England plays its Cup opener against Croatia.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson, who played soccer as a kid in California.

The Rangers completed a road trip Sunday in Boston, with thousands of Scottish fans chanting and singing at Fenway Park the night after Scotland won the opener of its first World Cup appearance in 28 years. That win over Haiti was at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, about 30 miles away.

Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said the presence of the Tartan Army made it feel like a European soccer game. He and members of his staff now want to attend the World Cup.

“It was so much fun that on the off day the majority of our staff is trying to find a way to get tickets to go to a game that they know really nothing about because of the atmosphere that was so incredible,” Schumaker said. “The passion was insane.”

In Philadelphia, the Phillies will be off Friday during their home series against the New York Mets since Brazil plays Haiti at nearby Lincoln Financial Field.

Like for the Rangers, Royals and Seattle Mariners, the home of the Phillies is next to an NFL stadium hosting some of the 104 matches during the nearly six-week tournament with teams from 48 nations. Those stadiums all have shared parking lots.

Texas and Kansas City are both off for round of 32 Cup matches on July 3, a Friday. The Rangers will have already opened a series against Detroit, while the Royals wait to start an unusual Saturday through Monday series against the Phillies.

Not all of the matches are next door

Either the Mets or Yankees have a home game on each of the eight dates World Cup matches are at MetLife Stadium across the river in New Jersey, including the championship finale July 19, when the Yankees also host Shohei Ohtani and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Yankee Stadium is about 14 miles from the Meadowlands, with Citi Field about 24 miles away.

World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium will be about 13 miles from Dodger Stadium and 35 miles from Angel Stadium. Either the Dodgers or Angels play at home on six of the eight match dates in Inglewood. Those other two dates fall on normal off days during a homestand, one for each team.

With separation between stadiums, Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Miami and Toronto all will play multiple home games that concur with World Cup matches in their markets.

Mariners and Red Sox almost played two

There will still be a split series for the Angels when they go to Seattle, with a midweek break July 1 for a round of 16 Cup match.

The Mariners were originally scheduled to have a home doubleheader Saturday against Boston with the United States playing Australia in Seattle. But when match time at Lumen Field was set at noon local Friday, the Mariners and Red Sox switched to a traditional three-game series with the opener that night, instead of playing MLB's first scheduled doubleheader in two years.

___

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

It happened near the intersection of Greater Mack Avenue and Recreation Street just before 8 p.m. on June 15.

Police said two children who were riding an e-bike were struck by what they believe is a black Kia SUV. One child suffered a minor injury.

The SUV did not stop and continued east on Recreation Street.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Clair Shores Police Department at 586-445-5318.

Related: Teen on e-bike hit by car in Commerce Township

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, was arraigned on 17 counts, including first-degree murder, in the new indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Washington. Lakanwal originally pleaded not guilty in January to nine charges in the November 2025 shooting that killed Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.

Before the Justice Department announces whether it will seek the death penalty against Lakanwal, his defense attorneys can meet with prosecutors and present any evidence that they believe weighs against a death sentence.

Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard for the federal law-enforcement surge that began in August in Washington, D.C., at the direction of President Donald Trump.

Lakanwal is accused of driving to the nation’s capital from Bellingham, Washington, while in possession of a stolen firearm and ambushing the two Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House.

Another National Guard member heard gunshots and saw Beckstrom and Wolfe fall to the ground as Lakanwal fired a gun and screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” according to a police report.

Lakanwal, who was shot during the confrontation, was seated in a wheelchair during his arraignment on Tuesday. He didn't speak during the hearing; one of his attorneys entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country. Lakanwal worked with the American government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force” in Kandahar, Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said.

Lakanwal is due back in court Sept. 16. A trial date for his case hasn't been scheduled yet.

Jim Troupis, a former judge who was Trump’s Wisconsin campaign attorney, Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020, and Ken Chesebro, a former Trump legal adviser, all entered the pleas in Dane County Circuit Court.

Troupis, who lives in the Madison area, appeared in person. Roman and Chesebro appeared via Zoom.

The Wisconsin fake electors case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.

The fake elector scheme, under which Republican electors in battleground states submitted documentation to Congress attesting that Trump had won their states even though he lost to Joe Biden, originated in Wisconsin.

Troupis, Chesebro and Roman argue that they committed no crime and were just trying to keep their options alive in case a court ruled that Trump had actually won the state.

But prosecutors allege that the three defendants defrauded the 10 Wisconsin Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020.

Prosecutors contend that Troupis, Chesebro and Roman lied to the electors about how the certificate they signed would be used as part of a plan to submit paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence, falsely claiming that Trump had won the battleground state that year.

A majority of the electors told investigators that they did not believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be submitted to Congress without a court ruling, the complaint said. Also, a majority said they did not consent to having their signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court ruling, the complaint said.

The arraignment on Tuesday came two years and two weeks after the first charges were brought against the three by Wisconsin Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. Troupis, Chesebro and Roman face 11 felony forgery charges which are each punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Troupis and Roman both filed motions seeking to relocate the trial from Dane County, which includes Madison, to neighboring Jefferson County, saying negative publicity had tainted the potential jury pool.

Trump carried Jefferson County by 15 percentage points in 2020. He lost Dane County by nearly 53 points.

“This case is headed to trial,” Troupis attorney Joe Bugni wrote in Troupis' motion. “No question. Neither side is going to blink. And when we get to trial, Troupis has the right to a fair and impartial jury.”

Troupis and Roman also argued that one of the 11 felony counts against them should be dropped because Trump issued a pardon for any federal crimes related to their work on the fake elector scheme. They argued that the state can't prosecute them over the casting of electoral votes, which is a federal process, and therefore Trump's pardon applies.

Trump also pardoned Chesebro.

The judge said Tuesday he would set a schedule to hear arguments on those motions.

The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them by Democrats seeking damages.

The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. The system was centered Tuesday afternoon about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south-southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, according to a hurricane center advisory.

National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said meteorologists are expecting the system to strengthen, possibly into a tropical storm by early Wednesday. But coastal areas could experience tropical storm conditions this week, even if the system doesn’t officially get a name, Brennan said.

“The main hazard with these types of systems is largely the flooding from the heavy rainfall,” Brennan said. “And we could see potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding across the Texas coast eastward into central Mississippi through Thursday. Prolonged rainfall may extend the flood threat into the weekend.”

Tornadoes were possible from the upper Texas coast across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, forecasters said.

The storm's maximum sustained winds were around 30 mph (45 kph) Tuesday, just shy of the 39 mph (63 kph) needed to be named a tropical storm. The system had a 70% chance of forming into a tropical cyclone over the next two days, the hurricane center said.

Houston, where a World Cup match between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is scheduled for Wednesday, has been under a flood warning since Monday. The stadium is covered, and no plans have been announced to move or reschedule the match.

By Thursday, the storms could drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain, with isolated totals of a foot (30 centimeters) in coastal areas.

A tropical storm watch was already in effect from Sargent, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana. Rough surf could cause rip currents along the Gulf for the next couple of days.

According to a petition filed by Nessel’s office in Wayne County’s 3rd Circuit Court, the AG received a “volume of complaints” from consumers in recent years about inflated prices at the BP station operated by William Bazzi of M-Twelve Fuels, LLC.

The June 4 court filing alleges that the gas station, located in the 9200 block of Middlebelt Road across the street from a cluster of rental car company return lots at Detroit Metro Airport, takes advantage of travelers returning rental cars before a departure by inflating gas prices.

Nessel’s office received more than 16 complaints about the gas station in 2025 and 2026, with one consumer writing in February 2026 that the BP station was “charging over $4 per gallon for gas when surrounding gas stations are averaging $2.80-$3.”

Additionally, an investigator from the Michigan Department of Attorney General purchased fuel from the gas station on April 9 for $5.24 per gallon when data from online gasoline pricing compiler GasBuddy reportedly showed nearby stations charging between $3.79 and $3.99 per gallon.

The Department has continued to compare the business’ rates to other gas stations in recent weeks and reported a “gross disparity ranging from 22% to 72% more than its competitors for similar gasoline.”

“With the price of everything already squeezing families, the last thing Michiganders and our visitors who are rushing to return a rental car need is to be taken advantage of at the pump,” Nessel said in a news release. “Allegations of marking up prices, here by as much as 72% over the average, call for a vigorous investigation.”

The court granted Nessel’s request to investigate and the Attorney General’s office is in the process of issuing Civil Investigative Subpoenas related to the matter.

Nessel previously conducted an investigation into the same gas station in December 2023, though it was believed to be under different ownership.

The bill, adopted by the Senate on Monday, would enable a referendum on a new constitution under which Tshisekedi’s previous terms wouldn't count against him — effectively resetting the clock. It has already passed the National Assembly and now awaits the president’s signature.

Tshisekedi, 62, has been in office since 2019. He has said that he would seek a third term, if voters approved of it in a referendum. But no date has been set for one.

Congo's constitution explicitly bars any revision of presidential term limits. The bill works around that provision by allowing the president to amend the constitution in the event of a “major dysfunction” paralyzing state institutions.

The central African country is plagued by multiple crises, including an Ebola outbreak and an escalation of the decades-long conflict with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in the eastern provinces.

Congo's next presidential election is set to take place in 2028. Tshisekedi said last month that Congo won't be able to organize and hold elections unless the conflict is resolved and stability returns.

Both the Senate and National Assembly votes took place without opposition lawmakers, who walked out weeks ago in protest against the bill.

Senate President Jean-Michel Sama Lukondé hailed the vote, saying it gives the Congolese people a framework to “exercise their sovereignty” through a referendum.

Congo’s main opposition parties, which have been divided in recent years, joined forces in May under the banner of C64, or Coalition Article 64, to oppose the bill, describing it as an attempt by Tshisekedi to remain in power.

“Tshisekedi has betrayed his oath to respect the constitution and is therefore worthless,” leading opposition figure Martin Fayulu said Tuesday during a news conference held by the coalition.

He announced a march on July 8 to the presidential palace, demanding Tshisekedi’s resignation.

The vote comes days after violent clashes erupted at a protest against the bill in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, in which several people were injured, including opposition leaders Martin Fayulu, Jean-Marc Kabund and Delly Sesanga.

___

Saleh Mwanamilongo reported from Bonn, Germany.

A string of arson attacks targeting a car and two London homes linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had attracted little attention, possibly because the then 21-year-old attacker, a Ukrainian recruited online, was not very good at documenting them.

One video that was supposed to show Starmer’s former car on fire lasted only seconds. The second, filmed in the dark, largely captured the repeated sound of striking matches.

El Money wanted publicity and was prepared to pay.

The attacker, Roman Lavrynovych, was found guilty Monday alongside his accomplice. But the person — or network — behind the online persona of El Money has escaped public blame or punishment.

The plot fits the description of Russian state-backed sabotage, said Cmdr. Dominic Murphy, who has spent two decades investigating such activities — including previous high-profile attacks — and who oversaw the initial investigation into the fires before retiring in March.

But establishing Moscow's involvement is difficult. There is a difference between proving something in court — which could raise public awareness — and assessing such attacks in the context of a wider threat and often classified and incomplete intelligence.

European officials say Moscow is exploiting that space as it carries out a sabotage campaign against European countries that support Ukraine. The Associated Press has tracked at least 192 attacks across Europe since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that include arson and cyberattacks as well as attempted assassinations.

When asked by AP in June if Russia is waging a covert war against the West, President Vladimir Putin brushed the allegations off.

“What are the specific facts?” he said. “What has been proven?”

The U.K. Home Office called the fires an “abhorrent attack” in a statement and said those responsible have been brought to justice. It did not respond to requests for comment about whether the British government blamed Russia.

Three arson attacks targeted property linked to Starmer

Lavrynovych was tasked with setting and filming the fires over several days in May 2025, according to evidence presented during his six-week trial.

El Money recruited him online and sent detailed instructions, including the locations of the targets and how to mix flammable liquids from a hardware store.

The attacks did not cause injuries or major damage, but the prime minister’s sister-in-law, Judith Alexander, said she was left “struggling to breathe” after smoke filled her house in the third attack. She and her family were staying at the residence, which had been Starmer's home before he became prime minister.

“It’s all dead quiet so far — not a single article or announcement about the incident on this street,” El Money wrote to Lavrynovych on the messaging app Telegram after the fire.

It had, however, attracted the attention of British counterterrorism police.

Jurors heard little about the ‘devil in the background’

At the trial, jurors heard extensive evidence about how Lavrynovych conspired to set the fires — and almost nothing about the person or group of people who ordered them.

He was initially paid to post anti-Islam posters and graffiti in Muslim neighborhoods of London, an apparent attempt to stoke unrest. He told the court he was offered larger sums for the fires — and threatened if he did not comply. His lawyer, James Scobie, said he was a “vulnerable, ignorant” puppet in the hands of a serious operator.

“It must be a bit of a frustration that no part of this case has really looked into the devil in the background,” said Scobie. Without mentioning Russia by name, he said the attacks targeted Starmer over his support for Ukraine, calling them an assault on “the very institutions and fabric of this country.”

Prosecutors, however, did not bring charges under Britain's National Security Act, passed in 2023 to counter state threats, so no evidence was presented of a wider conspiracy linked to Moscow.

El Money is the “central figure in the case but a man or group about whom we know very little,” Justice Neil Garnham said. For that reason, he directed the jury “not to speculate about him.”

There's a gap between evidence and intelligence

Police have “no evidence to suggest that this was a state-backed threat and target on the prime minister,” said Helen Flanagan, the current head of counterterrorism police. She was referring to evidence gathered by police, as opposed to classified intelligence assessments.

European intelligence services say Russia is recruiting people online and paying them relatively small sums of money to carry out sabotage. Last year, a British court found three men guilty in the torching of a London warehouse. Prosecutors said the ringleader was recruited online for a plot masterminded by Russia’s intelligence services.

Murphy said there is a difference between assessing state-level involvement in an attack and using evidence like cellphone data and messages to prove something in court beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sometimes evidence, particularly from intelligence services, cannot be shown to jurors because it would reveal “highly sensitive capabilities and tactics,” Murphy said.

Investigators spend “a huge amount of time and effort” trying to identify the individuals overseas behind attacks, he said. They comb digital devices, online footprints and links among suspected co-conspirators, often working with partner countries.

He said evidence gathered by police showed that El Money spoke Russian and is “likely to be in Russia.” El Money's methods were “very similar” to those known to be used by Russian intelligence services acting in the U.K. Such plots, he said, often have “very senior sign-off.”

But that’s not enough for a jury — or, it seems, to publicly assign blame.

AP asked various departments if the government plans to attribute the attack to Russia or if there was additional evidence suggesting a link to the Russian state that was not shown in court.

The prime minister’s office referred questions to the Home Office, which provided the statement about the case but did not answer questions about Russian involvement. In a statement, U.K. counterterrorism police said a thorough investigation has been carried out and that it does not comment on matters of intelligence.

Officials say the threat from Moscow is growing

British intelligence agencies have accused Russia of probing the U.K. and its European allies with activities just below the threshold of conventional war. Court cases are key to raising public awareness of the threat and can lead to tougher action, such as sanctions, said Murphy.

“We need to keep calling Russia out and we need to ensure our society is as resilient as it possibly can be,” he said, calling for a wider public conversation about the threat from Moscow, including to critical infrastructure.

Murphy was a lead investigator into the attempted killing of Sergei Skripal, a Russian former military intelligence officer, in 2018. The U.K. attributed that attack to Moscow, and it led to a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats — and spies — from Western countries.

Since then, Russia has shifted toward the recruitment of local proxies.

Shortly before police arrested Lavrynovych, El Money wrote to him, promising to pay.

“Don't worry, I won't set you up,” El Money wrote. But Lavrynovych never got the money.

There is “only one winner” in the case, Scobie told the court as he argued for his client, “the anonymous devil who manipulated, used and won.”

The company said Tuesday it’s bringing back fried apple pies for the first time in more than three decades. They’ll be available at most U.S. restaurants for a limited time starting June 23.

McDonald’s is one of several fast-food companies offering semiquincentennial treats. Burger King recently debuted its Firecracker Cookie Pie, which has a sugar cookie crust and red, white and blue star-shaped sprinkles. Sonic is offering a red, white and blue slush float for $2.50. Hardee's has an iced Star-Spangled Biscuit with red and blue sprinkles.

Here’s a look at McDonald’s fried apple pies by the numbers:

— 1968: The year McDonald’s introduced both its fried apple pie and the Big Mac hamburger. Litton Cochran, a McDonald's franchisee in Tennessee, developed the rectangle-shaped pie, which was served in a cardboard sleeve. 1968 was a momentous year that included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, protests against the Vietnam War and the signing of a federal law prohibiting housing discrimination.

— 1992: The year McDonald’s replaced the fried apple pie with a baked version in most of the U.S., responding to growing consumer awareness of fat and cholesterol consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture first published its food guide pyramid the same year. Fried apple pie remained on McDonald's menus in Hawaii and is still sold in some other countries, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Greece, Australia and China.

— 230: Number of calories in McDonald’s baked apple pie. That’s 10 more calories than the fried version, according to the company’s website. A cup of boiled lentils, a single almond Snickers bar and a grande Frappucino from Starbucks have the same calorie count, according to publicly available nutrition information.

— 130: Number of members of the Facebook group “Bring Back the Original McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie.” By comparison, there are 1,100 members lobbying McDonald's in the “Bring Back the McRib” Facebook group and 928 members of the “McDonald's, Bring Back the Szechuan Sauce” Facebook group.

— 170 million: Number of American-grown apples that McDonald’s says it serves every year at its U.S. stores.

— 35: Height, in feet, of a giant fried apple pie that McDonald’s is installing on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near McDonald's Chicago headquarters. That's about the height of a three-story house and some species of palm trees. The giant apple pie will stay in place until July 4, the company said.

Spot Lite, located in Islandview on the city’s eastside, and UFO Bar, located in Corktown, will no longer be operating at the end of the month. The two establishments are owned and operated by Roula David and Jesse Cory, who shared the bad news on their own social media accounts as well.

Spot Lite’s last day will be Saturday, June 28. UFO Bar’s last day will be Monday, June 30.

The owners said in a statement, “We are incredibly grateful to all of our patrons, artists, dancers, and most of all, our team that made the party happen each night.”

Regarding UFO Bar (formally the iconic UFO Factory), the owners say that while the bar is closing, it will soon reopen under new ownership as Detroit Vinyl Bar, a new cocktail and record store.

You can see the social media posts below.

View this post on Instagram

This is not the only closing news that dropped on Tuesday. After more than a decade in business, the Fowling Warehouse in Hamtramck is shuttering at the end of the month as well.

Keyon Payton was last seen in the area of Telegraph Road and Ten Mile Road around 2 a.m. on Tuesday (June 16) and failed to return home.

Payton is 47 years old, 5 feet 9 inches, 160 pounds, has brown eyes and black hair.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Keyon Payton is asked to contact the Southfield Police Department at 248-796-5500.

The Iran war has recently overshadowed Ukraine, but Trump said he wants to shift the focus following the announcement of an agreement to end the 3 1/2-month-old conflict in the Gulf.

Trump said Iran will soon be “back in the rearview mirror.”

Trump said the sanctions on Russia that were eased during the Iran war to help lower oil prices can go back in place as more oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Soon we’ll be able to do that because the oil is now flowing,” Trump told reporters in Evian, the French spa town close to the Swiss border that is hosting the summit. “We’re in a position to do that soon.”

The U.S. in March temporarily eased some sanctions on some Russian oil shipments as crude prices sharply increased. The waiver has been extended.

Zelenskyy joins G7 leaders for talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined the G7 leaders for talks on the war in his country. They wrapped quickly, after just 75 minutes.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is serious about peace while Russia toys with world leaders. “The entire ‘Seven’ supports Ukraine unanimously today,” he said.

Zelenskyy added that G7 leaders supported Ukraine’s need for more Patriot missiles and discussed how to increase production by licensing production. Patriot missiles are able to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and cities.

As the U.S. under Trump has cut back aid to Ukraine, France and its European allies are now the biggest providers of military and financial support to Kyiv.

Trump downplayed the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the U.S. but lamented the death toll.

“The whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “So, yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can.”

Meanwhile, the U.K. announced new sanctions targeting the “ shadow fleet ” Russia uses to ship oil and gas, and the finance networks used by Moscow to evade Western sanctions. The ships targeted include several recently purchased by Russia to transport liquefied natural gas from its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.

Russia fires again at Ukraine's biggest cities

Hours before the summit began Monday, Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities in a barrage that killed 11 people and set fire to a religious landmark.

The attacks came after Zelenskyy and Putin spoke separately by phone with Trump on Sunday, the U.S. leader's 80th birthday.

While campaigning in 2024 for a return to the White House, Trump claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office. However, negotiations have faltered and Trump has acknowledged it has proved much harder than he thought.

Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights the Russian invasion.

Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of Ukraine joining while the war continues.

Trump says he may send Iran deal to Congress

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal got plenty of attention at Tuesday’s sessions, with Trump voicing his openness to sending the deal to Congress for review. The text has not been made public.

“I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” Trump said at the start of a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the summit's sidelines. He added, “I mean who wouldn’t approve it?”

Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Trump also met with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. The Gulf nations are not part of the G7, but French President Emmanuel Macron extended invitations to their leaders at a fraught moment for their region.

Trump also expressed frustration over Israel’s continued hostilities with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, telling reporters he’s “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”

Trump said Israeli operations to target Hezbollah “should have been able to deal with them faster,” adding: “It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal. And that’s the deal with Iran.”

Macron said France and other Western partners are “ready to take action very quickly” to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz peacefully to ease the economic impact of rising oil prices. France and the U.K. have championed a mission to restore maritime security there as soon as conditions allow.

The G7 comprises France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Other guest nations, including Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea, were invited to participate in some discussions.

___

Madhani reported from Geneva. Jill Lawless and Samuel Petrequin in London, Collin Binkley in Washington and Illia Novikov in Kyiv contributed to this report.

The Nacho Grill is taking nachos up a notch with menu items like BBQ brisket nachos and chicken shawarma nachos.

Watch the video above to see the Takeout Tuesday segment featuring The Nacho Grill.

Watch the segment above to meet Andy, a 2-year-old pit bull mix full of energy who is ready to find his forever home.

Local 4 Lifestyle Editor Jon Jordan appeared on “Live in the D” to discuss the trends shaping both technology and entertainment.

Watch the segment above to see more.

Neighbors told Local 4 “more than 150 people” flooded their quiet street and cars blocked streets and driveways. They also described public intoxication and lewd behavior in front of families and children.

Birmingham Police told Local 4 they were called multiple times Saturday to a home on Westchester Way, south of Maple. The backyard pool was rented out to the owner’s friend.

The rental appears to have originally been intended for about 40 guests at a cost of roughly $180 per hour. But as the afternoon progressed, police said the crowd grew far beyond that.

Police Chief Scott Grewe said officers first responded around 4 p.m. At that time, there were approximately 50 to 60 people at the home, and no laws were being violated.

Over the next several hours, however, the gathering continued to expand. Police received several calls between about 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., and officers returned to the home “four or five times.”

By the evening, police estimated the crowd had grown to a couple of hundred people.

Local 4 spoke with nearly a dozen residents, all of whom requested anonymity. Several said the neighborhood became gridlocked, with partygoers parking in private driveways, using the church parking lot across Maple and driving over lawns.

“People were parking in people’s driveways and in the church parking lot,” one neighbor said.

A few other neighbors were upset with the police response, saying, “Our entire neighborhood got taken over. They should be ashamed.”

Some neighbors said children were outside as they witnessed what they described as public intoxication and sexually explicit behavior.

Two neighbors recalled seeing women dancing on cars and partially exposing themselves as they “walked wearing a thong.”

“She kinda went to adjust herself and ... that’s an image you can’t get out of your head. There’s kids around here,” they said.

Another couple said they witnessed two women engaging in a sexual act.

Police said resources were stretched at the time because officers were also handling a serious injury crash on Woodward Avenue.

But around 8 p.m., officers said they determined the party had gotten out of hand as noise complaints continued. They said they shut the party down. The crowd had reportedly dispersed by approximately 9:30 p.m.

Police told Local 4 they issued parking tickets and cited both the host and the homeowner for noise violations. Police also arrested one visitor from outside Birmingham for driving with a suspended license. Investigators are also looking into a hit-and-run involving a parked vehicle that occurred during the evening.

“I have no opinion on short-term rentals, but to me it was a safety issue,” one neighbor said, who was upset with the response from police.

Police said they have addressed neighbors’ concerns immediately and plan to remain in communication with residents. Police added that the city plans to review what happened.

“This is the first of its kind in Birmingham as it relates to a pool being used, but it’s just like the short-term rentals and the concerns with those,” Grewe said.

Local 4 visited Birmingham City Hall and left messages with both the city manager and deputy city manager seeking comment. Our requests have not yet been fulfilled.

The homeowner later told Local 4 that he had allowed a friend to host the event and said he was unaware of any illegal activity:

“I’m aware that some of my neighbors are upset about a pool party this past Saturday at my home. While my neighbors may be annoyed, I am not aware of any illegal activity and from what I understand, the noise level at the party was within the appropriate levels. I will address things with my neighbors privately to ensure we are aligned on expectations for our community. Unfortunately, some of the responses I’ve received from neighbors have been condescending and with perceived racial undertones. This will not be tolerated. Nor will the apparent doxing that has taken place on Internet forums such as Facebook, where my name, my daughter’s name, my address, my telephone number and the school my children attend were publicized - as well as encouragement to contact news forums such as WDIV. This is textbook harassment. I have informed the Birmingham police of this behavior and intend to pursue all legal remedies available.”

The Birmingham City Commission and Planning Board are scheduled to hold a joint meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at the Department of Public Services facility located at 851 S. Eton Road. Short-term rentals are on the agenda, and police said the Westchester Way incident will likely be discussed.

Related --> Birmingham city officials approve tougher rules for short-term rentals

Neighbors told Local 4 they have spoken with roughly 50 residents who are concerned about short-term rentals and say anger has only intensified since Saturday’s incident.

Previous short-term rental incident in Birmingham

On April 11, a party at an Airbnb on East Lincoln in Birmingham ended in gunfire. Police said the gathering had been advertised on social media. Witnesses reported hearing an argument followed by multiple gunshots, and shell casings were recovered at the scene. Video from nearby homes showed several people fleeing.

Officers located one person with a handgun who had run from the house, and several others were detained for questioning.

Three men — Larry Hunter, Jaelin Johnson and Malik Jerome Albert Parker — were later charged with assault with intent to murder.

The city of Birmingham is investigating a pool rental associated with a party that took place on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in the 300 block of Westchester Way. Following a review of this emerging type of residential rental activity, city officials determined that renting a private residential pool to a third party violates zoning regulations governing single-family residential properties. Multiple citations are being issued to both the property owner and the individual who rented the pool and hosted the event. The conduct and behavior associated with the party were unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Birmingham neighborhoods.

Birmingham neighbors told Local 4 “more than 150 people” flooded their quiet street and cars blocked streets and driveways. They also described public intoxication and lewd behavior in front of families and children.

Birmingham Police told Local 4 they were called multiple times Saturday to a home on Westchester Way, south of Maple. The backyard pool was rented out to the owner’s friend.

The rental appears to have originally been intended for about 40 guests at a cost of roughly $180 per hour. But as the afternoon progressed, police said the crowd grew far beyond that.

Police Chief Scott Grewe said officers first responded around 4 p.m. At that time, there were approximately 50 to 60 people at the home, and no laws were being violated.

Over the next several hours, however, the gathering continued to expand. Police received several calls between about 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., and officers returned to the home “four or five times.”

By the evening, police estimated the crowd had grown to a couple of hundred people.

Local 4 spoke with nearly a dozen residents, all of whom requested anonymity. Several said the neighborhood became gridlocked, with partygoers parking in private driveways, using the church parking lot across Maple and driving over lawns.

“People were parking in people’s driveways and in the church parking lot,” one neighbor said.

A few other neighbors were upset with the police response, saying, “Our entire neighborhood got taken over. They should be ashamed.”

Some neighbors said children were outside as they witnessed what they described as public intoxication and sexually explicit behavior.

Two neighbors recalled seeing women dancing on cars and partially exposing themselves as they “walked wearing a thong.”

“She kinda went to adjust herself and ... that’s an image you can’t get out of your head. There’s kids around here,” they said.

Another couple said they witnessed two women engaging in a sexual act.

Police said resources were stretched at the time because officers were also handling a serious injury crash on Woodward Avenue.

But around 8 p.m., officers said they determined the party had gotten out of hand as noise complaints continued. They said they shut the party down. The crowd had reportedly dispersed by approximately 9:30 p.m.

Police told Local 4 they issued parking tickets and cited both the host and the homeowner for noise violations. Police also arrested one visitor from outside Birmingham for driving with a suspended license. Investigators are also looking into a hit-and-run involving a parked vehicle that occurred during the evening.

“I have no opinion on short-term rentals, but to me it was a safety issue,” one neighbor said, who was upset with the response from police.

Police said they have addressed neighbors’ concerns immediately and plan to remain in communication with residents. Police added that the city plans to review what happened.

“This is the first of its kind in Birmingham as it relates to a pool being used, but it’s just like the short-term rentals and the concerns with those,” Grewe said.

Local 4 visited Birmingham City Hall and left messages with both the city manager and deputy city manager seeking comment. Our requests have not yet been fulfilled.

The homeowner later told Local 4 that he had allowed a friend to host the event and said he was unaware of any illegal activity:

“I’m aware that some of my neighbors are upset about a pool party this past Saturday at my home. While my neighbors may be annoyed, I am not aware of any illegal activity and from what I understand, the noise level at the party was within the appropriate levels. I will address things with my neighbors privately to ensure we are aligned on expectations for our community. Unfortunately, some of the responses I’ve received from neighbors have been condescending and with perceived racial undertones. This will not be tolerated. Nor will the apparent doxing that has taken place on Internet forums such as Facebook, where my name, my daughter’s name, my address, my telephone number and the school my children attend were publicized - as well as encouragement to contact news forums such as WDIV. This is textbook harassment. I have informed the Birmingham police of this behavior and intend to pursue all legal remedies available.”

The Birmingham City Commission and Planning Board are scheduled to hold a joint meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at the Department of Public Services facility located at 851 S. Eton Road. Short-term rentals are on the agenda, and police said the Westchester Way incident will likely be discussed.

Related --> Birmingham city officials approve tougher rules for short-term rentals

Neighbors told Local 4 they have spoken with roughly 50 residents who are concerned about short-term rentals and say anger has only intensified since Saturday’s incident.

Previous short-term rental incident in Birmingham

On April 11, a party at an Airbnb on East Lincoln in Birmingham ended in gunfire. Police said the gathering had been advertised on social media. Witnesses reported hearing an argument followed by multiple gunshots, and shell casings were recovered at the scene. Video from nearby homes showed several people fleeing.

Officers located one person with a handgun who had run from the house, and several others were detained for questioning.

Three men — Larry Hunter, Jaelin Johnson and Malik Jerome Albert Parker — were later charged with assault with intent to murder.

The city of Birmingham is investigating a pool rental associated with a party that took place on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in the 300 block of Westchester Way. Following a review of this emerging type of residential rental activity, city officials determined that renting a private residential pool to a third party violates zoning regulations governing single-family residential properties. Multiple citations are being issued to both the property owner and the individual who rented the pool and hosted the event. The conduct and behavior associated with the party were unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Birmingham neighborhoods.

Birmingham Police told Local 4 they were called multiple times Saturday to a home on Westchester Way, south of Maple. The backyard pool was rented out to the owner’s friend.

Police Chief Scott Grewe said officers first responded around 4 p.m. and found about 50 to 60 people there, but said no laws were being violated at the time.

Previous coverage --> Birmingham neighbors outraged after rented pool prompts police response, renews short-term rental debate

Neighbors, however, said the gathering quickly escalated and the neighborhood became gridlocked as more people arrived. At a joint meeting of the Birmingham City Commission and Planning Board Monday evening, residents said they called police only to be told there was nothing officers could do.

Police said the crowd continued to grow through the evening — reaching what officers estimated was a couple of hundred people — and officers returned to the home “four or five times” between about 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. before shutting the party down around 8 p.m. Police said the crowd dispersed by about 9:30 p.m.

Alicia Birach, who lives near a separate Airbnb where police said a party ended in gunfire in April, said the latest incident underscores what she views as a gap between enforcement agencies.

“I think in that meeting they just conceded that what was happening was illegal, but there was a disconnect between police and code enforcement and that’s on the city to connect those pieces,” she said.

Police told Local 4 they issued parking tickets and cited both the host and homeowner for noise violations. One visitor from outside Birmingham was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license, and investigators are reviewing a reported hit-and-run involving a parked vehicle.

The homeowner, in a statement provided to Local 4, said he allowed a friend to host the event and was not aware of illegal activity. He also alleged some neighbor complaints carried “perceived racial undertones” and said his family was being harassed online through doxxing, adding he had notified police and intended to pursue legal action.

Mayor Clinton Baller said the city is reviewing the police response. Birmingham officials have been weighing additional regulation of rental properties, including a possible ban on short-term rentals in residential areas.

The city of Birmingham is investigating a pool rental associated with a party that took place on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in the 300 block of Westchester Way. Following a review of this emerging type of residential rental activity, city officials determined that renting a private residential pool to a third party violates zoning regulations governing single-family residential properties. Multiple citations are being issued to both the property owner and the individual who rented the pool and hosted the event. The conduct and behavior associated with the party were unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Birmingham neighborhoods.

Birmingham Police Department

The case against Hannah Dugan, who resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court following her conviction, was an early test of how the courts would respond to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Trump allies branded Dugan as an activist judge, while her supporters said she was unfairly targeted.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman postponed Dugan's sentencing on June 3 to consider arguments about whether he should overturn her conviction. But Adelman said in his ruling Tuesday that Dugan's conviction would stand. He did not immediately set a sentencing date.

“The court’s decision is wrong,” Dugan’s legal defense team said in a statement.

Questions about a similar case in Virginia

Dugan’s attorney had argued that her conviction in helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz leave the courthouse was invalid and should be overturned. He said that was necessary because a federal appeals court in April overturned a key Virginia immigration case that the judge and prosecutors had cited in Dugan's case.

In the Virginia case, an immigrant who was in the country illegally was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and later escaped. He was recaptured and indicted on a charge of obstructing a pending immigration proceeding.

The federal appeals court found that the ICE action did not constitute a “pending proceeding,” as is required under the federal obstruction law.

Dugan’s attorneys argue that she should not have been charged because there was no “pending proceeding” against the immigrant in her courtroom being sought by ICE agents, only a warrant filed for his arrest. The filing of a warrant does not constitute a “proceeding” under the law, Dugan's attorneys argued.

Prosecutors countered that the facts in the Virginia case are different and don’t apply to Dugan’s. They also argued that other cases support Dugan’s conviction.

Adelman said the attempted arrest of Flores-Ruiz did count as a “pending proceeding,” in part because it was a planned and targeted operation rather than an arrest resulting from a random encounter.

“Defendant argues that ICE was acting as a law enforcement agency here,” Adelman wrote. “But this ignores the fact that, unlike, say, the FBI, ICE can issue its own warrants and adjudicate and effectuate a removal, as it did with Flores-Ruiz, without the involvement of a court. This makes a difference."

Dugan faces 5 years in prison, but will likely get probation

Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison after a jury convicted her on Dec. 19, but she is unlikely to be sentenced to time behind bars. Federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation for defendants like her, who have no criminal history and are convicted of a nonviolent crime.

Dugan resigned from her position as a Milwaukee County circuit judge two weeks after her conviction amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers. She had been a judge for nine years.

The Trump administration brought the case against Dugan as the president pressed ahead with his sweeping immigration crackdown. Trump’s administration and his allies branded Dugan as an activist judge, while Dugan’s attorneys said she was being unfairly targeted and argued, unsuccessfully, that she was immune from being charged because she was a judge.

Dugan’s case marked the first time that a state judge in Wisconsin went to trial on charges of obstructing immigration agents. She was acquitted of concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor.

Dugan helped an immigrant wanted by ICE agents

On April 18, 2025, immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the chief judge’s office because she told them their administrative warrant wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

After the agents left, she led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. A week later, FBI agents arrested Dugan in the courthouse, leading her outside in handcuffs.

Flores-Ruiz was deported in November.

Philadelphia acquired goaltender Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. They sent goalie Samuel Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick in the draft next week to the Leafs.

The swap gives Philadelphia a dependable backup to prospective starter Dan Vladar, who is coming off a career year that included a strong first round of the playoffs to beat Pittsburgh before losing to eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina.

“We thought it was a chance to improve the team, help them take another step,” Flyers general manager Daniel Briere told reporters at a previously scheduled predraft news conference in Voorhees, New Jersey. "We felt that Woll is a step forward for us and will be able to help Vladdy in a tandem role.”

Vladar is eligible to sign an extension July 1. Briere said the team and Vladar's camp were working to get that deal over the finish line, and the hope in adding Woll is it allows for a better sharing of the crease than when Ersson struggled early this past season.

“The better you can have both of them going, I think it helps,” Briere said. "It prevents injuries and (Vladar) stays fresh and he can, I think, perform better. We hope that they can push each other that way.”

Benoit is a bit older than Andrae at 28 and makes the Flyers bigger and stronger on the back end. Briere said having smaller defensemen Cam York and Jamie Drysdale led him to want someone like Benoit, who is 6-foot-4 and over 200 pounds.

“It’s going to probably be a little easier for the coaches having a guy like Simon Benoit back there to use,” Briere said. “We like the physicality that he brings, and we like the size and the skating aspect, too. He’s a really good skater.”

The move to add Ersson, Andrae and a pick for Woll and Benoit is new Toronto general manager John Chayka’s first change to the roster since taking over in early May. He framed it as a salary cap-saving move, along with getting a defenseman in his mid-20s.

“What we like about this opportunity was it allowed us to create some flexibility,” Chayka said on a video call with reporters. "We think flexibility and optionality are assets to any great organization, and certainly this allows us to be in a better spot as we think about the entire offseason plan.”

Woll counts $3.67 million against that cap the next two seasons, while Benoit is under contract one more year at $1.35 million. Andrae and Ersson are restricted free agents.

Given the Leafs already have Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby expected to be atop their goaltending depth chart, Chayka was noncommittal when asked if the club would tender Ersson a qualifying offer to retain his rights.

“He’s a good, young goaltender,” Chayka said. “He’s someone that we identified as having some upside and someone that our staff could work with.”

___

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

The recalled toys were sold at Walmart or Ollies Bargain Outlet and have the date code 3102491A, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The products are made of soft, stretchable material and are filled with sand.

Model 17451 is a large golden “monkee” and model 41929 is an assortment of small “monkees” in various colors, including orange, purple and green.

The date code can be found on the hand of the golden monkee or the back of the smaller monkees.

There is no safe amount of asbestos exposure.

Recalled toys should stop being used immediately.

Refund information

• Contact The Orb Factory for a refund.  
• Phone: 800-741-0089 from 8 a.m. to 4p.m., Monday- Friday.  
• Email: customerservice@orbtoys.com.  
• Online: Orb Recall Information. 

How to properly dispose of the toy

• If the toy has not broken open:  
• • Seal the toy in two heavy plastic bags, i.e. double bagged.  
  • Take it to a Type 2 licensed landfill for disposal.  
  • Search for a Type 2 licensed landfill near you on the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Michigan Materials Management Facilities map.
• Select “Solid Waste Landfills – Type II” in the legend. 
• • You can also search for local government household hazardous waste collection contacts on the EGLE’s Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste web page.  
• If the toy has rips, tears or the sand has left the toy: 
• • Call a contractor licensed to clean up and dispose of asbestos. 
  • Search for licensed local contractors on the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s Contractor Search web page. 
  • Follow the EPA’s Asbestos Dos and Don’ts for the Homeowner. 
  • Do not vacuum or sweep spilled sand. This may spread the asbestos in the air, make it easier to breathe in and cause long-term lung damage. 
• For additional assistance, call the MDHHS Environmental Health Hotline at 800-648-6942, Monday- Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to speak to a toxicologist. 

Health impacts from asbestos exposure

Asbestos is dangerous for everyone.

Asbestos can take a long time to leave the body and can cause long-term lung damage, this is especially dangerous to young children whose lungs are still developing.

At this time there have been no reports of illnesses or injuries related to this product.

Click here for more information about asbestos.

“We have four labs in-house, a full-time trainer who’s constantly on top of, and in front of curriculum, making sure it’s updated to the latest standards,” said Matthew Marsiglio, General Manager at Flame Heating, Cooling, Plumbing, and Electrical. He said the company, which is headquartered in Warren, has been serving metro Detroit for over 75 years. “Started in 1949 by the Morowski family, started off doing heating and cooling, have grown to offer electrical and plumbing services, so we’re a full-line home service provider, Marsiglio said.

He suggests now is the time for a routine maintenance performance to ensure your air conditioning unit is operating at its fullest ability.

Also, there are ways homeowners can check their units to make certain they are getting a good airflow.

“Go check that air filter - that’s one of the biggest things we see as we change seasons - is that air filter’s clogged up, reducing airflow, possibly freezing up the indoor coil. The other easy check is make sure the outdoor unit’s hosed off, we have a lot of cottonwood in the air right now, and that’ll get that outdoor unit clogged up and make it work harder.”

He said after taking these steps, if you’re still not getting a good airflow, give them a call anytime. They are offering many same and next day appointments.

For more information, and to schedule an appointment, click here.

To see the full segment, please click the video above.

The first full day of the G7 summit of leading industrialized nations is being held in the French town of Evian-les-Bains.

Shortly before his arrival, Trump announced an agreement to end the 3 1/2-month-old U.S. war against Iran.

“Now that this (Iran) is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” Trump said, referring to efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

A working session is aimed at ensuring stability in the Middle East, with discussion expected on the global economic crisis resulting from the war's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The G7 includes France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Guest nations at this summit include Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, South Korea, Qatar, Ukraine and the UAE.

Here is the latest:

Vance says he was late for radio show because Trump called to check on ‘progress’ of Iran deal

Megyn Kelly was ready to bring Vice President JD Vance live onto her radio show, but she told listeners that they’d have to wait because Vance was on the phone with Trump.

Once he’d gotten mic’d up with Kelly, Vance said Trump — who is in France for the G7 conference — “just called me to check in on how things are going” and on “the progress of the deal” concerning the Iran war.

Vance told Kelly he has been trying to correct misinformation about what is and isn’t part of the deal.

Details of the agreement announced by Trump have not been made public.

The deal is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran, if it meets certain benchmarks.

For the second consecutive day, Vance flubbed the name of the Gulf alliance, referring to it as the Gulf Coast Coalition instead of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Modi, Carney aim to reach Canada-India trade deal before December G20 summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he would like to conclude a trade deal with Canada before he visits Canada later this year.

And Carney says he would like it done by the Group of 20 summit in Florida in mid-December.

Carney met Modi at the G7 summit and noted Modi wants to double Canada-India trade. Carney wants to double non-U.S. trade in the next decade after Trump imposed tariffs on Canada.

The ties between India and Canada were strained under Carney’s predecessor in the wake of the 2023 killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.

G7 explores alternatives to Strait of Hormuz for global energy supplies

The leaders’ discussions about the vital waterway at their summit in France have included looking at other supply routes that could be opened to bring oil and gas out of the Persian Gulf, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“There were discussions to see how we can depend less on the strait,” he said. “This has to change for the future.”

Before the Iran war, a fifth of the world’s crude oil passed through the maritime chokepoint.

“Part of the discussions were, ‘OK, how can we imagine, finance, and build infrastructures, sometimes on the terrestrial part, that will be able to go outside of the track of the Strait of Hormuz?’” Confavreux said.

Has Netanyahu seen the US-Iran memo?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not seen the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran as of Tuesday evening, said a person familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity to discuss closed-door details. Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment from The AP.

Though Israel is not party to the agreement, it is directly implicated. Iran’s top diplomat has said that the agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, where it is fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and where its troops occupy a large southern swath of the country. Israeli officials have said they do not plan to withdraw.

— By Julia Frankel

G7 leaders sound concerns about Ebola

They say they want “a strong and coordinated response” to the month-old Ebola outbreak centered on Congo, and that their countries will work more closely together on “appropriate and effective travel, quarantine, and isolation procedures” for people who have been to affected regions.

Their statement, issued on day 2 of the G7 summit notes that globally, millions of people will be traveling in coming weeks for the World Cup and other reasons.

“We must ensure that they can do so safely,” they said. They pledged support to help develop and deliver vaccines.

They also issued statements about aid for developing countries and committing to accelerate the fight against cancer.

Chuck Schumer calls for briefing on tentative agreement with Iran

The Senate Democratic leader is calling on Trump to brief Congress and the American people on the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in Iran.

Schumer says Americans have been told dozens of times over the course of the conflict that it was over, only to be disappointed.

“Trump has yet to give Americans a reason to believe that this latest peace deal won’t leave them disappointed again,” Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

Schumer says the conflict has left America worse off, with gas prices dramatically higher and an Iranian regime he says is more extreme than before.

“Trump needs to reveal the deal and end this war once and for all,” Schumer says.

Iran war makes energy security a top priority in Southeast Asia

An International Energy Agency report released Tuesday says the Iran war could cost Southeast Asia billions of dollars if it doesn’t diversify sources of energy more quickly.

The energy shock from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent the region into a state of energy triage, leading to higher energy bills and rising inflation. In response, the region has seen rising sales of electric vehicles, a renewed interest in nuclear power and a boom in rooftop solar and other renewable energy installations, the report says.

But without more sweeping reforms, the region’s energy import bill could triple from $80 billion in 2024 to $245 billion by 2035, the report warns. And meanwhile, the conflict has reinforced the need for coal in times of crisis, a setback for efforts to phase out fossil fuels.

“Diversification of energy sources and supply routes is now a central priority,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA executive director.

▶ Read more

Officials say Zelenskyy showed Trump photos of bomb-damaged Kyiv cathedral

European officials said Zelenskyy showed Trump some photos of the damage at the Dormition Cathedral, a revered religious landmark in Kyiv that was set ablaze in a Russian bombing.

Three officials with knowledge of the matter spoke anonymously, because they were not allowed to disclose details about leaders’ talks at the G7 meeting.

Without confirming Zelenskyy’s use of photos, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said in an Associated Press interview that the strike was discussed at the leaders’ meeting and that “everyone” was shocked.

Asked whether Zelenskyy showed photos of the church attack to Trump and other leaders, Confavreux said “the discussions remain in the room.” But he confirmed that they discussed the latest strikes “and how unacceptable they were for everyone, because they were against international law.”

Secret US-Iran memorandum to be signed in Swiss resort

Switzerland’s foreign ministry says a signing ceremony for a deal between the United States and Iran will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near the city of Luzern.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs says the location was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, along with the U.S. and Iran. It said it has been in close contact with the four countries about the possible signing of the “memorandum of understanding.”

Details of the agreement announced by Trump have not been made public. The deal is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks.

The resort, which sits atop a mountain and features breathtaking views of Lake Lucerne, hosted an international conference on Ukraine two years ago.

Iran says the US war deal requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon

Iran’s top diplomat said Tuesday that the tentative deal to end the war with the United States would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon — a condition Israel has already rejected. The contradictory interpretations could sink the agreement and lead to the resumption of all-out war.

The deal between the U.S. and Iran has not been made public, and while Israel is not party to the agreement, it is part of the war: It joined the U.S. in launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and has since fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the deal’s outlines said it did not call for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary.”

▶ Read more

— By Jon Gambrell, Sam Metz and Samy Magdy

Trump’s Iran deal greeted with skepticism on Capitol Hill

Republicans on Capitol Hill are expressing skepticism and asking the White House for details about Trump’s announced deal to end the war in Iran. Responding to a reporter’s question at the G7 summit on Tuesday, Trump said he’s open to a congressional review of the agreement, which is set for a ceremonial signing Friday in Switzerland.

The deal is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks. But Senate Republicans and Democrats said Monday that many questions remain unresolved and they need thorough briefings before it is finalized.

“I just don’t know enough about it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters in the Capitol.

“If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?” asked Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

▶ Read more

UK-EU summit date announced at last

Britain and the European Union have announced the date for a summit seen as a key step in rebuilding their relationship.

European Council President Antonio Costa says the meeting will be held in Brussels on July 22. Costa met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit on Tuesday.

There has been a question mark over the date due to uncertainty about Starmer’s future. He is facing calls to resign and a potential leadership challenge this summer.

Trump says he’s hasn’t been briefed on alleged plot to attack UFC event

“I haven’t heard about it, no,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about the alleged plot to target the high profile event. “The attack that I watched were the fighters.”

FBI director Kash Patel announced earlier Tuesday that law enforcement officials had disrupted “planned attacks” meant to target the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend, and that multiple people were in custody.

▶ Read more

Why Trump said yes to dinner at Versailles

The president said the opulent setting of his scheduled one-on-one dinner with Macron was a factor in his decision to extend his stay after the summit — the two are scheduled to dine at the Palace of Versailles.

“I’m a fan of beautiful places, and I was leaving in the afternoon, and then the French president who happens to be a very nice man, invited me to dinner at Versailles,” Trump said. “And Versailles is not gold leaf — Versailles is the real deal. And I said I’d like to do it.”

Trump said it will have little impact on his schedule, noting that he’s “not a big sleeper anyway” and will get home early in the morning: “I won’t lose any time in the Oval Office.”

Zelenskyy says Ukraine is serious about peace while Russia toys with world leaders

“The entire ‘Seven’ supports Ukraine unanimously today,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters at the doorstep of the G7 summit today.

He said that all G7 partners of Ukraine recognize Ukraine’s readiness to meet with the Russian side to establish a ceasefire, its active engagement on the battlefield, and its effective capabilities in mid- and long-range strikes.

The Russian side, meanwhile, is failing to show any serious activity toward peace, he said, calling Russia’s actions “a game.”

“It’s important that at the G7 meeting everyone realizes that. It’s important.”

Trump says US plans to resume sanctions on Russian oil shipments

Asked if he would reinstitute sanctions that were eased to help lower oil prices, Trump said the restrictions can resume as more oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Soon we’ll be able to do that because the oil is now flowing,” Trump told reporters. “We’re in a position to do that soon.”

The U.S. in March temporarily eased some sanctions on some Russian oil shipments as crude prices sharply increased. The waiver has been extended as the war stretched on.

Trump tells Carney he likes Canada’s cap on Chinese EV imports

A microphone recorded them talking about how less than three percent of Canada’s market, 49,000 cars, will be allowed to enter from China.

“It’s a cap, we capped, a hard line,” Carney said. “I thought you’d actually like that.”

“That’s good, I like it,” Trump responded.

Breaking with the United States, Canada agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars earlier this year in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products. Carney said then that an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1% would grow to about 70,000 over five years.

Trump says he’d send Iran deal to Congress for review

The president voiced his openness to making the move at the start of a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the French Alps.

“I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” Trump said. He added, “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement between the United States and Iran, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Trump speaks to EU leader about Greenland in another hot mic moment

Sitting down before a meeting about Ukraine, Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking about Greenland with European Council President António Costa.

“You understand?” Trump said before pausing and eyeing Costa. “Greenland.”

The start and end of the conversation is unclear.

European politicians across the continent were infuriated when Trump threatened in January to seize the large Arctic island, a territory of EU-member Denmark. The idea raised fears of splitting up of the NATO military alliance, and spurred Denmark to increase its military presence there.

Several European partners — including France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands — sent small, symbolic numbers of troops to the island.

Trump jokes about stealing Macron’s watch

In a lighter moment, a microphone caught Trump joking about stealing Macron ’s watch.

After one of the leaders asked where Macron went during the working lunch, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “He’s left his watch here. We’ve got his watch.”

“Give me it if he left, gimmie,” Trump responded, followed by laughter by the group.

Spouses of foreign leaders tour lakeside town near G7 summit

France’s Brigitte Macron led a tour of spouses of world leaders to the lakeside town of Yvoire during the G7 summit in France.

With security in tow, Macron led the group — Canada’s Diana Fox Carney, Britain’s Victoria Starmer, Germany’s Charlotte Merz, Kenya’s Rachel Kimetto, Brazil’s Janja Lula da Silva, and Heiko von der Leyen, husband of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — on a walk through the town on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Children gave the spouses bouquets of flowers and locals gawked at the small group of dignitaries.

Starmer senses a ‘mood change’ on Ukraine

Starmer said G7 leaders share a sense that “things are changing” and Ukraine is regaining the initiative in its war with Russia.

Speaking to British broadcasters, the U.K. prime minister said “there was real unity in the room” when Trump and the other G7 leaders discussed the conflict.

He said they agreed “that Ukraine is doing better now, regaining territory, that the sanctions are having a real impact on Russia, and a real sense that now is the moment for all of us as a G7 to ramp up the pressure.”

Zelenskyy says G7 supports boosting Patriot missile production

Zelenskyy said he had a positive meeting with G7 leaders who supported Ukraine’s need for more Patriot missiles and discussed how to increase production by licensing production.

Speaking during a bilateral meeting with Carney after earlier meeting with the all the G7 leaders, including Trump, Zelenskyy said his allies agreed that Russia is not winning and that they have to push Putin to end the war.

Patriot missiles are able to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and cities.

Papier mache heads of state gather at the summit

Oxfam activists wearing papier mache heads depicting the G7 leaders made an appearance near the summit location for a satirical, but sedate, protest.

Oxfam has used the outsized eye-catching heads — depicting Trump, Meloni, Merz, Carney, Takaichi, Macron and Starmer — for several protests around the summit.

The demonstration outside the security bubble thrown around the summit, in a park overlooking the clear-blue waters of Lake Geneva, was intended to draw attention to a lack of clean water for the people of Gaza.

No G7 invite received for Putin-Zelenskyy talks, Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not receive an invitation from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend the G7 summit through official channels.

Asked whether such an invitation had been made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Of course there wasn’t. As you know, there aren’t even any official channels between Moscow and Kyiv.”

Peskov said Putin has repeatedly said Zelenskyy could go to Moscow. “If Zelenskyy is ready to talk responsibly and seriously … he can always come to Moscow, where he will be received,” Peskov said.

Zelenskyy and Trump meet on sidelines of G7 summit

Zelenskyy and Trump have held talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.

Zelenskyy posted photos of the meeting on social media, writing that “it is always important to coordinate positions.”

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took part, the photos showed. In one image, the two leaders sat close enough that their knees nearly touched.

The encounter between the two presidents “was in the context of the general meeting at the summit,” Zelenskyy’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters, suggesting a separate meeting would take place later.

G7 leaders meeting with leaders of Egypt, Qatar and UAE

The leaders of the G7 are holding a meeting with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and the UAE.

They are attending a working lunch dubbed “Addressing Crises and Ensuring Stability in the Middle East.”

The Middle East countries are not G7 members, but were invited to the summit at a tumultuous moment for the region and beyond because of the Iran war.

Ceasefire should ‘mean a definitive end' to Iran’s nuclear program, EU says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Trump at the G7 summit and then took to social media to congratulate him on striking a ceasefire with Tehran.

“We both agree that it should mean a definitive end to Iran’s nuclear programme. The Strait will reopen. Oil prices are falling. And that’s how diplomacy delivers,” von der Leyen said in a post.

Economies across the European Union have been rattled by rising fuel and fertilizer prices.

Trump says Syria could handle Hezbollah better than Israel

Trump said he proposed asking Syria to help against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah,” Trump said. “Because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job.”

Syria has a long complicated relationship with Lebanon, with Syrian troops maintaining a military occupation in the country from 1976 to 2005.