SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A pilot and co-pilot from the United States have died in a fiery plane crash as they attempted an emergency landing in the Dominican Republic, authorities said.
The incident occurred Sunday near the southern coastal town of La Romana, according to a statement by the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, which identified the pilot and co-pilot as U.S. citizens. It wasn’t immediately known what caused the crash. No passengers were aboard.
MLB All-Star former catcher Yadier Molina said on social media that the plane was bound for Texas to pick him up, along with family and friends.
“My condolences to the pilots and their family!” he wrote. Molina and his group were headed to Puerto Rico.
Officials said the plane had departed from Puerto Rico and landed in the Dominican Republic to refuel before heading to Texas.
The pilot and co-pilot reported an emergency shortly after taking off from the Dominican Republic, authorities said.
KERVILLE (AP) — Two more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed in Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping the spread of a pest that could potentially devastate the nation’s cattle industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.
The screwworm is actually a fly, which produces a larvae that eats live flesh instead of dead material. Females lay their eggs in open wounds of any warm-blooded animal such as cattle, but wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans can be infested.
The USDA said the new cases were found in a calf and a dog, hundreds of miles apart in La Salle and Andrews counties. That brings the total number of confirmed cases to four. The screwworm was first discovered in a 3-week-old calf last week, and a second case was found only miles away in a young calf.
“While we address these instances that require immediate attention, and continue to sample suspected cases, we are simultaneously working to eradicate the pest entirely,” Dudley Hoskins, the USDA’s marketing and regulatory undersecretary, said in a statement.
Before it was eliminated in the U.S. in the 1960s, the fly was an annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers.
The USDA and the U.S. cattle industry have been racing to prevent an infestation since the pest was detected in Mexico late in 2024 after decades of being contained at the southern end of Panama.
The government fights the fly by breeding sterile male flies, which then mate with wild females that only mate once in their monthslong life. By mating with sterile flies, the females don’t produce more flies and outbreaks can eventually be halted.
The USDA has announced plans to increase sterile fly production in plants outside the U.S. while it builds a fly factory in Texas.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins will be briefed on the infestation Monday afternoon at the U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerville, Texas.
In this Nov. 21, 2025, file photo, President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- Madison Square Garden is set to be filled to the brim Monday night with passionate Knicks fans decked out in their orange and blue pride, but eyes may be on what two of the most powerful New Yorkers will be doing during Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
President Donald Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani have said they will be attending the game and cheering on the Knicks as they seek another win in the best-of-seven series.
Trump, who has sat courtside at many Knicks games before being elected president, said he was personally invited by Jim Dolan, the team's owner and longtime friend of the president.
"They're really great, a great team. I'm happy for Jim because Jim has really been fighting hard to produce such a team," Trump told reporters Thursday.
It's highly unlikely that if Trump attends, he will be sitting courtside due to security concerns, and it's not known who he will be seated with.
The president isn’t expected to be the only major elected official in the "World's Most Famous Arena" during tip-off, as Mamdani revealed Thursday he will be attending the game.
"I'm paying for my own ticket," the mayor said in an interview with radio station 1010 Wins Friday.
Trump and Mamdani have had personal meetings at the White House ever since the Democratic Socialist won the 2025 mayoral election.
However, Mamdani indicated on Thursday that he will be "in a very different section of the stadium" than the president during the game. He has dodged several questions about whether he will meet with Trump during his trip to New York.
"If I do see him, I will let him know what I've said time and again, which is we're excited to welcome anyone and everyone who's rooting for the Knicks," Mamdani told 1010 Wins Friday.
The mayor had previously watched the Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 21 and was seated high up in the cheaper seats along with city public advocate Jumaane Williams.
Their attendance was unannounced before the game.
Mamdani indicated that once again he would not be in the best seats in the Garden for Monday's matchup.
"I can tell you that I won’t be courtside or in a suite, but I can’t wait to see the game," he told the radio station.
Mamdani has been vocally critical of the Trump administration's policy on immigration, government cuts and threats to cut funding to Democratic run states and cities.
During the election, Trump vocally decried Mamdani, calling him a "communist" and warning that New York would be in a worse place under his leadership.
The president's tone changed on Nov. 21, when Mamdani met with Trump in the Oval Office and they emerged with a much more amicable relationship.
"I think this mayor could do some things that are going to be really great,” Trump said in a news conference after the meeting, where he smiled, shook Mamdani's hand and even patted him on the back.
The mayor and president met another time in the winter and Mamdani has said he has spoken to Trump on the phone numerous times about matters to the city.
Mamdani has maintained his opposition to many of the president's policies but has maintained he is open to working with him to help New Yorkers, especially when it comes to driving down housing costs.
Jonathan Rinderknecht is seen in a photo released by the Department of Justice. (Department of Justice)
(LOS ANGELES) -- The federal trial for a man accused of starting a fire that eventually became the deadly blaze that devastated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles last year is set to begin.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is accused of "maliciously" starting a fire that six days later developed into what became known as the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history.
Rinderknecht, a former Los Angeles resident living in Florida, was arrested nine months after the Palisades Fire leveled neighborhoods in Los Angeles County and left 12 people dead.
He was indicted on three counts -- destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire. He pleaded not guilty and faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Federal prosecutors allege that Rinderknecht, who was working as an Uber driver at the time, ignited a brush fire that became known as the Lachman Fire on Jan. 1, 2025.
Despite being suppressed by fire crews, prosecutors allege that the fire continued to smolder until it surfaced again nearly a week later amid high winds in the Los Angeles area, eventually becoming the Palisades Fire.
In a criminal complaint, authorities allege Rinderknecht caused the initial fire by lighting a combustible material, such as vegetation or paper, with an open flame, likely a lighter.
The complaint included an image Rinderknecht allegedly generated in July 2024 using ChatGPT, showing in part "a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it."
"You could see some of his thought process in the months leading up, where he was generating some really concerning images up on ChatGPT, which appears to show a dystopian city being burned down," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference following Rinderknecht's arrest in October 2025.
In a court filing last month, the defense stated that Rinderknecht "denies he willfully and maliciously set" the Lachman Fire "and therefore cannot be responsible for either the Lachman or the Palisades Fire, or the resulting damages." The defense attorney, Steven Haney, also questioned the government's "holdover theory," which posits that the Palisades Fire was caused by the Lachman Fire, and argued that the fires were two distinct events.
The trial is estimated to last seven to 11 days.
The Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7, 2025, burning more than 23,000 acres over more than three weeks and destroying nearly 7,000 structures, decimating the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to California fire officials.
It ignited the same day as the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and killing 19 people, according to officials.
The fires started burning during strong Santa Ana winds, which, combined with dry conditions, helped their ability to spread quickly.
Investigators pursued more than 200 leads, conducted hundreds of interviews and collected more than 13,000 pieces of evidence, including fire debris, digital data and DNA samples, as part of the probe into the cause of the Palisades Fire, according to Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Los Angeles Field Division.
"We have a lot of different data that all concluded where this fire started, and the fire behavior from that origin, from that Lachman Fire, was clearly established in the Palisades Fire," Cooper said at a press briefing last year.
We now know when season 3 of Lioness is set to debut on Paramount+. The third season of the series that stars Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman will premiere on Aug. 2. From creator Taylor Sheridan, the espionage thriller continues with even more hidden networks, foreign operatives and personal betrayals ...
Henry Cavill has joined the cast of Kevin Hart's upcoming spy comedy. Variety reports that Cavill will star alongside Hart in a Netflix comedy where they'll play rival spies who cross paths when their wives become friends. According to a synopsis, "their double lives collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.” ...
The Harry Potter HBO series is looking to cast another young wizard. Deadline reports that casting directors are searching for a young actor to play the character Colin Creevy in season 2 of the fantasy series based on the books by J.K. Rowling. According to the outlet, auditions are currently underway ...
It seems folks were clamoring for the return of Scary Movie.
The sixth installment in the horror movie parody franchise, and the first since 2013’s Scary Movie 5, earned $55 million at the box office this weekend to debut at #1, according to Box Office Mojo.
Variety reports that Scary Movie’s haul was actually a record opening for the franchise, surpassing 2006’s Scary Movie 4, which brought in $49.7 million in its debut weekend.
Another new film, Masters of the Universe, debuted at #2, bringing in $29.3 million, while last week’s #1, Backrooms, dropped to #3 with $25.9 million.
Rounding out the top five were Obsession, with $25.6 million, and another new film, The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, with $11.6 million.
Here are the top 10 films at the box office:
1. Scary Movie -- $55 million 2. Masters of the Universe -- $29.3 million 3. Backrooms -- $25.9 million 4. Obsession -- $25.6 million 5. The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act -- $11.6 million 6. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu -- $10 million 7. Michael -- $7.7 million 8. The Breadwinner -- $3.4 million 9. Pressure -- $3 million 10. The Devil Wears Prada 2 -- $2.8 million
NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Wembanyama is not shying away from the spotlight in the NBA Finals, and the San Antonio Spurs would not want it any other way.
Less than 48 hours after missing a shot at the end of Game 2 that would have beaten the New York Knicks and evened the series, the 22-year-old big man from France who is becoming the face of the league said the pressure of the situation does not bother him as the Spurs enter Game 3 facing a 2-0 deficit.
“There’s really no reason to overthink it,” Wembanyama said Sunday. “This is what I’m built for.”
Wembanyama has not been the problem for the Spurs. He led them with 26 points in the series opener and had a Game 2-high 29 points.
Teammate Keldon Johnson’s message after Wembanyama’s would-be game-winning jumper clanked off the rim and out is, “Shoot it again.”
“He’s our guy,” Johnson said. “From day one, he’s been our guy. He’s the engine offensively and defensively. You can’t make every game-winner, but you can’t make a shot you don’t take. And we’re living with that shot. Every day of the week, twice on Sundays, we’re living with Vic taking our game-winning shot because that’s our guy and that’s the belief that we have in Victor.”
The belief team-wide is strong, players said before practicing at Madison Square Garden, where they know they’ll confront a hostile atmosphere on Monday night. Guard Stephon Castle called each of the first two games at home winnable, but falling short has ratcheted up the urgency.
“Our sense of urgency is probably the highest it’s been all playoffs,” said Castle, who insists his ankle feels better than expected after injuring it Friday night. “I think it’s just human nature to come out with a certain sense of urgency, especially after a loss.”
San Antonio lost back-to-back games to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, though that came after winning the opener. The Spurs have not lost three in a row all season.
“If they’re not desperate now, I don’t know,” Knicks guard Deuce McBride said. “They know their backs are against the wall, and they’re going to have to come out and they’re going to have to fight. We’re going to be ready, we’re going to exceed that and we’re going to do everything we can do to bring home a win.”
Trying to turn things around, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had not yet taken a walk around New York City before running practice Sunday. He and his staff maintained the same routine they’ve gone through all playoffs.
“You dig into the film, you argue, beat yourself up,” Johnson said. “You give each other feedback, figure out how to help the guys for the next game.”
One of his takeaways is a feeling his team has not played up to its standard as much as New York, which has won 13 in a row. Perhaps going on the road will help.
The Spurs are 6-3 on the road this postseason, including a win in Game 7 of the West finals at the defending champion Thunder. Keldon Johnson said he and his teammates believe they can win “regardless of where we’re playing at, whether it’s here, on Mars, away, home.”
Center Luke Kornet thinks there’s something fun about the environment.
“All the adversity, noise and all that stuff just honestly helps you sharpen up and kind of focus even more on the basketball,” said Kornet, who played his first two NBA seasons with the Knicks from 2017-19. “That kind of you-against-everybody-else-in-the-building atmosphere, the pressure kind of brings you together.”
The pressure has never been higher, given that no team in league history has lost the first two games of the finals at home and gone on to win the title. Veteran leaders hope the Spurs can park the past and not dwell on a gut-wrenching defeat.
“The only thing that matters is what’s in front of us right now,” forward Harrison Barnes said. “We can’t take last game and bring it into this game. You can learn from it, but I think the biggest thing for us how do we focus on making the plays, focus in on just how to begin as a team and just going out there and just playing free.”
HOUSTON (AP) — Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker homered, Gage Jump worked 6 1/3 scoreless innings and the Athletics beat the Houston Astros 5-0 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.
Kurtz opened the scoring in the third with his 12th home run of the year — a 389-foot line drive to right-center that scored Alika Williams for a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Brent Rooker added an RBI double that scored Shea Langeliers and gave the Athletics a 3-0 lead.
Zack Gelof scored on a fielding error by shortstop Jeremy Peña in the fourth inning and Rooker’s 397-foot solo shot to left field capped the scoring in the fifth.
Jump (2-1) allowed three hits and three walks with three strikeouts. The 23-year-old left-hander has allowed just one run in his past 13 1/3 innings pitched.
Houston’s Mike Burrows (3-8) allowed all five runs on eight hits in five innings. Burrows has given up 17 home runs in 13 starts this season, with 11 coming on his four-seam fastball. He has a 5.77 ERA in 73 1/3 innings.
The Astros were limited to four hits in their fifth shutout loss of the season.
Houston second baseman Nick Allen left the game in the third inning with left hamstring discomfort after running to first base. Taylor Trammell took over as a pinch-runner.
Up next
Astros RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-1, 1.94 ERA) takes the mound in a series opener against the Angels on Monday.
Athletics LHP Jeffrey Springs (3-6, 4.37 ERA) starts in the team’s series opener against Brewers LHP Kyle Harrison (7-1, 1.57) on Monday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jacob deGrom allowed only three singles over six innings, Justin Foscue hit the first of Texas’ four home runs and the Rangers beat Cleveland 10-0 on Sunday, giving them three consecutive series wins for the first time this season.
Two-time Cy Young award winner deGrom (5-4) got his 101st career victory with six strikeouts, including the last four hitters he faced, and two walks. The right-hander is 3-1 with a 1.26 ERA in six home starts, and 43 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings.
Foscue’s two-run homer in the first put Texas up to stay. Josh Jung, Wyatt Langford and Michael Helman also went deep.
The Rangers (32-33) took two of three games against Cleveland, after the same at St. Louis since a three-game sweep of Kansas City at home last weekend. That 7-2 mark is their best nine-game stretch under first-year manager Skip Schumaker.
Cleveland left-hander Joey Cantillo (4-3) struck out seven in his five innings, but gave up seven runs and the first three Texas homers.
After striking out José Ramírez with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning, deGrom struck out the Guardians’ Nos. 3-5 hitters in the sixth. It was deGrom’s 261st career start since his MLB debut in 2014, and his first against Cleveland, the only team he had never faced.
Peyton Grey, Tyler Alexander and Luis Curvelo finished off the Rangers’ eighth shutout this season. The Guardians, 19-11 in their past 30 games, were held scoreless for the sixth time.
Jung’s eighth homer was part of a four-run third for Texas that included a two-run double by Ezequiel Duran, who finished with four hits and three RBIs.
Langford, in his third game back after missing 39 games with a right forearm strain, made it 7-0 with his homer in the fourth.
Up next
Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams (9-3, 3.20 ERA) tries to become the first MLB starter to get to 10 wins Monday night at home against the New York Yankees.
Texas has a day off before Nathan Eovaldi (5-6, 4.10) starts the series opener at Kansas City on Tuesday.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — There were no boos for Denny Hamlin after this winning burnout at Michigan International Speedway.
Holding a black No. 18 flag out the window, the Joe Gibbs Racing star celebrated his 63rd career victory by smoking the tires of his No. 11 Toyota down the straightaway in honor of Kyle Busch, his late teammate whom he tied for ninth on the all-time win list in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“Truthfully, I had to outlive him to tie him,” said Hamlin who radioed “We love you, KB” on his victory lap. “He was an amazing teammate. He taught me so much at tracks like this. I just can’t say enough.”
It was the second consecutive victory for Hamlin and his second consecutive win at Michigan, where he celebrated last year by taunting fans who booed him.
But there were only raucous cheers from the front-stretch grandstands Sunday as Hamlin jogged up to the flag stand to get the checkered flag while still carrying his Busch tribute flag
Busch drove the No. 18 from 2008-22 for Gibbs, teaming up with Hamlin for a NASCAR-record 523 races. Busch’s death on May 21 rocked the NASCAR industry, which was already grieving over the offseason deaths o f Greg Biffle and his family in a plane crash. Hamlin’s father also died in a Dec. 28 house fire.
Noting that Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett also died last week, Hamlin dedicated his third win this season to Busch and his family.
“The offseason, it was rough for me, and it was rough for the NASCAR family,” Hamlin said. “Just an unbelievable feeling to be able to strap in every week, and I don’t take it for granted, this opportunity that I’m in. I just love we’re making the best of it.”
Just like last week’s win at Nashville Superspeedway, when the Joe Gibbs Racing car started on the pole position but was penalized for jumping the start, Hamlin qualified first at Michigan but dropped to the back at the green flag because of a penalty for unapproved adjustments to his No. 11 Toyota.
Hamlin patiently worked his way to the front over 400 miles. He took the lead for good on a three-wide pass during a restart with 38 laps remaining, sweeping into first around Spire Racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar, a home-state favorite.
Hamlin won by 11.110 seconds, his widest margin of victory in Cup and the largest win at Michigan since June 1991.
“This Joe Gibbs team just keeps giving me amazing race cars,” Hamlin said. “This Toyota was just amazing. And at the last run there, it just hammered down. It had a few good restarts, and then once we got to the lead, I was going to lay it out.”
Erik Jones (another Michigan native) finished second after also starting from the rear for unapproved adjustments. Bubba Wallace was a season-best third, followed by Kyle Larson and Hocevar, who notched his best Michigan finish.
“I don’t think anyone was going to contend with Denny at the end,” Larson said. “He was flying.”
Crash causes red
The race was stopped with 51 laps remaining to repair a damaged SAFER barrier after a hard crash involving Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott.
During a restart on the 148th lap, the drivers were running side by side for second. Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet bobbled and skidded up the track into Bell’s No. 20 Toyota, which shot into the outside wall at the 2-mile oval where speeds top 200 mph.
The impact with Bell’s Camry severely deformed the SAFER barrier, which is comprised of steel and foam to absorb energy in wrecks. A red flag was displayed for 20 minutes to fix the damaged section of the barrier.
Both drivers climbed from their cars and walked to an ambulance for a trip to the track’s infield care center. Team owner Joe Gibbs said after the race that Bell had wrist and ankle injuries that would need to be evaluated this week.
Elliott patted Bell on the shoulder and apologized for the wreck before they entered the ambulance.
“I’m fine; it was totally my fault,” Elliott said. “I feel really bad for Bell, just taking him out. I was trying to run on the bottom and make use of our fresh tires and at least get to second and hopefully stay side by side with him. I got in there and got free and thought I was going to spin and was committing to spin out, and as soon as I started to commit to spinning, it just hooked up and hooked a right. Unfortunately, it sent Christopher into the wall super hard, and then me shortly there behind.
“Just racing really hard. I felt like that was kind of a turning point in the race. We needed to make something happen. I stepped over the line again and paid for it. … I just told him I’m sorry. Obviously, it was not on purpose.”
Rough rookie season
A nightmarish debut season in the Cup Series continued for Connor Zilisch, who crashed twice in the first eight laps and finished last in the 37-car field. The Trackhouse Racing driver has finished outside the top 30 the past three races and is still seeking the first top 10 of his rookie campaign.
“I was really loose, but it’s just unfortunate,” Zilisch said. “Another short race for us. We’ll go try and get them at Pocono next week.”
Up next
NASCAR will make its lone trip this season to Pocono Raceway on June 14. Chase Briscoe won last year to earn his first victory with Joe Gibbs Racing.
A street is decorated with the flags of China and North Korea in Pyongyang, on Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping received a lavish welcome as he arrived in North Korea on Monday for a rare visit expected to focus on reasserting China’s unique influence over the North in return for providing economic and political benefits.
China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju welcomed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Pyongyang’s international airport. Xinhua said the two leaders shook hands.
Xi later arrived at Pyongyang’s main square, where a military honor guard and thousands of people, including children carrying balloons and hopping, staged a welcoming ceremony. Buildings surrounding the plaza were draped in the two countries’ flags, giant portraits of Kim and Xi and red-and-yellow banners welcoming the Chinese leader and celebrating the nations’ “friendship and unity.”
During a two-day trip, his first visit to North Korea in seven years, Xi is expected to hold a summit with Kim. It will be their first meeting since September, when they met in Beijing after viewing a military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders.
No specific agenda has been mentioned. Foreign experts predict the meeting will have big ramifications on bilateral ties and beyond, as they both seek to fully restore their traditional alliance in the face of separate confrontations with the U.S.
“A Chinese leader doesn’t just visit North Korea because a visit is due. Xi’s trip will have real implications for China-DPRK relations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s full name.
Sway over North Korea could help Xi’s dealings with US
Xi’s trip comes after his back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month. Xi is expected to meet Trump again on a planned U.S. visit in September.
Xi will try to demonstrate China’s “sway over the Korean Peninsula” and “a leadership role in entire Northeast Asia in the ages of strategic competitions with the U.S.,” said Kwak Gil Sup, the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs.
China has long been North Korea’s economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts say China has avoided fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat. This year marks 65 years since the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty.
But there have been questions about their ties in recent years, with North Korea prioritizing cooperation with Russia by supplying troops and weapons to support its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received economic and military assistance from Russia.
Restoring an exclusive influence over North Korea would give Xi a leverage in dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to restart diplomacy with Kim, experts say.
“Implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions and enforcing sanctions do not appear to be priorities for China,” Easley said.
In an article published on the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper Monday, Xi said China and North Korea must boost strategic cooperation and work together to oppose “hegemonism and coercive politics” and pursue an orderly multipolar world.
Kim needs Xi’s support for his push for nuclear state
Xi would likely offer Kim economic aid packages such as shipments of rice and fertilizers, a resumption of Chinese group tourism to North Korea. and joint economic projects, analysts said.
“North Korea can’t solely rely on Russia. It needs to align with China,” Kwak said.
In a Monday editorial, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper called Xi “the most honored state guest,” saying Pyongyang’s streets “are filled with an atmosphere of friendship.”
Xi could also refrain from pressing Kim on the issue of denuclearization of North Korea, and vaguely speak about peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. That would be essential for Kim, who is desperate to win international recognition as a nuclear weapons state as a way to call for lifting of U.N. sanctions on North Korea.
“Chinese officials have taken the position of not speaking publicly about denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula while still maintaining it as a long-term goal. Kim appears to want Xi to accept North Korea as a nuclear neighbor,” Easley said.
After last month’s summit between Trump and Xi, the White House said the two leaders confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea. But China only said the leaders discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. On Sunday, Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, dismissed as “false information” the U.S. readout of the Xi-Trump meeting.
Last week, Kim unveiled a new plant to produce nuclear ingredients and vowed to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” He also observed sea trials of a new naval destroyer and called for speeding up efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told reporters Monday that North Korea is producing enough nuclear ingredients annually for about 10-20 bombs and is close to perfecting intercontinental ballistic missile technology. Lee said the world must first focus on convincing North Korea to freeze its nuclear materials production and ICBM program as a short-term goal.
On Sunday, Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, echoed her brother, calling a U.S. push for the denuclearization of North Korea an “escapist and anachronistic dream.”
Kim Jong Un has rebuffed U.S. and South Korean offers for talks and focused on enlarging and modernizing his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. The North Korean leader said in September that he still had “good personal memories” of Trump but urged the U.S. to withdraw its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for resuming diplomacy.
Experts say Kim would eventually want arms reductions talks with the U.S. to win concessions in return for partially surrendering his nuclear weapons.
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Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to this report.
Residents sit on a sofa in front of charred cars at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last Wednesday in central Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war, while Yemen’s Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension.
Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran early Monday in response to missile fire from Tehran and Iran retaliated with waves of attacks, in the most serious crossfire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached. Explosions could be heard in central Israel as air defenses sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire. Missile sirens also sounded across neighboring Jordan.
Iran warned that the United States would be responsible for any escalation.
“No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said during a briefing with journalists in Tehran. “The United States bears responsibility for the Israeli regime’s aggression, and it will also be responsible for the consequences of any escalation in tensions.”
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two military bases in Israel, describing the attacks as being part of Operation Nasr, or “Victory.” The Guard said it launched the missiles after Israel targeted radar sites in three areas of Iran.
Tehran warned of retaliation on Sunday after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.
Monday marked the 100th day of the Iran war, launched Feb. 28 when Israel and the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.
The war raged until the two sides reached a ceasefire on April 8, but efforts at a permanent end to the hostilities have been challenged by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime, as well as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
With global energy supplies threatened, Iran still holding a vast stockpile of highly enriched uranium and Yemen’s Houthi rebels getting involved in the fighting Monday, the risk of the war fully erupting again appears to be rising.
Diplomats race to save ceasefire
Two regional officials said concerted diplomatic efforts were underway Monday to salvage the ceasefire between Iran and the United States after the exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran.
Officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Qatar, have urged the U.S. administration to pressure Israel to rein in its strikes on Iran and Beirut. They have also urged Iranian officials to stop attacks on Israel, they said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
One of the officials, who is involved in mediation efforts between Iran and the U.S., said the Pakistan-led mediators were furious about the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which came while Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran in a fresh bid to push U.S.-Iranian negotiations forward.
The mediators told the U.S. administration that the Israeli strike on Beirut meant “to disrupt our efforts to reach a deal” and that “Trump has to stop Netanyahu’s reckless maneuvers.”
Trump says ‘I call the shots,’ not Israel
The White House did not respond to messages about the Israeli strikes and whether they were done in coordination with the U.S.
A senior U.S. official on Sunday said U.S. President Donald Trump had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him not to retaliate immediately for the Iranian missile attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private phone call, said that Trump believed he had convinced Netanyahu to wait.
Trump “got Bibi to hold off for the time being,” the official said. The official would not offer any other details of the call, and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Trump earlier told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said that Israel’s strikes in Lebanon earlier Sunday were not coordinated with the U.S. and “I’m not happy about it.”
Speaking to The Financial Times before the Israeli strikes on Iran, Trump insisted he dictated terms to Netanyahu on how the war should be prosecuted.
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”
Houthis claim attack on Israel
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Israel and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea, putting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connected them in danger.
The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel. During the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis killed at least nine mariners and sunk four ships in over 100 attacks, often targeting vessels with tangential or no ties at all to Israel.
The assaults upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.
They also greatly disrupted transits through Egypt’s Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The canal remains one of the top providers of hard currency for Egypt, providing it $10 billion in 2023 as its wider economy struggles.
The Houthis’ renewed threat also comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
Israel strikes Iran
Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating. A witness in Tehran described hearing at least one large blast somewhere to the west of the country’s capital city. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airfield, after the Israeli attack.
Officials offered no details on what had been struck, nor any damage information. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attack Monday morning, without elaborating.
The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes had hit a petrochemical factory in city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province. It did not elaborate on damage.
The Israeli military later confirmed the strike on the petrochemical plant.
In Saudi Arabia, missile alert sirens sounded Monday morning in an area home to an air base that hosts U.S. forces. Saudi state media reported the alert around its Al Kharj governorate, home to Prince Sultan Air Base. The alert came after Israel’s strikes on Iran. Saudi Arabia shortly after said the missile danger in the area had passed, without elaborating.
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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington; Michelle L. Price in Bridgewater, New Jersey; Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
BROADDUS, Texas (KETK) – Broaddus ISD has announced that one of their former teachers has been referred to law enforcement over allegations that they had an inappropriate relationship with a student.
According to the district, administrators received information on Thursday that alleged a teacher was having an inappropriate relationship with a student involving “grooming behavior” and possible physical contact.
Broaddus ISD immediately notified the proper law enforcement authorities so they could investigate the allegations. The teacher is no longer employed by Broaddus ISD.
The district said there was no indication that there was any threat to any students.
“Broaddus ISD remains committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement and all appropriate authorities throughout the investigative process,” Broaddus ISD said. “The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority. We appreciate your understanding and support as this matter proceeds. Due to the ongoing investigation and privacy laws, the district will not be providing additional details at this time.”
SMITH COUNTY — A woman has been taken to a hospital after a drowning was reported at Lake Tyler on Sunday. According to Tyler police and our news partner KETK, the 35-year-old woman reportedly went under the water at Lake Tyler at around 4:45 p.m. Smith County Emergency Services District 2 firefighters responded to the scene and performed CPR on her.
The woman was then transported to a hospital for treatment. Tyler police were on the scene at Lake Tyler Marina investigating the case as a suspected accidental drowning. Officials were unaware of the woman’s condition after she was taken to the hospital.
