Today is
Sunday July 19, 2026
SALINAS, Ca, (AP) – Taylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S.
Products with the potential to be contaminated with the diarrhea-causing parasite were shipped to 27 states including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey, the California-based company said in a statement Friday.
“We are actively removing the implicated products,” the statement said, adding that the company has stopped sourcing lettuce from an implicated lot in central Mexico.
U.S. health officials earlier this week identified lettuce from a supplier in Mexico as a source of cyclospora contamination in food served at Taco Bell restaurants in five Midwestern states.
The Taylor Farms recall announcement listed 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight different brand codes. Taylor Farms did not respond to an emailed request for the full names of those brands or retailers. The recalled products were shipped as recently as Thursday and have “best by” dates as late as Aug. 3.
Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, has halted distribution of all Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce products sourced from Mexico and instructed customers to destroy them.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that infects food that has come into contact with human feces, most commonly when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water. When ingested, the parasite causes intestinal illness marked by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC.
In 2026, cyclospora has sickened at least 1,645 people in the U.S. and hospitalized 141, according to the CDC, which is investigating more than 5,000 additional illnesses that may be linked to the parasite. This time last year, only 249 cases had been reported.
The CDC initially warned consumers to avoid eating shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.
“Taco Bell worked swiftly to voluntarily remove the product from restaurants and the affected ingredient has been removed from our supply chain nationwide,” the company said in a statement Friday.
SALINAS, Ca, (AP) – Taylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S.
Products with the potential to be contaminated with the diarrhea-causing parasite were shipped to 27 states including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey, the California-based company said in a statement Friday.
“We are actively removing the implicated products,” the statement said, adding that the company has stopped sourcing lettuce from an implicated lot in central Mexico.
U.S. health officials earlier this week identified lettuce from a supplier in Mexico as a source of cyclospora contamination in food served at Taco Bell restaurants in five Midwestern states.
The Taylor Farms recall announcement listed 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight different brand codes. Taylor Farms did not respond to an emailed request for the full names of those brands or retailers. The recalled products were shipped as recently as Thursday and have “best by” dates as late as Aug. 3.
Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, has halted distribution of all Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce products sourced from Mexico and instructed customers to destroy them.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that infects food that has come into contact with human feces, most commonly when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water. When ingested, the parasite causes intestinal illness marked by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC.
In 2026, cyclospora has sickened at least 1,645 people in the U.S. and hospitalized 141, according to the CDC, which is investigating more than 5,000 additional illnesses that may be linked to the parasite. This time last year, only 249 cases had been reported.
The CDC initially warned consumers to avoid eating shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.
ATLANTA (AP) – Brandon Nimmo’s two-run single in the sixth inning gave Texas the lead as the Rangers rallied from an early deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 on Saturday in a matchup of first-place teams.
Texas left-hander MacKenzie Gore (6-8) gave up a two-run homer to Eli White in Atlanta’s four-run second inning and another homer to Michael Harris II the following inning. After giving up five runs in the first three innings, Gore gave up no more runs while pitching 5 2/3 innings.
All-Star left-hander Jacob Latz recorded the final four outs for his 19th save.
Evan Carter hit a two-run homer off Tyler Kinley (5-4) in the sixth as the Rangers pulled even at 5-5. Dylan Lee allowed infield singles to Wyatt Langford and Josh Jung before Nimmo’s two-run single up the middle gave the Rangers the lead. Nimmo drove in three runs with two hits.
Braves right-hander Owen Murphy allowed three runs, two earned, in 2 2/3 innings in his first major league start.
Murphy, who made two relief appearances before his first start, was hurt by Mauricio Dubón’s fielding error in the Rangers’ two-run third inning. Dubón collided with Harris on Kyle Higashioka’s fly ball to center field. Langford and Nimmo had run-scoring singles in the inning.
Dubón’s run-scoring double in the seventh trimmed the Rangers’ lead to 7-6.
The Braves had 19 hits in Friday’s 15-1 win to open the series.
Up next
Braves RHP Grant Holmes (5-4, 3.61 ERA) will start in Sunday’s final game of the series. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said RHP Nate Eovaldi (9-7, 4.04), who has been out with an illness, is tentatively set to start.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Bukayo Saka scored three goals to lead England to a 6-4 win over France for third place in the World Cup, while Kylian Mbappé surpassed Lionel Messi’s career World Cup scoring record and took the lead in the Golden Boot race with a pair of second-half goals on Saturday.
It was the highest-scoring World Cup game since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982, and the 10 goals were the most in a third-place match.
Saka had goals in the 37th minute and first-half stoppage time, then added his third on a penalty in the 87th for his second career hat trick with England. The Three Lions also got goals from Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa to build a 4-0 halftime lead and secure their best finish in a World Cup since winning their only title in 1966.
England’s Jude Bellingham capped the scoring in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time, his seventh goal of the tournament.
Mbappé reached 22 career goals, one more than Messi. The star striker finished this World Cup with 10 goals, two ahead of Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the tournament’s top scorer.
Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé also scored for France.
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard has agreed to a $75 million, five-year contract, completing a major offseason goal for the team.
The rebuilding Blackhawks announced the deal on Saturday. Bedard, who turned 21 on Friday, had been a restricted free agent.
“Connor has continuously defied our expectations since being drafted, and has quickly established himself as an elite player in the NHL,” general manager Kyle Davidson said in a release. “He utilizes all aspects of his game to not only be a constant threat, but to make the players around him better every time he steps on the ice. Connor’s strong work ethic and determination to always improve his game has set an extraordinary standard for our young core.”
The deal was finalized 10 days after Bedard had surgery on his left shoulder. The center is expected to miss the start of the season after he got hurt while skating with a group of NHL players in western Canada.
Chicago went 29-39-14 this year, an 11-point improvement on the previous season and still nowhere near playoff contention. The team has finished No. 31 in the NHL each of the last three years.
The Blackhawks haven’t made a postseason appearance since the NHL used an expanded playoff format after the 2020 season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They acquired defenseman Bowen Byram in a trade with Buffalo on June 23, and they also signed forward prospect Roman Kantserov in May.
Bedard has been the centerpiece of the team since he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft. He made his anticipated NHL debut that October and won the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year.
He had 23 goals and 44 assists while appearing in all 82 games in his second season. He continued his steady improvement this year, setting career highs with 30 goals and 45 assists in 69 games.
“He’s so important to our team,” Davidson said in April. “He took such a big step forward this year in every facet.”
Bedard missed nearly six weeks of his rookie season with a broken jaw, and he was sidelined for 12 games this year after he injured his right shoulder.
With the contract done, the next big moment for Bedard could be taking over as the 36th captain in franchise history. He became an alternate captain after the team traded away its entire leadership group in March.
His teammates think he’s ready for the challenge.
“I think that he has every leadership quality like I was just talking about to be a captain in this league,” forward Oliver Moore said in April. “He brings it every day.”
TYLER – The Willow Brook Country Club in Tyler hosted the kick-off event for the Texas Rose Festival on Friday.
The Texas Rose Festival is three months away. The association held an event to thank out-of-town guests, volunteers, and sponsors after a long week of rehearsals.
“The volunteers really push it and run it and without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do, same with the choreographers. They do a lot, but it’s the smallest house to the biggest things,” Texas Rose Festival Princess, Brynn Ballard said.
All week, members of the court have been practicing their bows and walks for the long-awaited coronation. Read the rest of this entry »
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday announced its first troop deaths due to direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war, with two killed and another missing in an attack on a base in Jordan after days of intensifying exchanges of fire.
Friday’s drone and missile attack sent four other service members to hospitals, the military said. The dead were not identified. Since the war began, 16 U.S. service members have been killed and over 430 wounded.
Minutes before the announcement, Iran’s supreme leader warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the U.S. keeps attacking the Islamic Republic.
The remarks read out on state TV and attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, still unseen since the war began, also called President Donald Trump’s signature “worthless and invalid.” An Iranian negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed about a month ago and aimed at permanently ending the fighting.
Tehran’s declarations snapped another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight. Now Khamenei warns of “lessons” not only from Iran but also its armed proxies in the region, calling them the “Axis of Resistance.” The U.S. issued a global travel alert over the rising tensions.
The battle has focused on control of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. The widening strikes now threaten civilians and infrastructure, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy again is on alert.
The U.S. has violated its commitments under the deal and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV.
There was no new word on mediation efforts.
US soldiers face growing risks
The previous recorded death of a U.S. service member was that of a helicopter pilot who crashed in the Arabian Sea earlier this month. Early in the war, an Iranian drone strike on a command center in Kuwait killed six soldiers. One soldier died after an attack on a base in Saudi Arabia. Six were killed when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq.
On Saturday, the most significant damage from Iranian strikes occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.
It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water. The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline.
Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.
Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments.
The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, accused Iran of war crimes for strikes on infrastructure and civilian facilities.
US strikes hit infrastructure in Iran
The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
U.S. airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported. State-run news agency IRNA said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.
Overnight strikes damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting a main highway toward Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port that sits near the narrowest part of the strait, according to IRNA. It said three bridges were hit Saturday, including one on a route to Bandar Abbas.
Iran acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the U.S. airstrikes for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry urged people to use less power in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat.” It did not specify what was hit.
Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.
Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz
Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. That has given Tehran significant leverage in negotiations.
Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. Iran fired on ships on recent days and transits fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
Trump has resumed threats to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold. The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil, and the military on Saturday said it had redirected five ships and disabled one since then.
Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to end the war and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires that has engulfed the Northeast in haze is expected to mostly clear from the New Jersey area just in time for the World Cup final on Sunday, thanks to thunderstorms passing through the area, meteorologists say.
Warnings of unhealthy air quality remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the United States. At MetLife Stadium, where the final is taking place, it rained heavily and thunder boomed. State police urged people to leave the stadium seating bowl and field and take shelter. Volunteers and staff dashed inside for cover as ponchos were handed out. The sky was the same thick, soupy gray it has been for days.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill warned residents Saturday about the potential for damaging winds, tornadoes, flash flooding and large hail, and flooding caused scattered street closures in New York. Spain’s training session ahead of the final against Argentina was suspended at a field near the stadium because of the storms and lighting in the area. And FIFA said it was in close contact with local authorities as it continues to monitor the impacts from the wildfire smoke and the storms on the conditions on field at MetLife Stadium.
President Donald Trump faulted Canada for the smoke crossing the border and threatened tariffs in response. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said threats from the United States were unacceptable and shortsighted.
Storms will help clear the air
This storm front will largely move the smoke out of the Northeast before the final between Spain and Argentina, said Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. MetLife Stadium, which has been renamed the New York/New Jersey Stadium for the matches, is an open-air stadium.
“There could be some lingering smoke that would make things hazy, but very faint,” Roys said. “In terms of the thickest smoke, the smoke that has really been eye-popping and leads to poor air quality, that is not expected across New York City or much of the Northeast.”
Meteorologist says the air quality for the game ‘won’t be dangerous’
WFLA-TV Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist Jeff Berardelli, in Tampa, Florida, echoed that, saying the storm front would “sweep the atmosphere clean,” leaving only a thin smoke that World Cup spectators may still smell in the air.
The air quality index shows an improvement from unhealthy air for sensitive groups on Saturday to “moderate” air quality Sunday in East Rutherford, which means little to no health risk for the general public.
“It won’t be dangerous anymore,” Berardelli said. “It’s going to be dramatically better.”
The smoke could still cause issues for people who are sensitive to particulate matter, and they should check the air quality index particularly in the morning, said Rob Shackelford, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel app and weather.com.
Air quality at the field is measured every 10 minutes, said David Lu, CEO and co-founder of Clarity Movement, an environmental technology company providing air quality monitoring services. In the past two days, the readings have swung between the level where the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups and the level where it’s very unhealthy, Lu said. He said Saturday afternoon he expects to see improvement in the readings within hours because of the rain.
Temperatures are forecast to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), with light breezes and low humidity for the start of the final.
“You couldn’t have asked for much better weather for the World Cup,” Berardelli added.
Both Roys and Berardelli expect the heavier smoke Sunday to be concentrated closer to the fires, hanging over parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region.
Trump talks of new tariffs on Canada
The president made no mention of the World Cup final but said on his social media platform, “We are holding Canada responsible.” He added that the U.S. “is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the topic of U.S. officials complaining about smoke from during a news conference Thursday. Carney said climate change is the responsibility of everyone, including the United States.
Ford said Canada has contributed to fighting fires in the U.S. and offered assistance when Georgia was hit by a hurricane in 2024 because “that’s what neighbors do.” Ford called the rhetoric “absolutely unacceptable” when Canada is “trying to get through this.”
There are hundreds of active fires in Canada
Wildfires have been igniting across Canada and northern Minnesota this month. Berardelli said they are burning longer and faster because of climate change. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System showed hundreds of active fires Saturday. Environment Canada issued air quality warnings across the country and into the Northwest Territories.
The fires prompted evacuations, including in Nova Scotia where there’s a large fire that local and provincial crews have been fighting since Wednesday, and in northwestern Ontario, where some of the most intense fires are burning.
In Ontario, nearly 200 wildfires have already scorched more land than all of last year’s fires. In Thunder Bay, Ontario, Fire Chief Dave Tarini said this fire season is unprecedented in his more than 35 years as a firefighter.
In British Columbia, about 100 fires are burning, a huge jump from the 20 firefighters were facing Wednesday. The BC Wildfire Service says the fires are largely the result of 4,000 lightning strikes that hit the province Friday.
SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Sam Burns gets his best chance at winning a major he never planned to play.
Two weeks after his daughter was born, one week after Burns changed his mind and decided to fly from Louisiana to play in the British Open, he followed his record-tying 62 with a 5-under 65 on Saturday to build a two-shot lead at Royal Birkdale.
Perhaps even more impressive is that Burns played with purpose amid the chaos that is Bryson DeChambeau, who played alongside him and heard big support from the gallery a day after he theatrically protested a two-shot penalty for improving the area of his swing.
DeChambeau seems to thrive among distractions, and two late birdies kept him in the game. Even with a bogey on the final hole — after playfully engaging with the gallery — DeChambeau had a 69 and goes into the final round four shots behind.
Burns was at 10-under 200 and with a two-shot lead over Si Woo Kim (67) and Ryan Fox, who became the third player this week to tie the major championship record with a 62. That took the New Zealander from even par into the final group with a shot at his first major.
Also still hanging onto hope was Southport’s own Tommy Fleetwood, who had a 69 and was five shots behind. About the only one missing was Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, who struggled again to make putts and had to settle for a 70, leaving him six shots behind.
Of the leading 10 players going into Sunday, DeChambeau — a two-time U.S. Open champion — is the only player who has won a major.
That’s not to say Burns hasn’t experienced the pressure.
He was a 17-foot putt away from forcing a playoff in the U.S. Open last month at Shinnecock Hills. He was the 54-hole leader in the U.S. Open at Oakmont last year and was slowed only by wet conditions in which he lost control of two key shots because of all the water in the fairway.
Part of Burns feels as though he has nothing to lose because he never expected to be at Royal Birkdale. His wife, Caroline, was due to give birth the week of the British Open, but he never withdrew. She gave birth to a daughter, Belle, on July 3.
“To be able to come here was a bonus,” Burns said. “I didn’t think there was anyway possible. It will be a great challenge tomorrow. No matter what happens, I can live with the results.”
LONDON (AP) – British runner Josh Kerr ran 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds to break the long-standing men’s mile world record at a Diamond League meet in London on Saturday.
Kerr broke Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds, set in Rome in 1999, and the Edinburgh native then set off on a lap of honor at London Stadium.
Kerr, 28, was so dominant Saturday that he finished just over three seconds clear of American Yared Nuguse in 3:45.69.
The crowd support as he closed in on the record was “just incredible,” Kerr told the BBC.
“It was just me, my shoes and the track,” he said. “I was absolutely deaf in that last 110 meters.
“I didn’t take my foot off the gas,” he continued, “but … I started to glide and I was like ‘Oh wow, this feels incredible.’ It’s incredible because I’m slowing down. So, I was like ‘I better get to the line.’ So, crossing the finish line, seeing 42-something — anything — was my goal, so it was great.”
Kerr’s previous best time was 3:45.34 in 2024.
He had targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meet as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.
The mile is not a championship event, yet it has iconic status in track history, with the four-minute barrier broken in 1954 by another British runner, Roger Bannister.
Kerr was a silver medalist in the 1,500 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, has his support to run for a full term to replace her brother in the U.S. Senate.
He wrote on social media that she “has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
“RUN, DARLINE, RUN!” Trump added.
The president said he had discussed a potential campaign with Darline Graham at the White House. Four people familiar with the deliberations, none of whom were authorized to speak publicly, had previously said that she privately expressed interest in running.
Trump’s endorsement dramatically reshapes the scramble to fill Lindsey Graham’s seat after he died last weekend. The president had previously suggested he could back a potential candidacy from Rep. Russell Fry. Several other noteworthy politicians — including Fry, Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette — have been eyeing a run.
The filing period for a special primary runs from July 21 to July 28, and the primary is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Plans for Lindsey Graham’s funeral were also announced Friday. There will be a service in Washington on July 28 and more in South Carolina on July 29.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother’s term, which ends in January.
“Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him,” she said.
Lindsey Graham died Saturday at age 71. A preliminary report from the medical examiner said he suffered a tear in his aorta.
He never married or had a family of his own, but his sister was often by his side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads. After both of their parents died when Darline Graham was only 13, her older brother became her legal guardian and later adopted her, to ensure his military benefits would flow to her.
In forging a relationship with Darline Graham — who is new to politics but was a constant in her brother’s political career — Trump could be angling to develop another ally to help steer his agenda through the Senate.
Although they had at times a tumultuous relationship, Lindsey Graham had been one of Trump’s top Senate confidants, and the day after his death, the president said he was “like a member of the family.”
In his announcement Monday, McMaster made no reference to Darline Graham as a placeholder or symbolic appointment.
However, a person familiar with McMaster’s thinking but unauthorized to speak publicly said the governor, in selecting Darline Graham, had never contemplated that she would run for the seat herself.
Sen. Tim Scott, another South Carolina Republican, said he would not endorse any candidate in the primary because he also serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
But, he said, “as Tim Scott, the voter of South Carolina, I might indeed wade into the water at some point.”
“I think the truth of the matter is that Darline has so far been off to a remarkable start,” Scott told reporters, asking about her as a possible special primary contender. “‘Why not her?’ would be my question.”
When he died, Lindsey Graham had millions in his campaign account and was expected to raise much more heading into the general election. But those aren’t funds that Darline Graham could directly access, if she were to run, according to Bradley A. Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.
Under federal rules, Lindsey Graham’s campaign would be limited to transferring just $2,000 to a potential Darline Graham candidacy. However, Smith said there is no limit on how much it could transfer to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which could — thanks to a Supreme Court decision last month — “spend an unlimited amount in coordination with Darline’s campaign.”
“It can’t be earmarked for Darline’s campaign, but in those circumstances I’m sure that the party will make sure she’s not short of cash,” said Smith, now serving as a professor at Capital University Law School in Ohio.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as an Iranian negotiator said Tehran had suspended its commitments under the interim deal with the U.S. — snapping another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight.
The battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. The widening strikes threatened civilians and services to them, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy again was on alert.
The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
The U.S. has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV.
There was no new word on mediation efforts.
Kuwait sees the most striking damage
The most significant damage from Iranian strikes on Saturday occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.
The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water.
Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.
Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments.
US strikes hit infrastructure in Iran
U.S. airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported. IRNA said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and that a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.
Overnight strikes damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting one of the main highways toward Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port that sits near the narrowest part of the strait, according to Iran’s state-run news agency. IRNA said three bridges were hit Saturday, including one on a route to Bandar Abbas.
Iran acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the U.S. airstrikes for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat.” It did not specify what was hit.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stepped up its warning that countries hosting U.S. forces should be “prepared to receive a corresponding response,” according to Iran’s state TV.
Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.
U.S. officials acknowledged 13 additional U.S. service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, but offered no details. Since the war began, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.
Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz
Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and has given Tehran significant leverage in negotiations.
Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. It fired on ships on recent days. Crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
Trump has resumed threats to target power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold. The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.
A growing amount of the region’s energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping.
Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to end the war and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — France and England agree on this: Neither team wanted to be playing on Saturday.
France was a favorite to win the World Cup. England was close to ending a decades-long wait for its first World Cup title since 1966.
Both fell one match short of their ultimate goals after losses in the semifinals. And instead of playing in Sunday’s final — that game will be between Argentina and Spain — England and France will face each other in a consolation match for third place.
“None of us wanted to play in this game for third place,” France defender Ibrahima Konate said Friday. “But we don’t have a choice to play. France and England have a big story together. And yeah, we are looking forward for the game tomorrow, and let’s see what will happen.”
Though the match will provide little more than moral victories, it may give Thomas Tuchel a chance to regain favor after the England coach faced widespread criticism about his tactical choices in the Three Lions’ semifinal loss to Argentina.
“Nobody wants to be, tomorrow, in this game,” Tuchel said Friday evening. “All of these four teams wanted to be in New York (at the final). But it is an official World Cup game. It’s a chance to have the best result in 60 years for England. Mentality is not something that you switch on and switch off as you like it. It is a moment to show that we are actually made of what we showed through the whole tournament.”
France star Kylian Mbappé also still has a chance to win the Golden Boot, awarded to the tournament’s leading scorer.
Mbappé has eight goals, tied with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the tournament lead. Messi has an edge in the tiebreaker with four assists to Mbappé’s three. England’s Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are also in the mix with six goals each.
France coach Didier Deschamps said Mbappé is available for Saturday’s match — the star participated in France’s training session Friday in Fort Lauderdale — but added he will make changes to his regular lineup. Tuchel said there will also be changes to England’s lineup.
“We do have a match for the third place playoff, and there’s a duty,” Deschamps said. “We have duties. I have duties, my staff has duties and so do the players. We have a responsibility to wear this jersey for all the French people who are cheering for us.”
It will also be the final game for Deschamps as France’s coach after 14 years leading the squad. Konate said the French players want to “pay back our head coach” with one last win.
“He carried many French players,” Konate said. “We had some disappointing moments, but he brought a lot of joy.”
France won the World Cup under Deschamps in 2018, lost a gut-wrenching final to Argentina on penalties in 2022, and fell short tactically on Tuesday, when the offensive firepower of Mbappé, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise was neutralized by the stout Spanish defense.
Deschamps won one major trophy — albeit the biggest of all — having lost the European Championship final on home soil in 2016.
“I know it will be the last match and I also know that the French national team will be missed,” Deschamps said. “I had the privilege for 15 years to be up here with this jersey, to experience magnificent moments, more difficult moments. The French national team is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me in my professional career.”
For England, which reached the World Cup semis for the first time since 2018, there is still work to do in closing the gap with France, Argentina and Spain.
“I think out of the four (semifinal) teams, the other three teams almost expect to be world champions,” Tuchel said. “We were hoping. We were dreaming. We were pushing and believing. But still we have to close that gap. And we’re up for that from tomorrow.”
The German coach, who has won trophies with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, said his squad was too passive against defending champion Argentina. Leading 1-0 going into the 85th minute and in a defensive shell, England surrendered goals to Enzo Fernández and substitute Lautaro Martínez amid widely questioned tactics and substitutions by Tuchel.
He said he trusted his instincts during the match and did not regret his decisions.
“If it’s easier that someone takes the blame,” Tuchel added, “I take the blame.”
HOUSTON (AP)- Taylor Ward hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Houston Astros 3-2 on Friday night to extend their season-best win streak to five games.
Adley Rutschman had a ground-rule double to begin the inning against Bryan King (2-3) before Ward hit the next pitch out to left for his seventh homer.
Cam Sanders (1-0), acquired from Pittsburgh for cash on Monday, came in with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh. The right-hander struck out Isaac Paredes looking and got Christian Walker to pop out foul behind home plate to pick up his first major league win.
Tyler Wells allowed Jeremy Peña’s infield hit in the ninth before retiring Yordan Alvarez on a shallow fly to center field for the second out. After Paredes walked, Wells struck out Walker for his third save.
Houston starter Peter Lambert allowed three hits, struck out a career-high 10 over six innings and left with a 2-1 lead. He issued three straight two-out walks in the third, including a free pass to Pete Alonso that made it 1-1.
Alvarez had an RBI double in the first for Houston and finished 2 for 3 with two walks. He leads the AL with a .321 batting average, 71 RBI and 31 home runs as he pursues the Triple Crown.
Paredes’ sacrifice fly in the third made it 2-1. Orioles starter Dean Kremer allowed two runs in four innings.
Astros center fielder Lucas Spence made his big league debut and singled in the seventh.
Up next
Orioles LHP Trevor Rogers (6-7, 4.48 ERA) starts Saturday opposite Astros RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-5, 4.50).
UVALDE (AP) – After deadly floods killed more than 100 people in Texas’ Hill Country last July, officials vowed major changes in hopes of preventing the failures that contributed to the high death toll. They promised better flood warning systems, tighter safety rules for children’s camps and improvements to the state’s water infrastructure.
That work was far from done when a new round of storms began pummeling the state this week, triggering catastrophic flash floods in some of the same areas devastated in 2025. At least two people died. Hundreds needed rescue.
But residents in some hard-hit areas said a year of preparation did make a difference. Newly installed flood sirens sounded in the darkness, warning people to get out. Phones buzzed with alerts that weren’t sent out in last year’s disaster.
Still, stories of people surprised to find their homes inundated by rising rivers illustrate the challenges of trying to bolster early warning systems in a vast, rural area known as Flash Flood Alley.
Some agencies were more proactive about sending wireless alerts
Over the last decade, a variety of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to implement flood warning systems along the Guadalupe River, the AP reported after last summer’s floods killed 136 people, including 28 at a sleepaway camp for girls.
That changed after the tragedy as lawmakers and others scrutinized a lack of preparedness by government agencies and riverside camps.
Unlike last summer, when local officials in Kerr County said they had been reluctant to “cry wolf” and order evacuations and failed to send out wireless alerts to warn of flash floods, Kerr County issued four alerts and the city of Kerrville issued one early on Thursday as the risk for flooding became apparent, according to an Associated Press review of available data.
They warned residents along Quinlan Creek to evacuate to higher ground, and of “extremely dangerous” flash flooding. Those alerts came alongside flood watches, warnings and emergencies sent to broadcast outlets, weather radios and mobile phones by the National Weather Service. People who signed up for the CodeRED notification emergency system in Kerr County also received text message warnings.
“Last year, we got no alarms. We had no idea what was going on,” said Suzanne Sutphin Gschwind, of Kerrville.
“This year, very different,” she said, with multiple texts and calls coming in from local authorities, a weather channel and her doorbell camera. One night the warnings arrived “about every two hours.”
“I think we would all like to err on the side of too much,” she said.
The warnings didn’t reach everyone
Between the early morning hours of Tuesday and about 9 a.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service sent 38 alerts to people in certain southwest Texas communities, including 14 tornado warnings and 24 warnings that flooding was occurring or imminent and could be “life threatening.”
Those Weather Service notifications, though, often don’t contain the highly localized information put in alerts sometimes sent by municipal and county emergency agencies — and people in some places may not have gotten any of those local alerts, which can be more decisive for people considering whether to seek high ground.
An Associated Press review of wireless emergency alert data did not find any listed as sent by agencies in Uvalde County, which was hit hard by flooding, though agencies in that county might have used other means to alert the public.
Jaclyn Gonzales was awakened at 2 a.m. Wednesday by a friend who called to warn that a tornado might be headed toward her Uvalde-area home. When she jumped out of bed, the floor was wet.
“It was the shock of the water to my feet that made me really wake up,” she said.
Kat Sprawls only learned floodwaters were nearing her Batesville home when a friend called her at 3:30 a.m. Friday. It took five or six calls before she woke up, because she had her phone on do-not-disturb mode.
“There’s no warning system at all. It’s just like the flood in Kerrville last year — we had no warnings,” Sprawls said. “Over half of Batesville is under water now.”
Zavala County Sheriff’s Department secretary Jessica Belmarez said the department is updating its Facebook page with evacuation information and that law enforcement officers were going door-to-door in affected areas, including Batesville.
The network of flood sirens is expanding
Newly installed sirens in Ingram and in Kerr and Kendall counties were used this week to warn residents, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who authored legislation in 2025 to help fund the sirens. Twenty-eight additional counties are also eligible for flood warning funding. Most are in the process of putting together implementation plans for review by the Texas Water Development Board.
“Between the outdoor sirens, and the cellphone alerts, the response was very positive in getting people out of the way and to higher ground,” Bettencourt said. “It’s an enormous improvement over a year ago.”
Three of six new sirens installed in Kerr County were used to warn people to seek high ground, said Tara Bushnoe, manager of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. The other three were in areas with only minor flooding, Bushnoe said.
The small town of Comfort had one warning siren for years. The volunteer fire department recently installed two more.
“Some people just don’t want to leave — that’s our problem here,” said Danny Morales, the assistant fire chief. “But we did set them off twice, probably an hour from one to another, just because we had people just lingering, and not wanting to move.”
Private companies are working to fill the gaps
Ian Cunningham founded River Sentry after the 2025 floods, building flood siren towers for privately owned sites like RV parks, camps and hotels. The sirens are triggered by rising water levels.
So far, the company has installed 104 sirens along the Guadalupe River, Cunningham said, including several near the site of an RV park where more than three dozen people died in 2025.
“We installed them about three months ago and did not expect them to be used so soon,” Cunningham said.
Hononu, which has developed water-level sensor technology and a real-time data network, received a state contract that will make it easier for agencies to purchase its flood warning technology.
Watch Duty, a fire-tracking app used by millions, expanded earlier this year to help monitor floods.
Officials say the changes saved lives
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the lessons of 2025 led to a better emergency response this time.
“Everybody in Texas has been far more prepared to deal with what has happened this year,” Abbott said during a news conference in Uvalde. “Lives have been saved.”
ATLANTA (AP) – Chris Sale pitched seven shutout innings of two-hit ball and Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson and Austin Riley homered for Atlanta during a 19-hit outburst as the Braves pounded the Texas Rangers 15-1 on Friday night.
Sale (10-6) became the 27th major leaguer to reach 2,700 career strikeouts when he fanned Rangers shortstop Ezequiel Duran in the fifth.
Baldwin was 3 for 4 with a walk and five RBI. His three-run homer into the Braves bullpen in the fourth gave Atlanta a 5-0 lead. Olson followed two batters later with a 420-foot shot into the Chop House restaurant in right field. He was 2 for 3 with two walks and two runs.
The Rangers had won eight of their last 10 games against left-handed starters, but they were overmatched against Sale. The veteran ace sat out Tuesday night’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia and was ready for Texas. He had six strikeouts, no walks and allowed just a single in the third and a double in the seventh. He threw 62 strikes on 89 pitches.
Rangers starter Cal Quantrill (3-2) lasted four innings and gave up 11 hits and six runs on a season-high 86 pitches. He was relieved by Emiliano Teodo, who permitted two runs over 1 2/3 innings in his big league debut.
All nine Braves starters had a hit, and seven had at least two. Riley was 2 for 5 with two runs. Rookie shortstop Jim Jarvis went 2 for 4 with a double, two runs and an RBI. All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Michael Harris II had two doubles and three RBI.
Up next
Rangers LHP MacKenzie Gore (5-8, 4.63 ERA) will face Braves rookie RHP Owen Murphy (0-1, 2.25) in the first start of Murphy’s career Saturday.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 45 points and had 10 assists for the first 40-10 game in WNBA history, and the Indiana Fever beat Seattle 110-107 on Friday night.
Clark, who had four steals and two blocks, also became the fastest player in WNBA history to make 200 career 3-pointers, doing it in 74 games, breaking the previous mark of 81 games set by Katie Smith. Her 45 points were also a franchise record.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 30 points for the Fever (15-10) and Monique Billings added 16.
Dominique Malonga had 28 points and 14 rebounds for Seattle, which lost its fourth in a row.
It appeared Flau’jae Johnson had a fast-break layup, but Clark hustled back and blocked the shot off Johnson and out of bounds with 54.9 seconds to play. Clark then hit a 3 from the left wing that made it 105-102 and made 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 17 seconds to seal it.
Clark scored 10 points in a 12-4 run and capped the spurt with a 3-pointer that made it 49-32 with 7:28 left before halftime.
Mitchell scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and Clark added five points, five assists and two steals, as the Fever tied their highest-scoring first quarter this season and took a 37-26 lead after one.
Johnson and Awa Fam had 16 points apiece for Seattle, and Natisha Hiedeman and Jade Melbourne each scored 15.
The Storm (6-21) have lost six of seven.
Aliyah Boston (leg) did not play for Indiana on the first night of a back-to-back.
Indiana beat the Storm 89-78 at home on May 17.
NEW YORK (AP) – The NFL has suspended Arizona Cardinals personnel executive Ryan Gold indefinitely for violating the league’s gambling policy.
The league said Friday that its investigation determined that Gold provided confidential, non-public inside information regarding 2026 draft selections by the Cardinals before the picks were announced, and Gold also participated in parlay bets on NFL and college games. The league didn’t say who Gold had provided with the information.
“The Gambling Policy, which is annually reviewed with all NFL personnel, strictly prohibits anyone in the NFL from participating in or facilitating any form of sports gambling, and from providing third parties non-public information,” the NFL said in a statement. “Although there is no reason to believe the integrity of any NFL game was affected, the League takes any violation of the Gambling Policy with the utmost seriousness.”
The Cardinals also issued a statement, saying: “The NFL’s policies and expectations for all employees are clear, comprehensive, and consistently communicated. We fully support the league’s decision in this matter, which involves a single employee. Our focus remains on preparing for the start of training camp next week and the 2026 season.”
Gold, who is in his 13th season with the Cardinals, was promoted to director of college scouting in June 2025. He spent the previous three years (2022-24) as the assistant director of college scouting after working for four seasons (2018-21) as a college scouting coordinator.
Gold has the right to appeal the suspension. He couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday.
The NFL has strict gambling policies for players and club and league personnel. The league has also dedicated significant resources to its gambling education program, reaching more than 20,000 people associated with the league.
The policy says players must not:
— place any bet on NFL football;
— throw or fix any NFL game or event, or otherwise manipulate or attempt to manipulate any play or other aspect of an NFL game;
— share confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player or event with any third party.
NFL players — but not league or club staff — are allowed to legally place bets on other sports as long as they are off club property or not traveling with the team. They also are allowed to take part in traditional fantasy football leagues (prize money cannot exceed $250) and legally gamble at casinos on personal time.
The NFL said the Cardinals fully cooperated with the investigation and the league has seen no indication that any other member of the organization, coach or player was aware of or involved in this activity. The league also said there was no indication that any play or game was affected by this activity.
The NFL’s review included interviews with relevant people and an examination of electronic records.
At least 15 players have been suspended by the league for gambling violations since 1963, including several in recent years, but none since Isaiah Rodgers (then with the Indianapolis Colts) was suspended indefinitely in June 2023.
NEW YORK (AP) — The lineup of sports legends simultaneously on the stage at Fanatics Fest on Friday night was almost absurd. There was Tom Brady, the greatest Super Bowl champion of all time. There was Novak Djokovic, the winner of more men’s Grand Slam tennis tournaments than anyone else. There was Kevin Durant, the only four-time Olympic gold medalist in men’s basketball history.
And before they left, they all got a selfie with Lionel Messi.
Let that be the latest proof of Messi’s power: Even the biggest stars in the sports universe clearly enjoy a chance to be around the best soccer player of all-time. They’ll all be watching Sunday — along with probably 1.5 billion other people worldwide — when Messi and Argentina face Spain in the World Cup final.
“We will give it our all,” Messi said.
The star-studded news conference was expected to be Messi’s last public appearance before Sunday’s final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. FIFA decided to use Fanatics Fest — a four-day celebration of sports in New York, replete with autograph signings and celebrity appearances — as the backdrop for its preview news conferences, meaning hundreds of people got the chance to get a glimpse of Messi in the sort of setting not usually open to the public.
“It goes beyond words what Messi means as a player and what he means for Argentina,” Spain captain Rodri said. “Obviously, for me, he’s the greatest of all times.”
The idea for the appearance by Messi and the other players and coaches from Argentina and Spain was simple: Instead of having traditional media asking questions, the stars got to do the asking.
Brady probed Messi about a remarkable photo that has gone viral this week of him bathing a cute baby boy who grew up to be Spain star Lamine Yamal — “What a crazy picture,” Messi said. Djokovic asked Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni about dealing with pressure, then posed a version of that same question to Messi.
And when Messi finished, Djokovic simply said, “Gracias, Leo.” Djokovic then asked Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and captain Rodri about staying calm in big moments, before Brady asked Messi about the infamous photo with Yamal, and Rodri about what he’ll say to teammates before Sunday’s final. Durant then came out, asking Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez about what it would mean to win back-to-back World Cups.
The Argentina and Spain sides, to their credit, seemed to enjoy the show. The World Cup final is a spectacle, and so was the preview event.
“It’s one more game,” Scaloni said. “We cannot really think about the fact that it’s a World Cup final.”
It was not the easiest of roads for Argentina to get back to the final, even though the defending champions (7-0-0) are the only unbeaten and untied team left in the tournament; Spain (6-0-1) drew its opening match against Cape Verde.
Argentina had to rally from a 1-0 second-half deficit to beat England in the semifinals, had to rally from a 2-0 second-half deficit to beat Egypt in the Round of 16, and got taken to extra time by both Cape Verde (in the round of 32) and Switzerland (in the quarterfinals).
“I’ve said many times: We never stop fighting,” Messi said.
With that, the defending champions got their ticket to New York. And when Messi walked onto that stage Friday, not many of those who were jammed inside the theater applauded — since they were holding their phones instead, hoping to capture images of the moment.
Messi knew what they wanted. He smiled and waved. They roared.
When the event wrapped up, everyone — the players, the coaches, actor and comedian Kevin Hart, rapper and producer Travis Scott, England great Rio Ferdinand, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and more — gathered for that selfie with the fans in the background.
“Sunday is going to be a great show,” Scaloni said.
It seemed like Messi may have taken a quick look at the case holding the trophy before he departed. Either way, it’s not like he needs a reminder of what’s at stake. No team has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and Messi now has a chance to add one more accomplishment to his already overstuffed resume.
“We’ve got a group of players and a group of coaches that are working incredibly hard every single day to try to bring happiness to my country,” Martinez said. “We’re going to give absolutely our best, with Leo, with the team that we have, to bring the World Cup back to my country and celebrate with our people.”
SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Bryson DeChambeau was given a two-shot penalty after his second round at the British Open on Friday that dropped the American star out of the final group and raised initial doubts about whether he would show up on the weekend at Royal Birkdale.
In a dramatic late-evening development after a 4-under 66, DeChambeau was taken back out to the fifth hole for a rules review. Footage taken during his round showed him stomping around in high grass to the right of the fairway trying to figure out his shot 72 yards out from the hole.
DeChambeau was seen in a lengthy, heated exchange with rules officials — at one point, he waved his arms and pointed in clear frustration — before being driven back to the scoring tent, where he was followed by officials including R&A chief executive Mark Darbon.
The verdict then came in: DeChambeau was deemed to have inadvertently improved the area of his intended swing by tamping down a section of grass behind the ball that might have affected his backswing on the shot.
His bogey 5 on the No. 5 was turned into a triple-bogey 7 and the two-shot penalty turned his score to a 68, leaving him three shots behind, tied for fifth place.
DeChambeau left for the range, saying only, “Are you guys having a good night?” as he walked past dozens of reporters, and stopped to sign an autograph before hitting balls in twilight.
Just after midnight local time, DeChambeau posted on X: “Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it.”
The post suggested DeChambeau had made up his mind to keep playing. Earlier Friday night, his agent, Brett Falkoff, was asked if the two-time U.S. Open champion would play Saturday and he replied: “We’ll see.”
It is proving an action-packed trip to Royal Birkdale for DeChambeau, who was accused by Nick Faldo of having “zero clue of strategy” when the three-time Open champion spoke on the Sky Sports Golf podcast ahead of the tournament.
After shooting 67 in the first round, DeChambeau skipped media, though later agreed to take a few questions from the R&A.
His answers were pointed. “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic,” he said, before later adding: “I feel like my strategy was nice today.”
DeChambeau — one of the most high-profile players in golf — left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022 and still plays on the breakaway circuit, while continuing to produce videos on his YouTube channel that has 2.77 million subscribers.
He draws attention more than pretty much any golfer, as Friday proved.
The ruling explained by the R&A
At issue for DeChambeau was whether he violated Rule 8 that governs the intended swing.
“An improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke,” Grant Moir, the R&A’s executive director for governance, told media.
“The player,” Moir continued, “must take the least intrusive course of action to deal with the particular situation and is not entitled to a normal stance or swing.”
Moir said this applied “even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”
He makes the cut at a major for the 1st time this year
DeChambeau missed the cut in each of the first three majors of 2026.
If he does turn up for the third round, he will play with fellow American Sam Burns in the third-to-last group.
VAN ZANDT COUNTY – An investigation into cockfighting taking place in Van Zandt County led to over 180 roosters being seized and one man being placed into custody.
According to our news partner KETK and the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office, an investigation was launched on June 26 after receiving a report of suspected cockfighting activity at the property.
Following an investigation, members of the sheriff’s office, the Wills Point Police Department, and the SPCA of Texas obtained a search warrant at a home on Van Zandt County Road 1118 near Grand Saline.
During the search, officials allegedly seized 181 roosters, U.S. currency, and cockfighting paraphernalia, along with a trailer that was believed to be used to transport the roosters. Read the rest of this entry »
UVALDE (AP) — First responders in storm-battered Texas again rushed to save people trapped in high waters Friday, as more heavy rain widened the danger from floods that have killed at least two people and left hundreds more in need of rescue.
A week of punishing downpours dumped more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) in some areas. The rain was expected to taper off, but another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage.
Near Ozona, a small town about 200 miles (322 kilometers) west of San Antonio, floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10. More than 50 people were rescued by boat from flooded apartments and a water-logged RV park.
A section of a bridge also collapsed over the Nueces River in Uvalde County, where months worth of rain has fallen in a span of days. In Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, floodwaters rushed through Miguel Vasquez’s home twice this week, leaving a layer of mud and knocking over his refrigerator and other items.
Debris was strewn around his neighborhood and a neighbor’s shed teetered over a washed-away section of the property. He said Friday that he’d been caught in the waters’ current and nearly been swept away and drowned in trying to get to his house Wednesday.
“I had to grab on with my hands and my feet. You couldn’t swim,” he said. “People think that when there’s a flood, you can swim. Swimming’s not going to help you. It’ll take you. The current’s too strong.”
Almost a trillion gallons of water fell in a flood-prone area
Nearly 1 trillion gallons of water fell on the three hardest-hit counties over three days — enough to fill 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools or supply 11 million homes for a year.
Uvalde County alone got more rain in that period than California has seen over the last month, according to Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
The Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area’s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before filling the narrow river basins.
Emergency personnel across a wide swath of southern and central Texas have rescued more than 570 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Hill Country residents were beginning to clean up after floodwaters again barreled down the Guadalupe River and through communities still reeling from deadly floods a year ago.
Floodwaters on the Rio Grande temporarily closed the two international bridges on the border with Mexico at Eagle Pass, stranding a few people on the wrong side. About 600 huge buoys placed on the river to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S. illegally were set adrift by the rising waters, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said.
Cuellar said about 480 of them were captured by noon Friday. Critics have worried about the damage the buoys might do if they became untethered and got caught along banks and against bridge piers. Each is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) long and weighs 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms).
In the Hill Country, Serena Reyna woke up Thursday morning to find her Kerrville boutique, Nu Accents, covered in debris after four feet of floodwater rushed into the store. She described the store as “a total loss.”
“The floors, I mean they’re soaked in mud and still you know an inch of water in some spots,” she said.
The Texas Department of Transportation said high waters closed a 50-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 57 and that parts of the roadway were not expected to reopen until Monday.
In all, roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch at various points this week.
Floodwaters had overrun Uvalde and cut off most outside routes, making it one of the hardest hit cities. The waters were receding Friday, and officials said a major highway, Route 90, had reopened.
One person died while driving on a flooded road, swept away near Uvalde, authorities said.
Another victim, 65-year-old John Mark Steward of Kerrville, died after his mobile home was swept into Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River, his wife said. The same river was wrecked by flash floods last year when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic. Authorities on Thursday said summer campers were safe.
In Ozona, the seat of Crockett County, authorities used seven rescue boat teams to get people out of the hardest-hit areas. They were taken to the local civic center for shelter.
Eddie Martin, the county’s emergency management director, said the area received 6 inches of rain after midnight, on top of nearly 10 inches of rain before that.
“We have more and more accidents on the interstate,” he said. “We have more and more water pouring into the neighborhoods where we’ve been pulling people out of.”
HOUSTON (AP) – A federal prosecutor in Texas shared new details Thursday evening about the moments before an immigration officer shot and killed a Mexican national and longtime U.S. resident in early July. The disclosure complicates the government’s earlier claim that the man struck an ICE vehicle before he was shot.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, on July 7 as he was driving to a Houston construction job site with three co-workers, one of whom was his brother. The shooting sparked protests in the sprawling Texas city, echoing Salgado Araujo’s family’s calls for transparency. The family describes him as a hardworking father very close to obtaining legal status in the U.S. after living in the country for 35 years.
The shooting came just days before two other men in Florida and Maine died as part of President Donald Trump’s federal immigration crackdown, renewing scrutiny on the Department of Homeland Security’s law enforcement tactics.
Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said for the first time on Thursday that ICE officers were targeting two Guatemalan men who were potentially subject to deportation. He said they were driving a van similar to the one Salgado Araujo was driving when he was killed. In an earlier statement released the day Salgado Araujo was killed, DHS said he was targeted in an immigration enforcement operation, and he was living in the country without legal permission.
Reitz also said that the officers believed that Salgado Araujo and the passengers in his car fit the description of the Guatemalan men the agents were looking for.
Four officers driving two separate law enforcement vehicles attempted to pull over Salgado Araujo’s van using their police lights. Salgado Araujo then made a U-turn and drove over a median to evade getting pulled over, Reitz said.
Later that morning, the officers again encountered Salgado Araujo’s van and for the second time tried to pull him over, this time effectively surrounding the vehicle, Reitz said. Two of the four agents got out of their cars and told Salgado Araujo to put the vehicle in park. Just before he was shot, one of the agents was “partially inside the van or immediately next to it” when Salgado Araujo tried to reverse and then drive forward again, Reitz said.
An earlier DHS statement accused Salgado Araujo of weaponizing his vehicle. The agency said he rammed his van into a law enforcement vehicle and said an officer opened fire in self-defense. The most recent statement from the U.S attorney’s office, however, didn’t mention any collision between Salgado Araujo’s van and a law enforcement vehicle. It also didn’t explicitly say that the officer feared for his life. There are no reported injuries for the officers involved.
The latest statement didn’t name the officer who killed Salgado Araujo, nor did it specify if the officer who fired the shot was the same person who was next to, or partially inside, the van.
Reitz also said in the statement that officers “saw in plain view several small bags of a white, crystal-like substance inside the van” and that the FBI later executed a search warrant to investigate for possible illicit substances. Salgado Araujo’s brother, who was in the van when the shooting happened, has been in ICE detention since the incident. His attorney said the white substance was a salt mixture that the men used as electrolytes to stay hydrated while doing manual labor in the grueling Texas heat.
Few photos or videos surrounding the shooting in Houston have emerged on social media, unlike other deaths involving federal immigration officers.
TYLER – CHRISTUS Health Mount Pleasant celebrated the opening of its new Birthing Suite, a thoughtfully designed space created to enhance the childbirth experience for growing families across the region.
The new suite offers a welcoming, personalized and family-centered environment while maintaining the highest standards of obstetrical care.
“This new birthing suite reflects our commitment to providing exceptional patient-centered care in an environment designed to make families feel comfortable, supportive and at home,” said Nichole Quezada, labor and delivery director. “Welcoming a new child into the world is one of life’s most meaningful moments, and we are proud to offer families in our community an enhanced experience that combines compassionate care, privacy and peace of mind.” Read the rest of this entry »
NEW YORK (AP) — Mikel Merino can smell and see the smoke from the Canadian wildfires that are making for hazy conditions across large parts of the U.S., including northern New Jersey where he and Spain are set to face Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Merino is trying not to focus on it.
It remains unclear how much, if at all, the smoke will affect the final. The World Health Organization forecast calls for an improvement to “moderate” air quality in East Rutherford.
“For a game that is as important as a World Cup final, you have to be able to shut out external factors as much as possible,” Merino said Friday. “Luckily, we are being careful with every detail thanks to the federation and the organizers of the World Cup.”
Spain practiced outside in hazardous conditions in East Hanover, New Jersey, on Thursday, alarming experts who thought the team should have held the session inside instead. Messages sent to FIFA and the Spanish Football Association asking whether that was considered or possible were not returned.
Air quality improved Friday, but the uncertainty lies in what will follow what could be up to 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) of rain expected to fall Saturday.
“Following that, it looks like there is another smoky air mass following in behind that system, but it’s not clear right now how much or how it might reach New York or New Jersey, when it comes to actually Sunday,” said Mark Parrington, senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. “If the fire intensity really picks up again through (Saturday), it’s possible it puts more smoke into the atmosphere that then might quickly follow that rain event.”
Smoke from wildfires — which are burning more of North America as Earth warms — attacks nearly every system in the body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show.
It attacks the body immediately, spiking asthma cases with increased ambulance runs within hours. Smoke can trigger inflammation in different parts of the body, often attacking a person’s weakest points, which can then cascade into different effects of an immune system trying to fight a nasty irritant, doctors and scientists say.
Parrington said as a general rule the advice is to try to minimize outdoor activity and exercise when the air is full of pollutants.
“There’s the obvious sort of respiratory illness, cardiovascular issues, vulnerable people with asthma and things like this,” Parrington said. “Then for sure they’re going to feel the effects.”
President Donald Trump is set to meet with FIFA President Gianni Infantino later Friday. Members of the administration, including Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, have been discussing the matter with soccer’s governing body and monitoring the wildfire situation, according to a White House official. The person was granted anonymity to confirm internal discussions.
Roughly 80,000 fans are expected at the final, which takes place in the large, open-air stadium in the Meadowlands that is home to the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans will induct Chris Johnson, the sixth man in NFL history to run for 2,000 yards in a season, into their Ring of Honor during halftime of their regular-season opener Sept. 13.
The Titans announced the honor Friday following Johnson’s announcement June 29 on ABC’s “ Good Morning America ” that he was diagnosed with ALS, the fatal nervous system disease a year earlier.
“Chris Johnson holds a special place in the hearts of our organization and our fans,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said. “His stats speak for themselves, and he will forever remain a leader in our record books, but the man behind the yardage deserves just as much celebration.”
Johnson was the 24th pick overall in 2008 by the Titans and played six of his 10 seasons in the NFL with Tennessee. He rushed for 7,965 yards and had 58 total touchdowns in that span. Those totals both rank fourth for a franchise that also had Earl Campbell, Eddie George and Derrick Henry.
He earned the nickname “CJ2K” in 2009 when he finished with 2,006 yards rushing to join O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis and Jamal Lewis in the exclusive 2,000-yard club. Johnson also had 2,509 yards from scrimmage, a single-season record that still stands in the NFL.
That earned him The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award.
Johnson will be inducted at halftime of the Titans’ opener against the New York Jets, the team the running back played for in 2014. He becomes the 20th inductee into the Titans’ Ring of Honor with former radio analyst and assistant coach Dave McGinnis being inducted posthumously later this season.
PARIS (AP) — Adieu Didier. Bonjour Zinedine?
Coach Didier Deschamps takes charge of his last game for France on Saturday when Les Bleus face England at the World Cup in Miami. The winner gets third place, an anti-climactic award brought about by agonizing semifinal defeats.
It is a disappointing end to Deschamps’ reign when many observers touted his star-studded attack to win another World Cup. Zinedine Zidane is widely expected to be confirmed as France’s new coach in the coming days by the French soccer federation.
The Deschamps years
France won the World Cup under Deschamps in 2018, lost a gut-wrenching final on penalties in 2022, and fell short tactically against Spain on Tuesday.
In his 14 years in charge, Deschamps won just one major trophy — albeit the biggest of all — having lost the European Championship final on home soil in 2016.
Some observers suggest that was not quite enough given the talent at France’s disposal — including Kylian Mbappé, Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Ballon d’Or winners Ousmane Dembélé and Karim Benzema — while others argue France was remarkably consistent under Deschamps, who is now 57.
Whatever the view, France’s next coach has big shoes to fill and a big aura will help. As arguably France’s greatest ever player, and a prolifically successful coach with Real Madrid, Zidane seems the perfect fit.
Polar opposites as players, Zidane and Deschamps are forever linked by glory.
The industrious midfielder Deschamps was France’s tireless captain when it won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, while Zinedine was the unstoppable creative force that drove that brilliant team to new heights.
Here’s a look at how France might look with Zidane in charge.
What would Zidane change?
France’s 2-0 defeat to Spain in the World Cup semifinal was more crushing than the score suggests.
France was found wanting tactically when put under sustained pressure by the slick Spanish. Completely dominated in midfield, France got its pressing game all wrong. The attack was blunted and Deschamps had no Plan “B” to turn things around.
Deschamps has had his detractors over the years — chief among them Christophe Dugarry, his former France teammate — who said his approach was too restrictive and lacked sufficient creativity in central midfield.
Zidane would doubtless want a more expansive approach, such as during his heyday when he roamed the field as a playmaker. Michael Olise or Rayan Cherki could fill that role.
Both are technically gifted although neither are a playmaker by definition like Zidane was. Another option could be Dembélé dropping deep into that role, as he has done well with Paris Saint-Germain.
Benzema’s return?
Zidane is a huge fan of Benzema and they became close friends when Zidane coached him at Real Madrid.
They won three straight Champions League titles together from 2016-18 and Benzema became a more complete player, as well as a ruthless finisher, under Zidane’s guidance. Benzema is 38 and his advanced age may prove a stumbling block.
But given how the age-defying Lionel Messi has dazzled at this World Cup aged 39, Zidane may think Benzema — a Ballon d’Or winner in 2022 — has something left to give. Especially if he plays in a more withdrawn role, where he can use his excellent technical skill and passing ability to good effect.
Critics of Deschamps never forgave him for leaving out Benzema for the best part of six years, due to Benzema’s alleged part in a “sex-tape scandal” targeting then-France teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
However, France won the World Cup without Benzema.
He was finally recalled in time for the European Championship in 2021, where he was France’s top scorer with four goals, and combined brilliantly with Mbappé when they won the Nations League later that year.
Benzema fell out with Deschamps after being released from the 2022 World Cup because of a thigh injury, with Benzema contesting events leading to his departure.
It would be a big call for Zidane to recall him, but it’s not impossible.
Five years away from the game
One question is how ready Zidane would be for such a high-pressured job, giving that he has not coached since leaving Madrid after his second spell in 2021.
Yet he will also be fresh after several years away from the stress and scrutiny of management.
Should the 54-year-old Zidane take charge, his first game would be away to Turkey in the Nations League on Sept. 25, followed by a match in Belgium three days later.
Home fans would need to wait until Oct. 2 for a glimpse of Zidane at Stade de France, when France plays Italy.
Zidane’s last game as a player for France was against Italy in the 2006 World Cup final. He scored early with a Panenka-style penalty, before an infamous moment saw him red-carded for headbutting Italy defender Marco Materazzi during extra time.
France lost the final on penalty kicks but the French public quickly forgave Zidane — affectionally known as “Zizou” — for getting sent off, such was his deep bond with the nation.
LONDON (AP) — The storied men’s mile record in track that has stood for 27 years will come under attack Saturday from Britain’s Josh Kerr.
Kerr, the 2023 world champion over the 1,500 meters metric mile, has called it “Project 222” — for each second he aims to take in breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds.
“It’s in my favor,” Kerr said Friday at a news conference at London Stadium that staged track and field at the 2012 Olympics. “My body is capable of the mark and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind to be available to let my body do its job.”
The 28-year-old Kerr has targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meeting as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.
“I’m very excited. It’s been on my mind, my team’s mind, for a long time,” said the 1,500 silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The mile is not a championships event yet has iconic status in track history, with the four-minute barrier finally broken in 1954 by another British runner, Roger Bannister.
El Guerrouj’s record set in 1999 is more than 16 seconds faster than Bannister, and Kerr is the sixth-fastest athlete on the all-time list. One of his rivals Saturday is No. 4 in that list.
Yared Nuguse set a United States record three years ago, 0.84 slower than El Guerrouj, in a race won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at Eugene, Oregon.
While Bannister’s feat running 3:59.4 is remembered in track lore, he held the record just a few weeks before Australian John Landy lowered it by 1.4 seconds.
Jim Ryun of the U.S. later held the record for nine years until Filbert Bayi of Tanzania took it in 1975.
A stellar 10 days in August 1981 saw a British rivalry play out: Sebastian Coe took Steve Ovett’s mile record, Ovett got it back then Coe beat it again clocking 3:47.33.
In the 45 years since, the mile record was held only by Steve Cram, Noureddine Morceli and El Guerrouj.
LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, promising to bring hope to the British people and purpose to the floundering government as he cleared his final hurdle to take office as prime minister next week.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester was the only contender in the center-left party’s leadership contest to replace departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was forced out by a rebellion within his party. Friday’s announcement was a foregone conclusion after Burnham secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Burnham pledged to serve “people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.”
“We’re going to give them hope back,” he told an audience of lawmakers, party activists and trade union leaders in his first speech as leader. “I am ready.”
“I have a plan,” he added, in a bid to reassure a party that has seen its popularity nosedive since winning a landslide election victory two years ago. He pledged to end Labour’s factional disputes, saying “we won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions.”
The prime minister in waiting is about to take office
Burnham has been prime minister-in-waiting for weeks, since winning a special election for a seat in Parliament a month ago, but he has revealed little detail about his policy priorities. He will arrive in Number 10 Downing Street largely unknown to voters outside Manchester.
He sketched out some priorities in Friday’s speech, promising to deliver “hope in every heart” and “good growth in every post code,” in part by transferring power from central government in London to local leaders in cities and regions.
“We will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and give it to the place you live,” he told the audience. “More power over life’s essentials so you can make them work better.”
Starmer announced last month that he would resign after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.
Labour regularly trails behind anti-immigration party Reform UK in opinion polls, and the governing party had catastrophic results in local elections in May, triggering pressure on Starmer to step down that he couldn’t resist.
Burnham deemed a better communicator than Starmer
Burnham brings a more relaxed style of leadership than the rather stern Starmer, and is regarded as one of the Labour Party’s best communicators. But he faces many of the same problems as his predecessor, including a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze fueled by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and overstretched public services.
And his promises of a new, less divisive politics are not too different to what Starmer pledged when he took office in 2024.
“I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it,” Burnham said. “How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling and politics as a whole isn’t working for them? It infuriates them and makes them switch off.”
He said he would have the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected,” such as tackling the patchy access to social care for those who need it because of age, illness or disability. It’s a pressing issue in a country with an aging population, and one that has foxed previous Labour and Conservative governments.
Burnham says he’ll reverse 40 years of bad decisions
He highlighted plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control of key sectors and creating new modern industrial jobs, arguing that Britain took “a series of wrong turns in the 1980s” when “political power was centralized and economic power privatized.”
That’s the decade when Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher oversaw policies of privatization, deindustrialization and political centralization that transformed the U.K. economy.
“Slowly, at times imperceptibly, over four decades, political and economic power drained away out of our communities in every region and nation of the U.K.,” Burnham said, calling Britain’s change of prime ministers — for the sixth time in a decade — “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.”
Starmer will remain prime minister until Monday, when he formally tenders his resignation to King Charles III. The king will then ask Burnham to form a government.
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 doesn’t have to be held until 2029.
New prime ministers have come with increasing frequency in recent years. Burnham will be the U.K.’s seventh leader since 2016.
He faces strong and sometimes conflicting pressures.
Unions welcomed his focus on living standards but said the test would be whether he can deliver. Business group the Confederation of British Industry praised his emphasis on economic growth, but also aid that “the challenge is execution.”
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