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4-year-old shoots, kills 2-year-old with gun left unsecured in car: Sheriff

Stock image of police tape. (Ajax9/Getty Images)

(KISSIMMEE, Fla.) -- A 4-year-old boy shot and killed a 2-year-old boy with a gun that was left unsecured in a car, according to authorities in Florida.

Officers responded Sunday afternoon to a home in Kissimmee where they found a 2-year-old boy with a gunshot wound, Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said at a news conference. The little boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.

The two children were alone in the car when the 4-year-old found an unsecured gun and discharged it, striking the 2-year-old, the sheriff said.

The gun was "literally in the open," Blackmon said.

"I would think if it's in a holster, maybe make it harder for the child to manipulate, as well, but it's literally laying out by itself. So it's easy to grab, and you pull the trigger. And you can't recall that, it's not a video game," Blackmon said.

The sheriff described the two boys as relatives but not siblings.

"The family had just arrived and was visiting here from Georgia" for vacation, Blackmon said.

The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, noting that charges are likely. Prosecutors said on Wednesday, "Because this is an active and ongoing investigation, we have no information to release at this time."

ABC News' Aidan Gellert contributed to this report.

Detainees at ICE facility in Texas report frequent beatings and other human rights abuses

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of people held at a sprawling Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas say they were either beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten, according to a new report issued by legal and human rights advocates.

The 84-page report issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana, located at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, recounted being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed inedible meals. Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.

Of the 71 detainees contacted over a five month period, 64 — about 90% of those interviewed — said they had either personally been assaulted by the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.

“ICE’s Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report. “The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new accounts of violence and substandard living conditions inside Camp East Montana are consistent with earlier reports by The Associated Press and others. At least three detainees held at the facility since it opened in August have died, including a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was handcuffed and stopped breathing earlier this year after being held down by guards.

A local medical examiner later ruled that death a homicide and a federal report issued last month said evidence in the case was “missing or destroyed.” That report by the Government Accountability Office found mismanagement by the Department of Homeland Security had created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors.

In March, ICE replaced Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the prime contractor that had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp. The Virginia company had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.

The change came as an internal ICE review documented 49 deficiencies, which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security and medical care.

Despite the change in contractors, interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU as recently as last month found serious problems at the camp have persisted.

Detainees recounted degrading and inhumane living conditions that included bathrooms covered in feces, flooded housing units and no access to soap or other basic hygiene supplies, according to the report. They also reported being held indoors for weeks without meaningful access to recreation, sunlight or fresh air.

People also described receiving spoiled food and inconsistent meal schedules, with delays of up to 12 hours between meals.

The report recounts detainees saying that guards beat detainees in response to hunger strikes, requests for medical attention and complaints regarding detention conditions. Several people said that guards imposed collective punishment, striking or assaulting multiple people after accusing one detainee of violating rules, according to the report.

Researchers found that staff pressured and coerced those held there into abandoning immigration claims and accepting removal to third countries if they could not be sent back to their own country. The detainees said they were threatened with violence, criminal prosecution, and indefinite detention if they refused deportation.

In some cases, the report concluded, the circumstances of ICE detention could amount to enforced disappearances, a potential violation of international human rights law.

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU called on the Trump administration to close Camp East Montana and to allow independent investigations into deaths in custody, excessive force, medical neglect and enforced disappearances.

“The abuses documented at Fort Bliss are the predictable outcome of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, its brutal expansion of immigration detention, and the erosion of federal oversight mechanisms,” said César, the lead researcher. “People at Camp East Montana are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.”

Canadian wildfire smoke descends on US, spreading from Great Lakes to New England

An ABC News graphic shows the forecast for Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (ABC News)

(NEW YORK) -- More than 830 wildfires were burning on Wednesday in Canada, along with more than a dozen in northern Minnesota, near the border, growing with little or no containment and forcing mandatory evacuations.

Some of the largest wildfires are burning in west-central Ontario, and those fires are burning through thick forests, releasing an incredible amount of smoke.

The wind is now directing that very heavy smoke into America, creating dangerous air quality for millions across the upper Midwest and Northeast on Wednesday and through the end of the week

Rain on Friday over the upper Midwest and on Saturday for the Northeast should help disperse smoke.

Very heavy smoke is over Duluth, Minnesota, and Marquette, Michigan, on Wednesday morning, and extreme smoke is over northern Wisconsin.

Some heavy smoke will move over New York State and New England by mid-morning, potentially reaching New York City to Boston by 2 p.m. ET.

By sunset on Wednesday, very heavy smoke may reach from Buffalo to New York City and Philadelphia -- streaming through Green Bay, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Detroit and Toronto.

Conditions in New York City are not expected to be as intense as they were in June 2023.

Hazy skies are expected and air quality will likely become unhealthy.

Conditions could, however, be that bad -- Mars-like and smelling like a campfire -- and some of the worst air quality in the world, on Thursday from Duluth to Green Bay and Marquette through much of northern Michigan.

Cleveland, Columbus, Baltimore and D.C. will likely see heavy smoke on Thursday.

The smoke will be serious for millions and may reach a dangerous level for everyone -- not just those with respiratory issues.

Air quality alerts are in place from Minnesota to New York City, including the entire states of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Dr. Erica Schwartz appears before Senate committee for confirmation hearing as next CDC director

President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz, to be the Director of the CDC, April 16, 2026. (Department of Health and Human Services)

(WASHINGTON) -- A confirmation hearing began on Wednesday for Dr. Erica Schwartz to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Schwartz, a formal deputy surgeon general, was nominated by President Donald Trump in April. Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, describing Schwartz as "incredibly talented."

Schwartz is the fourth person named or nominated as head of the CDC since last summer. If confirmed by the Senate, Schwartz will replace Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, who took over as acting CDC director in February.

Schwartz earned a medical degree from Brown University and served in the U.S. Navy until 2005.

She served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, as the Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer and as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 to early 2021, during the first Trump administration.

"I was very pleased to see Dr. Schwartz nominated to be the next director of the CDC," Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC during the Obama administration, told ABC News. "What struck me is how refreshing it felt to see someone nominated for this job who actually has deep experience in public health and has the credentials necessary to lead a complex public health organization."

Besser expressed concern about whether Schwartz, if confirmed, will have the independence from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make public health recommendations, referencing a previous CDC director: Susan Monarez.

Monarez was confirmed as CDC director in July 2025, but she held the post for less than a month. Monarez was fired by Kennedy for reportedly not rubber-stamping the health secretary's vaccine agenda or firing high-ranking CDC leaders whom he opposed.

The turmoil led to both Kennedy and Monarez appearing in front of Senate committees to address the ousting.

At a Senate hearing, Kennedy denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.

Besser said he expects that Schwartz will be asked by members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) about her perspectives on vaccinations, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rise of measles in the U.S.

"Those are some of the critical areas I think she'll be asked about. There are so many other areas that are of concern to those who have relied on the CDC to prevent illness and promote health," he said.

Sean Kaufman is also appearing before the Senate HELP Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Kaufman was nominated to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which was recently absorbed under CDC as part of an HHS reorganization in 2025.

Kaufman has claimed without evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine caused "excessive death and injury ... in the United States and globally." Health officials have said COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective following clinical trials that involved tens of thousands of people and have since helped save millions of lives.

"What concerns me about Mr. Kaufman is that he has expressed very strong anti-vaccine views, and the ASPR is responsible for the strategic national stockpile," Besser said. "So, I hope that the committee asks him questions to fully understand the approach that he would take in that role."

US-UK ‘special relationship’ can survive spats with Trump, ex-British PM says

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Carl Court - Pool/Getty Images)

(LONDON) -- As Britain prepares for yet another prime ministerial change, a former holder of the office -- Theresa May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 -- urged the country's next leader to focus on shared U.S.-U.K. interests, rather than falling prey to potential personal or political clashes with President Donald Trump.

The U.K. Parliament is expected to anoint the Labour Party's Andy Burnham as prime minister later this month. Burnham will become the seventh leader to take the reins of the country in 10 years, a reflection of the political and economic turbulence that has beset the country since the Brexit vote in 2016.

Burnham will replace current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who last month said he would vacate his post following a collapse in support among Labour members of parliament, exacerbated by disastrous local election results in May. Starmer delivered Labour a historic majority in parliament in the 2024 general election, but saw his authority and approval rapidly deteriorate.

Like his predecessors, Burnham will need to juggle domestic discord while navigating a raft of foreign policy demands -- among them the cultivation of the so-called "special relationship" between the U.K. and the U.S., which during President Donald Trump's two terms in the White House has been subject to strategic, ideological and economic headwinds.

Trump has already described Burnham -- who until recently was serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester -- as "extremely liberal." During Starmer's time in office, the president has been scathing toward the prime minister's policies in areas including energy, immigration, crime and foreign policy.
May, whose time in office overlapped with Trump's first term, told ABC News last week that institutional transatlantic relationships and shared interests can help Starmer's successors ease possible interpersonal tensions.

"Keir Starmer, actually, on the foreign policy field, by and large, played a good hand," May told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank's conference in London. The outgoing prime minister has been broadly praised for his deft handling of the transatlantic relationship, which included hosting a state visit for Trump to the U.K. in 2025.

Of the special relationship, May said, "We talk about it perhaps slightly more than the U.S. does. But that relationship is built on a whole set of different levels of relationships. So, it's not just about the prime minister and the president. It's also about our security relationships, our defense relationships ... It's not just about the two people at the top."

The same is true of the U.K.'s own political issues, May said, as the nation prepares for the coronation of its next prime minister. "It's not about individuals. Politics today generally across the globe has become more about individuals and personalities and I think that's problematic," she said.

"What matters to people is not the personality at the top. What matters to the people is what they're doing, what their policies are," May said.

The recent joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has again prompted Trump to strike out at America's European allies, who refused to join the campaign in support of Washington though expressed willingness to aid security and minesweeping missions in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict is over.

The U.K. was among the American allies who refusal to assist the U.S. against Iran "greatly disappointed me," Trump said in March. Starmer's response in particular, the president said, was "very disappointing."

Asked whether the Iran war would prove to be a long-lasting blot on U.K.-U.S. relations, May said she was hesitant to comment as the conflict "is not finished."

Still, she -- like many other current and former European leaders -- noted that European nations have previously shown their "commitment to the United States," not least in rallying to the U.S. side after the 9/11 attacks; the only time in NATO history that an ally invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause.

When asked about Trump's repeated suggestions that the U.S. should be less involved in European security, May replied, "There have been other times when there's been more of that sense of isolationism," specifically noting the later American entry into the Second World War in support of the U.K. and its allies.

"But I think, again, the interests that we have together are what combines us," May said.

Blanche faces grilling on DOJ controversies as he seeks confirmation as AG

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2026. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday as he seeks confirmation to secure his role on a permanent basis.

Blanche is facing questions over a series of controversies from his time with the Justice Department, including the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and what he says is the now-defunct "Anti-Weaponization Fund" part of a settlement after President Donald Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion.

Formerly Trump's defense attorney, Blanche faced a relatively smooth glide path to confirmation with unanimous Republican support last year when he was nominated to serve as the department's No. 2 official.

Since Trump's ouster of Pam Bondi as attorney general in April, Blanche has served in the position in an acting role and Trump formally nominated him in June.

"We are here today with the awesome responsibility of choosing the next attorney general of the United States of America. We're here because there is a vacancy in the office. The president decided to fire the predecessor of Mr. Blanche after just 14 months on the job after courts and grand juries blocked her from prosecuting the president's political opponents," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said in his opening statement. "Seemingly, President Trump believes you, Mr. Blanche, will be more successful."

Blanche's road to confirmation is further complicated by the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a veteran of the Judiciary Committee who was expected to be a strong advocate for Blanche with his GOP colleagues. Blanche will likely need the support of every Republican on the committee in order for his nomination to advance to the Senate floor, as all Democrats are expected to oppose him.

It's not immediately clear when the full Senate would move for a vote on Blanche's nomination if passed by the committee, though administration officials have said their goal would be for him to be confirmed before the August recess.

Blanche argued Wednesday that his leadership has restored trust that was lost under the previous administration when the Department of Justice prosecuted Trump and many of his supporters.

"In recent years, Americans watched the Justice Department turned against many of you and a former president, and it damaged the public's faith in justice," Blanche said. "We are fixing that. Members of this committee -- on both sides -- have fair questions about the hard debates of this past year, and I welcome them."

Blanche defends handling of Epstein files
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the committee, asked Blanche to give his response to allegations that he and other department officials deliberately mishandled the release of millions of files from the Justice Department's past investigations of Epstein.

As he has in previous congressional testimony, Blanche acknowledged "mistakes" made in the process regarding failures to properly redact certain names of victims, which he said the department immediately sought to fix once they were notified.

"Whenever we learned that any victim's name had been improperly non-redacted, we immediately took the document down and fixed it as soon as we could," Blanche said. "That doesn't excuse the mistakes of which I take full responsibility, but it does mean that we tried to fix them."

Blanche also used his time to directly address victims of Epstein -- several of whom were in the audience -- telling them that the department would gladly meet with them and open new investigations of potential co-conspirators of Epstein if they came forth with evidence that would warrant it.

"If we learn today, if we learn next week, if we learn next month, that there's an individual that we can investigate, indict and prosecute out of the Epstein files, you better believe it we will," Blanche said.

Asked if he would notify the committee once such a meeting takes place with a victim of Epstein or their counsel, Blanche demurred -- drawing a rebuke from Durbin.

"Well, you're dancing on the head of a pin here," Durbin said.

"I'm not dancing on any pin," Blanche replied.

Blanche confirms "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is "dead"
For the first time under oath, Blanche confirmed in an exchange with Republican Sen. John Cornyn that the so-called "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is "dead."

Cornyn, one of the key Republican votes that Blanche will need to make it out of committee, repeatedly pushed him with specific and detailed questions regarding both the fund and the immunity agreement that would exempt President Trump and his family from IRS audits of their past taxes -- which Cornyn described as "unusual."

Cornyn repeatedly noted that the original settlement that first established the fund has still yet to be formally rescinded.

While Blanche acknowledged that, he also said the Department of Justice would be fine with codifying in some way to assure senators the fund would not move forward.

"It is a moot issue, meaning there is no weaponization fund," Blanche told lawmakers.

On Monday, a federal judge in Florida issued an extraordinary order that lambasted Trump and the Justice Department for misusing her court to legitimize a "settlement" that she says would never have survived judicial review.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who had previously been assigned to oversee Trump's IRS lawsuit, referred Trump's attorneys for potential sanctions and separately sent her ruling to the State Bar of New York for consideration in potential disciplinary proceedings for Blanche -- who Williams said had potentially given "misleading" testimony to Congress about how the settlement was executed.

Blanche, when asked during Wednesday's hearing about Williams' order, said he rejected her "insinuations" and said she had never given the Department of Justice a chance to respond in the case before issuing her order. Judge Williams noted in her order that while the department had 109 days to enter an appearance in the case, it never did so.

"I very much disagree with -- with the judge's insinuations about me, and we're going to do what we can to make that right," Blanche said.

‘I’m not an election denier’: Clayton, Trump’s DNI pick, faces tense questions on 2020 election

Jay Clayton testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill May 8, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump's pick to serve as director of national intelligence, faced repeated questions from Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday about whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election -- with Clayton saying Biden was certified as president, but stopped short of saying he won legitimately.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, asked whether Clayton denied that Biden won the 2020 election.

"I'm not an election denier," Clayton said. "Joe Biden was certified as the president of the United States.

Independent Sen. Angus King later asked Clayton pointedly: "Who won the 2020 election?"

Clayton danced around the answer multiple times -- refusing to say outright that Biden won, while reiterating that he believes Biden was certified.

"He went through our processes, and Joe Biden became the president of the United States," Clayton said.

King responded that "saying Joe Biden was certified is not an answer."

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff later said Clayton wasn't being "honest or forthright" in his responses about Biden's 2020 election victory.

"You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election. But you ask to lead America's intelligence community," Ossoff said. "Isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question? To have to indulge the president's delusions? We know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to the question. Why can you not give it?"

Both Republicans and Democrats asked Clayton if he were involved in any way with Trump's primetime address on Thursday that the president said will be a "very big announcement" that will touch on "free and fair elections." The announcement is based on information he recently received from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence related to the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

Clayton said he is "not involved in that," affirming that doing so would violate that understanding that he would take no actions that would presume his confirmation as DNI.

Clayton did say that he thought there was room to improve elections and that he would like to work with the committee to do that.

Questions about subpoenas to journalists

Clayton also faced questions about the subpoenas he issued to several journalists at the New York Times last week after the news outlet reported on security concerns involving Trump's new Qatari-donated Air Force One.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden questioned Clayton about the subpoenas he issued -- as U.S. attorney in Manhattan -- to the journalists, asking when he was directed to issue the subpoenas and who asked him to do so.

Clayton responded that the subpoenas are in connection with an "ongoing national security investigation" and reiterated that he respects the First Amendment and the role of the press. But he did not directly answer Wyden's question.

"Those subpoenas are in connection with an ongoing national security investigation. I'm happy to talk to you and this committee about our approach to the First Amendment and our efforts in all cases to limit to the greatest extent possible, any intrusion into the operation of the free press," Clayton said.

Clayton later added that he consulted with career prosecutors in his office before making the decision to issue the subpoeanas. He added that he is confident that the procedures in place to protect the First Amendment and journalists were followed.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said the committee was "deeply concerned" with how the process played out, that it "doesn't sound like the proper independent legal process that we would normally expect for issuance of a subpoena."

Clayton said that while he understood her concerns, "I want to tell you, I am comfortable with where we are, and I'm comfortable with how we are proceeding from here."

In a statement on Saturday, a Justice Department spokeswoman said that "reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are."

Clayton, prior to his role as the U.S. attorney, was also the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Apart from the national security cases he oversaw while serving as U.S. attorney, Clayton also lacks experience in intelligence-gathering and national security matters.

Clayton spent the bulk of his career as a corporate attorney, and prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney last year, lacked meaningful experience in criminal matters.

Clayton will replace the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Trump loyalist Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. Clayton's hearing came weeks after the president abruptly canceled his previously scheduled confirmation hearing.

Asked about why his hearing was postponed, Clayton said he was "not going to get into private conversations."

Pulte has been serving as the acting director since June 19. The former DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, announced her intention to resign from the role in May, citing a desire to step away from public service to support her husband following his cancer diagnosis. Gabbard ultimately left the role on June 18, days earlier than planned.

The committee is expected to vote on Clayton's nomination to be the next DNI some time next week.

1 dead, 3 missing after boat sinks near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay

Passengers who were injured during a boat incident are treated by emergency services at Gashouse Cove on July 14, 2026 in San Francisco, California. A rescue mission continues after 16 people were rescued and two remain missing. One death has been reported. Heather Diehl/Getty Images

(SAN FRANCISCO) -- One person is dead and three others are missing after a boat with more than a dozen passengers aboard capsized and sank in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday, according to local authorities.

Authorities said they believe 20 people were aboard the Volare, a 50-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, California, when it was hit by a wave, causing it to capsize.

The man who died was taken to the shore severely injured and, despite CPR being administered, was pronounced dead, officials said. He was identified on Wednesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa.

Three people were taken to the hospital and reported to be in stable condition. They were expected to be released later Tuesday.

San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen told reporters that authorities believe that there was a memorial service that the 20 passengers, all adults and mostly comprised of family members, were engaging in on the vessel when it capsized. One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.

Rescuer Justin Marceline told KGO that some passengers were "banging on the windows, trying to get out" of the boat.

"It was pretty wild, seeing that, honestly," Marceline said, adding that conditions in the water were "really bad."

"The people that were bobbing in the water, we pulled them out first," Marceline said. "The people in the water were elderly folks, they were conscious, but people were too tired and worn out."

The San Francisco Fire Department said it initially received a call for a fire on the boat at 3:30 p.m. local time. However, authorities said they haven't yet seen evidence that there was a fire on board.

Earlier, authorities said they believed there were 19 people aboard and that they were looking for two missing passengers.

Houston Texans co-founder Janice McNair dies at 89

HOUSTON (AP) — Janice S. McNair, who alongside her late husband Robert “Bob” McNair brought the NFL back to Houston after the Oilers left for Tennessee by founding the Texans, has died. She was 89.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce Houston Texans co-founder and senior chair Janice S. McNair passed away peacefully in Houston this afternoon with her family by her side,” the Texans said in a statement on Tuesday.

After her husband Bob died in 2018 following a battle with both leukemia and squamous cell carcinoma, Janice took over the Texans organization as owner. McNair’s son, Cal, was approved as primary owner of the team in 2024.

“Mom was exceptional. She exuded kindness, radiated joy, had an endless amount of hope and love, and lived an incredible life centered around faith, family, philanthropy and football,” Cal said in a statement.

“I remain honored to lead this franchise and build on the foundation my parents set when they brought football back to Houston. Mom leaves an indelible mark on our family, our team and our community, and her giving spirit will always be embedded in the fabric of our organization. While I’m heartbroken, I take great comfort in knowing she is now reunited with my dad, her favorite teammate.”

Janice McNair grew up in South Carolina, and moved to Houston with Bob in 1960. Bob McNair made his fortune as the founder of Cogen Technologies, an energy company which was sold to Enron in 1999 for $1.5 billion.

The couple was committed to charity in the city, including causes such as The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, The Robert and Janice McNair Educational Foundation in Forest City, North Carolina, and the Houston Texans Foundation.

Janice is survived by four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, according to the team.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Houston Texans co-founder Janice McNair dies at 89

Janice is survived by four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, according to the team.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Baseball union head criticizes MLB salary cap ad campaign, says claims of economic woe are perverse

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The head of baseball’s players’ union chastised management on Tuesday for its advertising campaign in support of a salary cap while Commissioner Rob Manfred maintained the proposal was developed in response to fans.

Bruce Meyer, who took over when Tony Clark was forced out in February, said the sport was thriving despite assertions by Major League Baseball that massive change is needed.

“I have watched over the last few years the owners, the commissioner’s office, try to convince fans, the consumers of their product, that the product is broken,” Meyer said ahead of the All-Star Game. “The supposed stewards of the game have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince those same fans that they don’t have hope or they shouldn’t have hope or that the product that they’re paying to consume in record numbers is somehow broken. I think it’s perverse.”

Attendance has averaged 29,230 this season, up 1.2% from 28,895 through similar dates last year. MLB is on pace for its highest attendance since 2017.

Management in May proposed a salary cap system, which players say they will never accept. MLB launched a “Level the Field” campaign claiming fans support a cap that contains a floor.

“In order for this game to reach its full potential we need to continue to address concerns that our fans have, particularly concerns that go to the core of what we’re about, that is competitive balance,” Manfred said in a separate question-and-answer session.

“We need to make sure that fans in markets at the beginning of the season have a realistic belief that their team has a chance to win,” he added. “I think that we need a system where fans, particularly in smaller markets, can have some hope that the players that are signed and developed by their organizations can actually stay there through free agency and honestly I think we need a system where there is a more robust free agent market, so if you don’t want to go to New York or Los Angeles, you have a realistic opportunity to get a viable free agent contract.”

Fans have responded positively to MLB’s changes in the 2020s, which include expanded playoffs in 2022, a pitch clock in 2023 and an appeals system to robot umpires for strike zone decisions this year.

“We got that momentum by listening to our fans and making changes that, candidly, the MLBPA was not interested in,” Manfred said. “Those changes have paid off in terms of creating that momentum, and the best way to lose momentum is to stand still.”

No small-market team has won the World Series since the 2015 Kansas City Royals. The Los Angeles Dodgers, coming off their second straight title, had a $323.3 million opening-day payroll for their 40-man roster and a $163.7 million tax for a $487.1 million total. Cleveland had the lowest payroll at $75.5 million.

“It defies human experience to ask a fan to think that the bottom end of that gap has the same opportunity to win as the top,” Manfred said. “There is no question, OK, that everybody in any sport is not going to win once every 30 or 32 years depending on how many teams you have, but the data in our sport is stark. Your opportunity to make the playoffs if you are a larger-market team is dramatically higher and your opportunity to proceed to the subsequent rounds, that advantage grows with each round.”

Meyer said unions for players in the NFL, NBA and NHL agreed to caps under duress.

“In one way or the other they were broken or forced into it,” he said. “I believe that this system is bad for players and would be for generations to come.”

Baseball’s five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and management is expected to immediately start a lockout, the sport’s 10th work stoppage since 1972. No games have been lost since a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 caused the World Series to be canceled for the first in 90 years.

“Teams in every market across the league can afford to compete,” Meyer said. “Many of them are choosing not to. From our standpoint, that’s the biggest problem in the game right now.”

Meyer said owners want a cap to guarantee profits and increase franchise values, a system he called “subsidized mediocrity.”

“They don’t want it because they’re just so concerned about the fans,” he said. “If they were so concerned about the fans, they would listen to the fans all across baseball who are literally chanting ‘Sell the team.’ They want their owners to sell the team because they feel they’re not competing.”

Manfred did not want to comment on whether he thought President Donald Trump, who said he supports a cap, would attempt to intervene in bargaining.

“It would be wildly, wildly inappropriate for me to speculate about what the president of the United States might do or not do in a hypothetical situation,” he said.

Manfred defended MLB’s advertising campaign supporting a cap.

“Sometimes the other side may not be completely accurate or fair in terms of their recitation and what’s going on,” he said.

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

Tigers star Justin Verlander pumps up American League in his final All-Star Game

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Justin Verlander used his fingers in this trip to Philadelphia simply to tip his cap toward applauding All-Star Game fans.

He once playfully flipped off Phillies fans when his Houston Astros were in Philadelphia for the 2022 World Series.

There was only mutual respect in this game.

The 43-year-old Verlander was one of the few All-Stars on Tuesday night to receive a warm ovation in Philadelphia from a crowd that reveled in jeering just about any player who was not in a Phillies uniform.

Verlander is set to retire at the end of the season to cap a career that includes three Cy Young Awards.

Up first, one more Midsummer Classic.

“In his 10th and final All-Star Game, please welcome to Philadelphia, Justin Verlander,” the public address announcer noted.

Verlander didn’t totally sit out the American League’s 4-0 win over the National League on Tuesday night.

Toronto manager John Schneider asked Verlander to address the team and share thoughts on the importance of the All-Star honor out of respect for the pitcher’s career.

“You never know when you’re going to be in this position,” Schneider said as he relayed Verlander’s message. “You have to appreciate the people along the way. He’s made lifelong friends from being in this game for so long.”

Verlander had more gas left in the pregame speech tank. He talked AL starter Dylan Cease out of throwing a changeup as the first pitch of the game and go with a heater against Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.

Cease threw a 96.9-mph four-seam strike to Schwarber and struck out the side in the first inning,

“He could be a politician,” Cease said of Verlander.

Kevin McGonigle, Verlander’s’ 21-year-old Tigers teammate and suburban Philadelphia native, soaked in the moment when Verlander took the floor.

“He kept telling the guys that you don’t take anything for granted and if you keep working hard, you will find yourself back in this room multiple time,” McGonigle said. “Be a good teammate and building relationships and getting to learn as much as you can from other guys.”

Verlander, who did not discuss the speech, enjoyed the chance to participate in some final festivities and walked the All-Star red carpet in the afternoon with his wife, model Kate Upton, and their two young children.

The lone bummer for Verlander is that the Detroit Tigers All-Star was unable to pitch in the game as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Verlander, the oldest player in Major League Baseball, signed a $13 million, one-year contract to rejoin the Tigers in February.

He has made only one start in an injury-ravaged season and was named to the All-Star team as a Legend Pick by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Phillies slugger Bryce Harper earned the honor in the National League.

“I’m happy with the body of work,” Verlander said ahead of the game. “I hope I can add to it somehow, someway in the second half. When I look back, I know I gave it everything.”

Verlander went 183-115 from 2005 to 2017 with the Tigers. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2006 and both the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 2011. He helped Detroit reach the World Series in 2006 and 2012, along with four straight division titles from 2011 to 2014.

Verlander was the 2017 ALCS MVP in Houston and helped the Astros win the World Series that year, and was a key player for them when they won another title in 2022. He won his second and third Cy Young Awards in 2019 and 2022.

Verlander, who also had brief stints with the New York Mets and San Francisco, played coy when asked about which team cap he would choose for his sure-thing induction into the Hall of Fame.

“At least, I was able to narrow it down to two,” Verlander said with a laugh. “I’m not there yet.”

Verlander relaxed against a clubhouse wall next to his locker as he reflected over a career that stamped him as perhaps the best of his era.

Verlander has a career record of 266-159 with a 3.33 ERA in 556 starts across 21 major league seasons with the Tigers, Astros, Mets and San Francisco Giants. He has 3,554 strikeouts while tossing 26 complete games, including nine shutouts.

Not bad for a kid from Virginia who was sent to a baseball academy by his family to help him gain arm strength. His parents knew so little about how to guide a kid that flashed big league potential that his father, Richard, bought a most unique kind of instructional guide.

“My dad bought a ‘How to Pitch for Dummies’ book,” Verlander said to laughter. “I’m not joking. He’s like, OK, step one, you step back with your left foot. Step two, you turn this way. We were doing that in my front yard because he learned I could throw a rock pretty far.”

Turned out, with a little help along the way, Verlander learned to throw a baseball pretty hard.

Verlander just hopes in his last season, he hasn’t thrown his last one.

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

Patrick Reed is chasing a European tour title with one eye on returning home

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Patrick Reed was on the range at the Scottish Open, surrounded by PGA Tour players at a tournament co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour. The last time that happened was more than four years ago, and it’s soon to change.

“I can’t wait,” Reed said.

Two weeks after Brooks Koepka became the first player from LIV Golf to be welcomed back by the PGA Tour, Reed was in his hotel room at the Dubai Desert Classic on the European tour contemplating his four-shot lead and how the final day would play out.

LIV Golf had a shotgun start, meaning all 54 players were warming up at the same time before each went off to their assigned hole to begin the round.

“Being the last guy out, having the range full and then it slowly empties, walking to the tee with the lead … having that feeling again, those emotions, the adrenaline, I felt like I wanted to get back to that,” Reed said. “That Saturday night was huge for me.”

And when he finished it off with a four-shot victory the next day, Reed firmly decided not to renew his contract with LIV Golf and start the long road back to the PGA Tour.

He lost in a playoff the next week in Bahrain. The week LIV Golf began its fifth season, Reed was winning again in the Qatar Masters. That put him atop the Race to Dubai on the European tour, and he’s still leading the season race over Rory McIlroy.

The leading 10 players from the European tour not already exempt earn PGA Tour cards for 2027, and Reed is virtually a lock. He already has started the countdown, knowing when his one-year ban from playing LIV Golf will end — the week of the Tour Championship in late August.

He also would be eligible to be a pick for the Presidents Cup team — he last played for a U.S. team, his favorite events, in Australia in 2019 during darker times. Royal Melbourne was a week after Reed was penalized for improving his lie in the sand, and Aussies heckled him endlessly. His caddie was suspended for the final match after shoving a spectator who had been cursing Reed.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also was at the Scottish Open. Reed said he never saw him and doubts he would be a serious candidate for the Presidents Cup team in Chicago in September unless he were to win the British Open this week.

“It’s not really on my mind,” Reed said. “My biggest thing right now is continuing to play solid golf and let things take care of themselves. I know it would be hard to make that team since I haven’t played anything in the United States. But hey, try to get yourself in the discussion.”

He is not in that big of a hurry.

Reed won the Masters in 2018 and received honorary life membership on the European tour, a courtesy once offered major champions. Reed took it seriously, playing seven regular European tour events in 2019 and he has kept a presence since then.

After deciding to leave LIV — and still banned by the PGA Tour — it became his best option. Now he has a chance to join Collin Morikawa as the only Americans to win the Race to Dubai.

Reed officially won’t get a PGA Tour card until the European tour season ends Nov. 15. He would be eligible for sponsor exemptions in the fall, but Reed has a job to finish.

The first PGA Tour event where he can earn an exemption is Sept. 17-20 at a new event in Asheville, North Carolina. Reed will be in England that week for the European tour’s flagship event at Wentworth. The French Open, Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, all of them are opportunities to win the Race to Dubai — and deny McIlroy a record-tying eighth title.

A case can be made for Reed being the most global player in golf.

McIlroy has been brilliant in taking his Masters green jacket around the world to the Indian Open and Australian Open. He has sparked a renewed interest in national opens. But his appearances come with a hefty appearance fee said to be in the neighborhood of $2 million. It’s been that way for top players dating to the era of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, accounting for inflation.

Reed said he occasionally gets appearance money but often plays “because I just want to play.”

He shot 59 in the Hong Kong Open when he won at the end of 2024 on the Asian Tour. He has two European tour titles this year, along with two World Golf Championships titles, the Masters for his lone major and six victories in regular PGA Tour events, the last won at Torrey Pines the year before he defected to LIV, where he won once.

He doesn’t plan to stop his global travels. He wants to keep supporting the European tour. But there is a part of him that looks forward to coming home.

“Last year playing 32 events, 23 were overseas,” he said. “I always saw myself wanting to start and finish my career on the PGA Tour.”

In some ways, it will be like starting over. He played the third round of the Scottish Open with Kevin Roy, a 36-year-old whose rookie season was the year Reed left for LIV Golf.

“Nice guy, and he’s waxing me right now,” Reed said during a fog delay. “That’s why I’m excited, to see guys I’m used to playing with but seeing the new guys playing. It’s crazy. The game keeps getting deeper and the fields are stronger. It’s going to be awesome to see.”

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On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Kickoff Game announces ‘multimillion dollar’ NIL deal with Auburn before opener against Baylor

ATLANTA (AP) — The Aflac Kickoff Game on Tuesday announced a name, image and likeness deal with Auburn leading up to the Tigers’ game against Baylor on Sept. 5.

The Peach Bowl and the Kickoff Game say the deal is worth “multimillion” dollars and marks the first time a neutral-site college football game has incorporated NIL compensation for student-athletes.

The NIL agreement also will involve third-party entities. According to the announcement, as many as two dozen Auburn student-athletes will promote the game through social media posts, public appearances, advertisements, in-game promotions and branding opportunities.

“In the new NIL era of college football, this will be an innovative way to create wins for the teams, programs and student-athletes,” said Peach Bowl Inc. CEO David Epps in a statement.

“This new model is a true win-win scenario where Auburn and its student-athletes get a financial boost in the NIL space. At the same time, it’s a potential game changer for neutral-site games like ours who want to bring added value to participating teams and make it a more attractive and lucrative opportunity.”

Auburn opened its 2025 season with a 38-24 win at Baylor. This year’s rematch originally was scheduled as an Auburn home game. The teams agreed to move the game to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, also the home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the Peach Bowl.

The Kickoff Game is the nation’s longest-running neutral-site game and will be televised by ABC at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Auburn will be making its fourth appearance in the Kickoff Game. It will be Baylor’s first appearance.

Peach Bowl Inc. operates the Peach Bowl as well as the Kickoff Game.

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Scottie Scheffler hits the reset button for the British Open after a rare missed cut

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Scottie Scheffler finally heard about the text his PGA Tour friend never sent, a reminder that even the No. 1 player in golf with four majors and more than 20 victories doesn’t know everything.

It was a list of things to do on the weekend after missing the cut.

“He was like: ‘Hey, you can practice at the facilities. You can still go to the gym. You can also go to the next tournament.’ It was basically all my options,” Scheffler said Tuesday ahead of the British Open. “He never sent it to me, but he told me about it.”

The reason the text was created — without being sent, to Scheffler’s disappointment — was missing the cut at the Scottish Open, his first missed cut in nearly four years, a streak of 78 consecutive cuts that was the longest since Tiger Woods set the record (142) from 1998 to 2005.

Frustrating, yes. Despair? Hardly.

“You never want to have a weekend off, but going into a tournament when you’re defending, there’s always a bit more stuff to do,” Scheffler said. “So it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”

Among his duties was officially returning the claret jug he won last year at Royal Portrush, a ritual the Royal & Ancient has turned into a ceremony. Then, it was playing an exhibition with Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and others.

But key to Scheffler’s early arrival was Royal Birkdale, which has hosted the British Open more than any other links course in England since it first joined the rotation in 1954.

He had never seen it. Scheffler had not seen conditions like this — a combination of yellow and brown, which translates to firm and fiery in a links vocabulary. St. Andrews came close in 2022, but Jon Rahm recalls the greens still being soft enough to allow for low scoring.

Scheffler ticked off two items on his friend’s list — he went to the gym in Scotland and then headed to the next tournament. That allowed him time to play 18 holes on Sunday, and to limit his energy in sunbaked Blighty to nine holes on Monday and Tuesday.

His general assessment: “The ball is just going to run forever.”

Is it driver to take it over the bunkers and possibly reach the green on the 393-yard, downwind 16th hole, or hit iron off the tee? Is the redesigned fifth hole at 321 yards worth trying to reach with a pond to the right, a series of bunkers short and a wee part of a wee burn to the left?

“On each hole there’s a good bit of strategy. There’s a decent amount of thinking,” Scheffler said. “If it wasn’t as firm as it is now, there would be as much decision-making. But I think with the firmness, it creates a whole lot more challenges.”

Rose is among four players — and at 45, the youngest — to have played Royal Birkdale three times in the Open dating to 1998. He was a 17-year-old amateur that year, full of joy and optimism when he holed out a wedge for birdie on the 18th to tie for fourth. He didn’t finish in the top 50 his two times as a professional.

Rose certainly has more experience than Scheffler, but only to a point.

“A links course is interesting because you never really get to know them that well,” Rose said. “Like 2008 I think it was, weather was dreadful. It was wet. You might have been hitting 2-irons and 3-woods into par 4s, and now you could be flicking 52-degree wedges.

“A golf course can play so differently decade to decade when we come back that you never really get to know the course that well.”

Scheffler said he felt at peace about his game, and he certainly looked the part. His game didn’t look deplorable in the Scottish Open, just a matter of not hitting it terribly close and not making many putts and then moving on.

It was no less frustrating — Scheffler is a killer when it comes to competing, which is one reason he has been No. 1 longer than anyone since Woods — but it was filled with perspective.

“I don’t think it hurts as much as coming close to winning and finishing second,” Scheffler said. “I felt like coming in second at Travelers hurt more than missing the cut, but missing the cut is significantly more frustrating is how I would describe it.”

He’s had plenty of experience finishing second. Scheffler’s lone victory this year was his first tournament in January at The American Express. Since then, he has had four runner-up finishes, including the Masters. The most recent was a playoff loss to Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago when Scheffler missed a 4-foot slider.

“I think just towards the end of the season, you get a little tired,” Scheffler said. “I got a couple days off, reset the mind, reset the body, and just kind of get back to feeling even and at peace. I’ve had a very solid year, but like I said, frustrating at times because I’ve been close and I haven’t been able to get it done like I have been in years past.

“I’m excited to try and defend my title this week.”

That hasn’t been done at the British Open since 2008 when Padraig Harrington won at Royal Birkdale. One week could change Scheffler’s outlook on the year. But it’s a week that presents a test the likes of which he hasn’t seen all year.

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

Kylian Mbappé denied a 3rd straight World Cup final but remains in Golden Boot mix with Messi

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé saw it for himself on the field: France simply didn’t play well enough to reach a third consecutive World Cup final.

The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.

Mbappé, one of the biggest stars of this year’s World Cup and one of the game’s greatest scorers, just couldn’t generate many chances in his team’s 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Mbappé and Messi have eight goals each so far at this year’s tournament. Mbappé, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar, holds the first tiebreaker with a 3-2 lead on assists. Messi and defending champion Argentina will play again on Wednesday in the other semifinal match against England.

Both players will then have one more match before the award is decided. France will play the loser of the other semifinal match in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spain will take on the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final.

“At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win,” Mbappé said. “When you don’t win … it’s part of the game. As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

Mbappé had the fewest touches of any forward in the first half with 15. Perhaps his most prominent moment was trying to persuade referee Ivan Barton that the penalty resulting in Spain’s first goal shouldn’t have been called.

The foul by Lucas Digne on teenager Lamine Yamal stood, and Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute, put Spain ahead for good.

Mbappé’s best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.

“It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball,” Mbappé said. “That’s what we let them do. We let the midfield too much time to play, and at the end of the day they had quality to play. It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain. We weren’t at the level to go to the final.”

The 27-year-old Mbappé was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute when he rushed toward Unai Simón just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Simón to the grass.

Mbappé started the match against Spain after exiting in the 77th minute of his team’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, when he scored his eighth goal of the tournament.

Mbappé also scored eight goals four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final. France beat Croatia to win the World Cup eight years ago in Russia.

“They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “Unbelievable effort by everyone.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Heavy rains keep drenching South Texas after downpours led to dozens of rescues

UVALDE (AP) — Slow-moving storms with heavy rain were drenching a large swath of South Texas on Wednesday, a day after downpours washed out roads and farmland and led to dozens of high-water rescues.

Warnings of potentially dangerous flash flooding were posted in some areas as the deluge was expected to continue through Thursday evening. The National Weather Service said 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain was possible in some areas by the time the storms move out.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries.

Flash flood warnings were posted Wednesday morning for several counties near the Mexico border including parts of Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River last year killed more than 100 people. Kerr County officials said they have been in contact with summer camps and retreat centers where river flooding could happen.

The highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County — up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) in some areas, the weather service said.

“This is called a typical mid-summer tropical weather pattern that happens in Texas,” said Monte Oaks, a meteorologist with the weather service. “About once every five years, we’ll get socked in with a daily recurrence of heavy rain chances that’s generally produced by a stagnant kind of a pattern with a low-pressure center that’s just not moving very fast.”

Oaks said the rain is being fueled with tropical moisture, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico and some from the Pacific Ocean.

The highest level of concern for potentially dangerous flooding Wednesday was for areas west of San Antonio and north of Route 90, he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.

Authorities posted videos on Tuesday showing a rescue crew in a boat navigating flooded streets and a vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman.

The weather service said the city of Uvalde has been hardest hit. Officials there said there had been at least two dozen water rescues, and a local event center was open for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

In brief: ‘The Whisper Man’ trailer and more

This is the way ... to the couch. Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu will be available to watch at home for purchase on digital platforms very soon. It arrives on Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango on July 21, and will be available on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on Aug. 25. Pedro Pascal stars as the titular bounty hunter in the film that continues the story of the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian ...

Netflix has released the first look at its upcoming series Below. Josh Hartnett stars in the thriller series about a fisherman living in a small Canadian town who is haunted by his father's mysterious death decades ago. The limited series blends myth, suspense and humor into six 45-minute episodes. Also starring are Mackenzie Davis, Charlie Heaton and Ruby Stokes. It debuts on Oct. 8 ...

Robert De Niro stars in the trailer for The Whisper Man. The upcoming Netflix film is based on The New York Times bestselling book by Alex North. It follows what happens to a widowed crime writer when his 8-year-old son is abducted. He looks to a retired former police detective for help only to come across a decadesold case of a convicted serial killer. Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan also star in the movie, which premieres on Aug. 28 ...

Federal judge awards $314 million to three Americans held and allegedly tortured in Venezuela

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge has awarded $314 million in damages to three Americans who were jailed and allegedly tortured by what he called a “criminal enterprise” led by former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before the men were freed in a swap for a close Maduro ally imprisoned in the U.S.

Maduro’s government in 2023 freed Jerrel Kenemore, Jason Saad and Edgar Marval after months in prison as part of an exchange secretly negotiated with the Biden administration for Alex Saab, a businessman long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s bag man and who had been awaiting trial in the U.S. on money laundering charges.

Last year, the three Americans sued several top Venezuelan officials, including now acting President Delcy Rodríguez, claiming they were subjected to physical and psychological torture — electrocution, stress positions and beatings — that continues to inflict anguish and trauma on them and their families today. Similar allegations of abuse are also being investigated by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami issued a default judgment Tuesday against Maduro, Saab and five other individual defendants as well as the “Cartel of the Suns,” a purported drug-smuggling ring involving top military officials, for failing to respond to the lawsuit. Rodríguez was not included in the ruling after lawyers for her entered an appearance in April seeking to dismiss the complaint, arguing that as the duly recognized head of state she is immune from civil action in the U.S., a contention plaintiffs dispute.

The case is the largest judgment to date amid a slew of lawsuits filed for Americans imprisoned in Venezuela. All sought damages under a little-used federal law, the Anti-Terrorism Act, that allows American victims of foreign terror groups to seize the assets of their victimizers.

“The kidnappings,” Judge Gayles wrote in his 19-page ruling, were just one of many crimes “committed in order to support Maduro’s dictatorial rule over Venezuela, which in turn allowed the Maduro Criminal Conspiracy to earn ill-gotten gains.”

A lawyer for Saab, who is once again in U.S. custody facing new charges after Rodríguez handed him over to U.S. authorities in May, declined to comment. Lawyers for Rodríguez didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Each of the plaintiffs arrived in Venezuela unsuspecting they would be accused of spying and used as bargaining chips in Venezuela’s negotiations with the U.S.

Kenemore, who spent 643 days in jail, was a computer professional from Fort Worth, Texas, who had been living in neighboring Colombia with a Venezuelan woman he met online when both were getting over divorces. In 2022, he was abducted by armed gunmen near the border and later handed over to Venezuelan authorities and immediately imprisoned, according to the complaint.

Saad, a native of Alabama, had been living in Venezuela working in construction for several years at the time of his arrest, according to the complaint. Together with Marval, who owned a company in Florida and did business Venezuela, all were held by Venezuela’s feared military intelligence police.

The Trump administration labeled the “ Cartel of the Suns” a foreign terrorist organization ahead of a massive military deployment in the Caribbean that resulted in Maduro’s capture in January to face drug trafficking charges in New York.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing and some observers doubt that corruption that has long festered inside Venezuela’s barracks has led to the creation of a cohesive drug smuggling group that functions like other Latin American cartels.

Mexico asks US state attorneys general to investigate migrant deaths in ICE custody

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico formally requested that U.S. state attorneys general criminally investigate cases of migrants who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or during raids, the Mexican government said Tuesday.

The request follows the death of Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston. Since the beginning of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, 17 Mexican migrants have died during immigration enforcement, 14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry had previously said it would make the request, which was formalized on Tuesday, according to the ministry. It said a similar request will be also sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States is not legally obliged to act on the requests.

Also, the Mexican government said it has started sending letters to U.S. detention centers where Mexican migrants have died, demanding they “immediately cease the actions or omissions that resulted in these deaths, such as preventing access to prompt and expedited medical care, as well as the application of policies incompatible with medical and penitentiary standards.”

The first center to receive the letter was Adelanto, in California, where four Mexican migrants died.

The letters are a first step toward “the eventual filing of civil lawsuits” against the companies that operate the detention centers to stop human rights violations, according to the ministry.

Last week, Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said his country would go directly to U.S. authorities to request criminal investigations in cases of Mexicans killed in ICE custody or enforcement operations.

Salgado Araujo, who had no criminal record and had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was shot last Tuesday while driving his construction crew to a job site in Houston. His death sparked protests in Houston and demands for an independent investigation from Democrats and Salgado Araujo’s family.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said the 52-year-old Araujo had rammed an ICE vehicle, and that a federal agent fired a weapon in self-defense.

Velasco also sent a letter to Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, requesting that U.S. authorities gather information on the deaths of the Mexican migrants in ICE custody and analyze the “compatibility of these events with international human rights obligations.”

The foreign minister also asked Türk to seek the opinion of the Human Rights Council, a U.N. intergovernmental body that promotes human rights, on the cases and offer recommendations.

The developments mark an escalation in Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s response to Trump’s immigration crackdown. Sheinbaum earlier this year ordered Mexico’s diplomatic missions across the U.S. to regularly check in with ICE detainees, and her government even lodged a complaint with Türk.

House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent

WASHINGTON (AP) — There will be no turning back the clock if the House has its way.

The House passed a bill Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent. Proponents, including the White House, argued the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. The vote was 308-117.

Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time. States could opt out if their respective legislatures act to do so before the bill’s enactment. The Senate would also have to pass the bill before it could be signed into law, but it’s unclear if it will do so.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said Americans are ready to “ditch the switch,” saying that changing the clock twice a year creates unnecessary disruption. More important, he said, it would give families more daylight time in the evening to spend outdoors and support local businesses.

“In my home state of Florida where tourism is a cornerstone of our economy, having more predictable daylight hours is a practical improvement that benefits workers, businesses and visitors alike,” Bilirakis said.

Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings where children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

“Millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months in complete darkness with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work or have to go about their days,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, said he supported the bill, but he questioned whether it was the best way for Congress to be spending its time.

“For folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do?” McGovern said. “Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?”

A 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening.

If they had to choose one option for the entire country to use, more than half of adults — 56% — prefer making daylight saving time permanent, with less light in the morning and more light in the evening. About 4 in 10 prefer standard time, with more light in the morning and less in the evening.

The White House weighed in before the House vote, calling the “Sunshine Protection Act” a popular, common-sense reform and saying advisers would recommend the president sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.

Death toll from Bangkok bar fire rises to 32 as 2 more die in hospital

BANGKOK (AP) — Survivors and family members of victims of a deadly bar fire in Bangkok visited a nearby police station on Wednesday to seek compensation, gather belongings and share statements from the blaze.

The fire, which broke out on Sunday night, killed at least 32 people and left more than 70 injured, 15 of whom are still in critical condition, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

The cause of the fire at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar is still under investigation.

Most of the people who were killed were found trapped in windowless bathrooms, where they may have sought to escape the flames, police said.

Wiroon Supasingsiripreecha, chief of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, told reporters Wednesday that most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, while a few died from burn injuries.

Natthaphong Lakhorn, 26, was at the beer hall on the night of the fire with four companions. He was sitting near the stage when the fire broke out.

He recounted seeing white smoke coming from the stage, which he at first thought was an effect from dry ice before realizing it was the start of a fire.

“When the fire broke, I just ran, and then all power went out,” said Natthaphong, who said that one of his companions, a relative, died in the fire. “It was so hectic.”

On Wednesday, Natthaphong went to the Phahonyothin Police Station in Bangkok to give a statement. Photos of personal belongings, like smartphones, left behind the bar on the night of fire adorned the walls.

Bandages covered both of Natthaphong’s ears and part of his forehead. Before registering with the police, he said that he plans to seek compensation for these injuries.

Natthaphong said he escaped through the back door of the bar near the bathrooms, and that there was a security guard there who was using a flashlight to lead people out, contradicting reports from police that the door was not used.

Kanticha Singkhon, 25, was at the police station to pick up a handbag and other personal belongings of her mother, who died in the fire.

With her mother gone, Kanticha said she is now responsible for her younger brother.

“I want them (the owners of the bar) to be the one reaching out to the families. Rather than having us come to the police station ourselves because they (family members of victims) would be going back to their hometowns by now,” she said. “They won’t have time, because each victim came from far away.”

A lawyer representing the bar owners told local media that survivors and family members will initially receive 10,000 baht (approximately $300) in compensation.

“It’s not enough money for a funeral — I had to take a loan to arrange my mom’s funeral,” Kanticha said. “I have not had any financial arrangements, and no one has contacted me.”

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A previous version of this article included an outdated figure of 24 people in critical condition. It has been corrected to use the most figure of 15.

Tehran threatens to halt all Mideast energy exports after US reimposes its blockade on Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military reimposed a naval blockade on Iran and intensified its airstrike campaign early Wednesday, hitting an Iranian army barracks and killing at least seven troops while wounding 260 people across the country, Iranian officials said.

Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran and the U.S., and both nations’ attempts to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz, threaten to push the region back to all-out war.

More than 30 people have been killed over “recent days,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said, without elaborating. Seven of the dead came from the attack on the barracks in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The U.S. first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime, has intensified.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.

When U.S. President Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.

Both US and Iran launched attacks as blockade reimposed

The U.S. carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours, the U.S. military’s Central Command said Wednesday.

Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, gave Wednesday’s casualty figure of over 260 people wounded, without specifying how many people had been killed. Kermanpour’s figures reported far more people injured than in any other round of recent violence between Iran and the U.S.

One strike targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Bampour in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said the Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and that the dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of other troops were wounded.

The army said it would make “a decisive response to this aggressive action by the American enemy,” state TV added.

The 388th operates battle tanks and armored vehicles.

Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire, something that’s been a daily occurrence, further straining a ceasefire in the war. Jordan also said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations.

U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries.

“U.S. forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Cooper said.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz by attacking and threatening ships. That sent the price of oil, fertilizer and other goods soaring.

Iran has more recently attacked ships moving through the strait on a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control, setting off the recent violence. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America’s ongoing attacks targeting his country.

“The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,” he wrote to the world body’s leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Trump says he’s seeking Gulf investments instead of fees

Trump said Tuesday that he was called by the region’s “kings and emirs,” who suggested an alternate arrangement to charging ships fees to pass through the strait like the president proposed a day earlier.

“They said we’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office.

Trump said he preferred that arrangement to charging tolls “because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait.”

It was unclear if the investment deals would be new commitments relative to what Trump announced after a visit last year to the Middle East.

Trump’s plan to charge fees would have been a change to longstanding American policy and a departure from U.S. promises that the strait would remain open to all without tolls.

Trump told Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes against Iran were coming over the next two days and that bridges and power plants could be targets by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the U.S. has struck at least one bridge.

“You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” Trump warned.

The interim peace deal is in peril

Under the interim deal, Iran agreed that passage through the strait would remain free of charge for 60 days — but the agreement left open what would happen after. Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees. The U.S. has disputed that.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly topped $87 early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war. The price dipped to $78 in the aftermath of Trump’s announcement that he had changed course, then went back up to $85 a barrel on Wednesday.

Regional mediators meanwhile are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table.

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

British leader Starmer faces his last question session in Parliament before leaving office next week

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will answer questions from lawmakers in the House of Commons for the last time Wednesday before he leaves office next week.

At noon, Starmer will bid farewell to the boisterous weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions where he has traded barbs with opposition politicians and defended his government’s record. Then, on Monday, he will step down after just two years in office, handing over power to a new Labour Party leader, Andy Burnham.

Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national election does not have to be held until 2029.

Starmer was elected in a landslide in July 2024, but is quitting after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

He struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living. And he was hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as U.K. ambassador to the United States.

After Labour was hammered in May’s local elections, he gave in to mounting pressure from the party and announced he would step down. Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is the only candidate in the contest to replace him and will be announced as the new Labour leader on Friday.

On Monday, Starmer will go to Buckingham Palace and announce his resignation as prime minister to King Charles III, who will then ask Burnham to take over.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer will likely tout his government’s domestic policy achievements, including stronger protections for renters, a higher minimum wage and a law designed to stop official cover-ups after tragedies. He’ll also likely touch on his role on the world stage supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia and restoring relations between Britain and its European Union neighbors after Brexit.

On Tuesday, he attended Bastille Day celebrations in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who awarded him the Legion of Honor in recognition of his work with France on European security.

Back in London, Starmer held a reception in the garden of the prime minister’s 10 Downing St. residence to thank people who had campaigned for accountability from the authorities after losing loved ones to violence.

“I leave on Monday with good grace,” he told them. “I’m very pleased I’ve had the privilege of being prime minister. I’m pleased to have delivered on the promises that are made to many people in this garden. And I’ll make this last promise, which is I will stand with you and walk with you, as long as I’ve got breath in my body.”

Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham on playing BFFs in ‘Ride or Die’

Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer and Ed Skrein in 'Ride or Die.' (Prime Video)

Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham are besties on the run in Ride or Die.

The new series, which premieres on Prime Video Wednesday, follows best friends who think they know everything about each other — until one discovers the other is an international assassin.

The show has it all — action, drama, comedy and romance — but its heart is the friendship between Debbie (Spencer) and Judith (Waddingham).

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to play in all of these sandboxes," Spencer told ABC Audio. "For me personally, horror is my favorite genre and then action ... the fact that I'm getting to be in an action, comedy, drama with Hannah and getting to play at this level was amazing."

Spencer said the characters were "otherworldly to me because we see these women. We are these women in real life."

She made sure to quickly clarify, "Not the assassin part of it," right before Waddingham chimed in, "Or am I?"

Spencer laughed and said, "Or maybe she is. Maybe she's the secret sauce."

As for what it was like to get to play Spencer's best friend, Waddingham said, "That is the crux of it all for me."

"It's not every day that an Oscar winner gets on a Zoom call and goes, 'Come and play and do this amazing role, and I've got an amazing role, and we're going to have Bill Nighy playing an amazing role,'" Waddingham said. "It was just almost too much for a girl to listen to and feel like you could step up to the plate with these massive hitters."

World shares are mixed and oil prices climb as Iran threatens to block Middle East energy exports

TOKYO (AP) — World shares were mixed on Wednesday and oil prices climbed after Iran threatened to block Middle East energy exports now that the U.S. has resumed its blockade of Iranian ports.

Stock price gains overall were moderate given worries that the United States and Iran may return to an all-out war. Renewed attacks in the Middle East have raised the risks of further disruptions of transport of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices higher.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the U.S. blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that the blockade was resumed as an interim agreement on ending the war unraveled.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” said the statement by the Iranian side.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.6% to $85.23 a barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude gained 0.7% to $79.89 a barrel.

“The U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed last month has proved to be anything but. The two sides are once again exchanging military strikes, and they hold completely different views on the state of affairs in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

“With shipping around the Gulf becoming increasingly fraught with danger, traffic flows are declining once more,” he said.

In early European trading, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5% to 8,371.11, while the German DAX shed 0.5% to 25,014.37. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.2% to 10,513.40.

South Korea’s Kospi led gains in Asia, surging 6.2% to 7,284.41 as prices rebounded from a recent sell-off in semiconductor stocks. Shares in computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 8.8%, while those of Samsung Electronics surged 6.3%.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% to finish at 68,751.51.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,841.10.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 1.4% to 24,681.10, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,955.58 after the Chinese government reported the economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace in April-June, slowing sharply from 5% in the first quarter of the year.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks rallied following a report that showed U.S. inflation was not as bad last month as economists expected. It said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 3.5% higher last month than a year earlier.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% to recover some of its 0.8% loss from the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%.

Investors are watching for earnings reports this week from various global companies.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 162.32 Japanese yen from 162.26 yen. The euro cost $1.1421, down from $1.1423.

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

Plane crash victim identified

UPDATE: The pilot of the deadly plane crash in Van Zandt County has been identified as a member of the Texas archery community on Wednesday.

According to the Texas Field Archery Association (TFAA), Steve Goode of Canton died in an airplane crash on Tuesday. Goode was a TFAA board member and the district 7 field governor, which is in the Canton area.

According to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane crashed “under unknown circumstances shortly after take off.”

CANTON — One person is dead following a plane crash Tuesday afternoon. According to the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office and our news partner KETK, the crash took place at around 1:50 p.m. on FM 3227, just outside of Canton. The sheriff’s office said a man died but did not release his identity.

An investigation has been launched by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Texas is drenched by heavy rains as forecasters warn that more storms could bring dangerous floods

AUSTIN (AP) – Heavy downpours in South Texas washed out highways and stranded motorists Tuesday as forecasters warned that a threat of more severe weather could bring dangerous flooding to already drenched counties near the border with Mexico.

Storms dumped up to a foot of rain in some rural areas of Texas, leading to dozens of high-water rescues across the region and officials shutting down portions of a busy highway for hours near Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of San Antonio. A flood watch also included Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding last year along the Guadalupe River killed more than 100 people.

No deaths or injuries Tuesday were immediately reported.

The National Weather Service warned that storms overnight could dump more than a foot of additional rain to some places into Wednesday, creating potentially catastrophic impacts from flash flooding in areas west of San Antonio. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for dozens of counties.

“Intense rain rates and compounding effects from multiple rounds of storms will result in a dangerous flash flooding threat through Thursday,” the National Weather Service said.

Authorities on Tuesday posted videos of a rescue crew in a boat down flooded streets and one vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by members of the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

In Uvalde, officials said there had been at least two dozen water rescues. They opened a local event center for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

Trump administration orders ICE to suspend most vehicle stops

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — Trump administration officials told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.

The policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

The suspension of vehicle stops allows room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations. Matthew Felling, a spokesperson for Maine Sen. Angus King, said the senator’s office was also told by the Department of Homeland Security that ICE was suspending stops.

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national.

DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.

DHS, which oversees ICE, didn’t respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with U.S. President Donald Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

The shooting also sparked outrage in Maine, where hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday outside an ICE detention center in Scarborough, just up the coast between Biddeford and Portland.

“These people are killers and they must leave our state now,” organizer Todd Chretien told the crowd.

Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”

Questions surround the shooting

Durán Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since Trump began his immigration crackdown.

Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when they fired, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop, and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

“We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday that the investigation needs to play out.

“If officers acted inappropriately or illegally, they’ll be held accountable,” he said.

Maine’s attorney general’s office, which noted that it’s working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.

The state’s other senator, Republican Susan Collins, said Mullin told her that DHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November sought Tuesday to connect her with ICE’s methods, which have drawn public scrutiny and derision. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is vying for Collins’ seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting “thugs” during a vigil Tuesday evening in Lewiston.

“That agency is broken and we need to go back to a time where the rule of law united all of us regardless of the politics,” she told the crowd.

Video shows the shooting’s aftermath

According to neighbors and public records, Guerrero lived in an apartment about 150 feet (46 meters) from where his car came to a rest outside an apartment building across the street from a pawnshop and laundromat.

Video from a nearby business’ security camera obtained by the AP shows a white car slowly approaching an intersection before making several circles. A law enforcement SUV blocks its path and two officers open the driver’s door and drag out a limp body.

It isn’t clear from the video when the shots were fired.

Daniel Boucher said he heard a “pop, pop, pop” and ran to the intersection.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”

Boucher said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero walked close to him.

“He looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don’t remember his exact words.”

Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S.

Neighbors say Durán Guerrero was a friendly and familiar face even though they rarely chatted because he didn’t appear to speak English.

Claudia Morton, who often waved to Durán Guerrero, was distraught.

“The whole world should be crying,” she said.

Dozens of Durán Guerrero’s relatives and neighbors gathered in Bucaramanga, his hometown in northeastern Colombia, to remember him on Tuesday. They stood outside his parents’ home, holding candles around a table where a photograph of him rested beside a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Tom Cruise to join star-studded 2026 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony

Tom Cruise appears in this image. (FIFA)

The closing ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup just got bigger.

FIFA announced in a press release Tuesday that it has added Tom Cruise to its closing ceremony lineup, set to be held Sunday, ahead of the 2026 World Cup Final.

The Top Gun star will make a special appearance, joining a star-studded list of performers.

Also taking the World Cup stage for the closing ceremony are Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini, American singer and actress Nicole Scherzinger, English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams and YouTube creator IShowSpeed.

Jennifer Hudson will also help kick off the 2026 World Cup final with a special rendition of the U.S. national anthem.

"Echoing the spirit of the opening ceremonies, which welcomed the world to the greatest stage in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the closing ceremony will bring the FIFA World Cup 2026 full circle through music, culture and football, before we kick off the highly anticipated match that will crown the champions of this groundbreaking tournament," Heimo Schirgi, chief operating officer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, said in a statement in the press release.

The closing ceremony will begin 90 minutes before kickoff at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

It will be held at New York New Jersey Stadium (known outside the tournament as MetLife Stadium) in East Rutherford, New Jersey, capping the first men's World Cup to feature an expanded 48-team field and to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Earlier this month, FIFA announced Justin Bieber as a co-headliner for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Halftime Show alongside Madonna, BTS and Shakira.

The halftime show will also include performances by singer Burna Boy, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and the PS22 Chorus, which is the acclaimed choir of fourth and fifth graders from a public elementary school in Staten Island, New York. Coldplay will also perform.

Coldplay's Chris Martin is curating the final halftime show, and it will be produced by Global Citizen.

The tournament kicked off June 11 in Mexico City and included an opening ceremony featuring performances from Shakira, Burna Boy, Maná, J Balvin, Belinda and Tyla.

Separate star-studded opening ceremonies were also held that week in Toronto and Los Angeles before the first whistle was blown.