Motorists traveling northbound on Route 1 between Rehoboth Beach and Lewes are currently facing a delay of approximately 5 to 10 minutes, according to traffic reports.
Drivers in the area are encouraged to allow extra time for their trip or consider alternate routes if possible.
Somali soccer referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was turned away at the U.S. border and prevented from working at the World Cup, will receive his complete tournament pay from FIFA, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The Trump administration stated that Artan was refused entry into the United States due to alleged connections to “suspected members of terror organizations.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection carried out the denial.
Although Artan will not participate in the World Cup in any capacity, FIFA has made a commitment to pay him his full salary for the tournament, the source confirmed.
Artan, who was named Africa’s referee of the year in 2025, had been on track to make history as the first Somali official ever to referee at soccer’s biggest global event. Instead, he was turned back before he could take the field.
Despite the setback, Artan arrived back in his home country to a warm and celebratory reception. European soccer’s governing body UEFA has since tapped him to serve as referee for the UEFA Super Cup match between Paris St Germain and Aston Villa, scheduled for August.
BRUSSELS — The European Commission announced Sunday that it is examining the real-world impact of a U.S. export control directive targeting artificial intelligence company Anthropic, and said any such measures should not unfairly target allied nations.
Anthropic revealed Friday that it would be forced to “abruptly disable” its most advanced AI models for all users following a U.S. government order requiring the company to cut off access for foreign nationals. The government cited national security as the reason for the directive.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier addressed the situation in a formal statement, saying, “We are seeing a new generation of highly capable AI models reach the market. These models offer significant benefits, including for cyber-defence, but they also raise serious cybersecurity concerns that need to be addressed.”
Regnier added that “contingency measures taken in this light should not be discriminatory against partners.”
He also used the situation to make a broader point about European independence in the technology sector. “This development is a further illustration of why Europe needs to strengthen its technological sovereignty,” Regnier said. “We are looking closely at the practical consequences of this for European users of these services.”
ATLANTA (AP) — Just days ahead of Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senate runoff election, President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, passing over former football coach Derek Dooley in what has become a familiar pattern of backing loyalists in GOP primaries.
The two Republican candidates face off Tuesday for the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in what is expected to be one of the most high-profile races of the November midterm elections. Collins has built his political brand around unwavering support for Trump and the MAGA movement. In a social media post early Sunday, Trump praised the trucking company owner and two-term congressman, saying he “has been with me from the very beginning” and called him a “true friend, fighter, and WARRIOR.”
Dooley, a political newcomer, has the backing of outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, who has had a contentious history with Trump. The president was blunt about his feelings toward Dooley, writing that he doesn’t know him and pointing out that Dooley failed to cast a ballot in either the 2016 or 2020 elections — both of which featured Trump on the ticket. Dooley has acknowledged going roughly two decades without voting, though he says he did vote for Trump in 2024.
Collins came out on top in the May 19 primary but fell short of the 40% threshold needed to avoid a runoff, leaving a significant pool of Republican votes still in play. Trump’s endorsements have repeatedly proven to be a decisive force within the party.
“Everybody knows that I do best with the MAGA base,” Collins said on primary night. “It’s because they know I’ve always been with President Trump.”
The endorsement puts Trump at odds with more establishment-aligned Republicans, particularly Kemp. The move echoes Trump’s recent decision to back Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who went on to defeat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in that state’s primary runoff.
Dooley fired back at Trump’s announcement, arguing that Georgia voters are hungry for “a political outsider” rather than “typical D.C. politicians like Mike Collins.” He posted on X that he remains confident heading into Tuesday’s vote.
Collins has been a Trump ally since his first congressional run in 2022, and he has repeated the president’s unsubstantiated claims that Trump’s 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden involved fraud. Collins also sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law mandating detention of immigrants charged with certain crimes — a measure Republicans believe puts Ossoff in a difficult spot, since the Democratic senator initially voted against it before switching his position after Trump returned to office.
Dooley and his top surrogate, Gov. Kemp, contend that a political newcomer stands a stronger chance against Ossoff, who is the only Democratic senator up for reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024. Kemp, who previously angered Trump by declining to help challenge Biden’s Georgia victory, had been the preferred pick of Senate Republican leaders to take on Ossoff. He ultimately recruited Dooley, a childhood friend, to enter the race instead.
Kemp points to three first-term Republican senators — Montana’s Tim Sheehy, Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick, and Ohio’s Bernie Moreno — who unseated Democratic incumbents in 2024 by running as outsiders who still aligned with Trump.
Trump, meanwhile, has been on a winning streak within his own party. In recent weeks, he has seen multiple Republicans who failed his loyalty test go down to defeat. Cornyn lost to Paxton, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky fell to Ed Gallrein, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana didn’t make a runoff, and several Indiana state senators were ousted by Trump-aligned challengers.
Dooley has told Georgia voters he will “work with President Trump but fight for you,” and he has stressed that Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia since 2016.
Collins sees no need for that kind of balancing act, while still insisting he can broaden his appeal come November.
“You don’t beat Jon Ossoff by having no record,” Collins said. “You win by having a record of results.”
LONDON — British anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson announced Saturday that he was stopped at Heathrow Airport and had his mobile phone taken by police, following a week in which he flooded social media with commentary about racist and anti-immigrant riots in Northern Ireland.
Robinson, who goes by the name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in legal settings, posted on X that he was held Saturday evening for approximately three hours under the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act.
“My phone has been seized by the police,” he wrote on X. “Please help kick off my legal fund for defence.”
Throughout the previous week, Robinson had repeatedly posted about violence that erupted across Belfast after a video spread widely online showing a man being stabbed in a brutal attack that cost him an eye. A Sudanese man has since been charged with attempted murder. Authorities have stated the attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism.
In the aftermath of that stabbing, rioters went on to target homes and businesses belonging to ethnic minorities and foreign residents — actions that the British minister responsible for the province described as racist thuggery.
Local elected officials have alleged that far-right figures operating online helped to organize or amplify the violence.
A police spokesperson, without identifying Robinson by name, confirmed that officers had stopped a man in his 40s at Heathrow Airport on Saturday following his arrival back in Britain from Russia, where he had traveled through Turkey.
“The man was interviewed by officers and his communication devices were seized. He was subsequently released,” the spokesperson said.
NIZI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Two weeks ago, the Kpangba displacement camp became the first in this part of conflict-ravaged Congo to see Ebola claim lives. Health teams immediately moved in to track down anyone who had been in contact with the deceased, hoping to stop the virus from spreading further.
Those efforts were quickly shut down. Residents of the camp drove away workers from the provincial health ministry, the World Health Organization, and other aid organizations, refusing to accept that the two women had died from Ebola. That’s according to Jean-Claude Lonzama, the chief doctor for the Nizi health zone — a densely populated mining region.
“Up to this day, we are not able to follow up on the contacts of these cases,” Lonzama told Reuters on Saturday.
That standoff has left health officials essentially operating in the dark as they attempt to prevent an Ebola surge inside a camp housing approximately 30,000 people, the vast majority of whom fled inter-ethnic violence in surrounding communities.
“We have 22 displaced persons sites in the Nizi health zone … with around 81,124 residents,” Lonzama said. “This is also our great worry because no preventive measures have been put in place in these sites aside from a few educational messages.”
The current outbreak was declared a month ago, and since then, several treatment facilities have come under attack. Some residents believe Ebola is a fabrication, while others are furious that traditional burial practices have been restricted to prevent the virus from spreading.
Aid organizations are particularly alarmed about the conditions inside displacement camps, where hundreds of residents may share a single toilet and open defecation is widespread. Those conditions could accelerate what is already shaping up to be one of the largest Ebola outbreaks ever recorded.
More than 5 million displaced people live across the three affected provinces — Ituri, South Kivu, and North Kivu — all of which have suffered through decades of armed conflict.
Throughout eastern Congo, health workers are running into the same wall: deep distrust of both the government and outside organizations. The attacks on treatment sites echo violence seen during a 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in the same region, which claimed the lives of more than 25 health workers.
The two deaths in Kpangba happened on May 31 and June 1, though they weren’t publicly reported until a U.N. refugee agency document was released Thursday. A Congolese health ministry report reviewed by Reuters revealed that the first victim — a 60-year-old woman — had tested positive for Ebola on May 30, but had already left quarantine and could not be found by that point.
Health experts say the combination of community mistrust, shortages of essential supplies, and ongoing armed conflict across much of the affected region has left them gravely concerned about whether this outbreak can be brought under control.
A New Mexico border county that has long been searching for ways to boost its economy has approved the construction of one of the largest data centers in the entire country — and the project comes with its own gas-powered electricity plant attached.
But what seemed like a promising economic win is now generating serious concern. Local residents and officials are experiencing what many are calling buyer’s remorse over the massive development.
Water availability is emerging as the central issue driving the backlash. In an already dry desert region, the prospect of a large-scale data center — which typically requires enormous amounts of water for cooling systems — has raised alarm bells about the long-term impact on the area’s limited water supply.
The approval came from a county eager to attract jobs and investment to a region that has struggled economically. However, as details of the project have come into clearer focus, some who initially supported the deal are now questioning whether the tradeoffs are worth it.
A county in the New Mexico borderlands, eager for economic opportunity, approved what would be one of the largest data centers in the entire country — complete with its own gas-powered electricity plant. But now that the deal is done, some are wishing they had thought twice.
The region, which has long sought ways to bring jobs and investment to its struggling economy, saw the massive data center project as a potential lifeline. Officials moved forward with approval, hoping the development would deliver the economic boost the area desperately needs.
However, a sense of buyer’s remorse has begun to set in. Questions are now being raised about whether the benefits of the project are worth the trade-offs that come with hosting such a large facility — including the gas-fired power plant that will be built to keep it running.
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers are heading back to the state Capitol this week for a special session, where one of their top priorities will be untangling an election problem that stems from their own legislation.
The voting system currently used across the battleground state relies on a QR code printed on each ballot to count votes. Two years ago, the legislature passed a law prohibiting the use of that barcode for the official vote tally after July 1 of this year — but no alternative counting method has ever been put in place.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who called the special session, specifically directed lawmakers to “address issues created” by that law. Making matters worse, the secretary of state’s office and the State Election Board have issued contradictory instructions to county election officials about how votes should be cast and counted going forward.
If a resolution isn’t reached quickly, the state could face widespread confusion and potential lawsuits over elections after July 1. A special election to fill a vacant U.S. House seat is already scheduled for that month.
Georgia’s current voting system was first rolled out statewide during the 2020 primary election. After that November’s general election — in which Republican President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden — Trump and his allies claimed without evidence that the machines had altered or deleted votes.
Trump supporters continued to raise objections to the touchscreen voting machines, with some pushing unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. Election integrity advocates also took issue with the machines, arguing they could be vulnerable to hacking and that voters have no way to verify their choices since QR codes aren’t human-readable.
In 2024, Republican lawmakers attempted to respond to those concerns by passing legislation banning barcodes from the “official tabulation count” after July 1, 2026. However, in the two years that followed, neither the secretary of state’s office nor the General Assembly moved to put a replacement system in place. Now, with the deadline nearly here, a major midterm election is also on the horizon.
Trump specifically called out these voting machines — which are used in at least some counties across more than a dozen states — in his first executive order on elections after beginning his second term in January 2025. That order has since been blocked by multiple courts and is not currently being enforced.
Last month, Kemp announced the special legislative session, set to begin Wednesday, to address both the QR code issue and the redrawing of congressional maps ahead of the 2028 elections.
One possible outcome is that lawmakers could push back the deadline in the law, allowing QR codes to remain in use for now while a new system is developed before the 2028 elections. However, during the final hours of this year’s regular legislative session, a similar proposal was voted down.
Even if lawmakers reach an agreement this week, putting any new system into practice before the upcoming special election could prove difficult. That election is being held to fill the remainder of the term of U.S. Rep. David Scott, who passed away in April. Voting is set for July 28, with early voting starting July 6.
Last week, the secretary of state’s office released preliminary guidance to election officials in the six counties that make up that congressional district, noting the instructions could change depending on what happens during the special session.
Under that plan, ballots would be scanned and the QR code would be used to generate the election night vote count. Before the county certifies results, however, electronic images of each ballot would be uploaded to a server, where optical character recognition software would produce a second tally using the printed text — and that second count would serve as the official result.
The secretary of state’s guidance also states that counties must continue using the current election system, including the touchscreen machines, and that nothing in the law permits hand-marked paper ballots for in-person voting.
Two days later, the State Election Board stepped in with its own conflicting guidance, with board members arguing that the secretary of state’s proposed approach isn’t authorized under state law.
The board passed a resolution telling counties what to do if the special session does not result in an extended deadline for QR code use. That resolution directs counties to fall back on their emergency procedures, which call for hand-marked paper ballots counted by scanners.
During the election board meeting, a lawyer from the state attorney general’s office, Elizabeth Young, acknowledged the problem, saying that while neither set of guidance is legally binding, “obviously it would cause confusion for elections superintendents if they are getting differing instructions from two agencies, both of which have some authority over what they’re doing.”
The election board has been dominated by a Trump-aligned majority and has frequently clashed with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who has often been a target of Trump’s criticism.
Henry County, located in Atlanta’s suburbs, is among the counties where voters will cast ballots in next month’s special election. Axiver Harris, the county’s interim elections director, said officials are aware of the competing guidance and are waiting for the state to provide clearer direction.
“Given the uncertainty surrounding the guidance currently available, we believe it is wise to wait for further direction to ensure that any decisions made are consistent with state requirements and election administration best practices,” Harris wrote in an email.
Marcye Scott, who is running in the special election to finish out the term of her late father, said she doubts most voters are following the issue closely and that her focus lies elsewhere.
“My goal is to get people to the polls, get my people to the polls and get them to vote for me,” she said.
Fellow candidate Carlos Moore, one of six people running in the special election, said he’s concerned that rushing in a new vote-counting method could invite legal challenges. He is hoping lawmakers simply extend the deadline and leave the QR code system in place for the special election.
“I would ask that legislators do the right thing, leave well enough alone for the special election,” Moore said. “Otherwise, it’s almost certain there will be challenges in court.”
MOSCOW — A Ukrainian drone strike on a residential apartment building in the Russian city of Oryol left one person dead and nine more injured on Sunday, according to the region’s governor.
Oryol Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov released photographs showing the aftermath of the attack, with multiple floors of the high-rise building displaying blown-out windows and heavy fire damage. The city of Oryol, located south of Moscow, has a population of roughly 300,000 people.
Governor Klychkov stated that emergency services and law enforcement have the situation under control, and that cleanup operations are actively underway.
About 25 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, tucked in among taco shops in the outskirts of Tijuana, a flag hangs that stops passersby in their tracks. It bears Mexico’s colors of green, white, and red — but its design is anything but typical for the neighborhood.
Inside is what owner Saied Assadi describes as only the second Iranian restaurant in all of Mexico. “Food is one of my passions,” Assadi told Reuters during a visit this week, as he plated a traditional Iranian spread of rice, grilled tomatoes, mixed meats, and salad.
Not every Iranian in the area, however, feels welcome there.
Tijuana’s Iranian community is remarkably small — around 20 people in a city of roughly 2 million residents. Yet even within that handful of individuals, sharp political divisions reflect the broader fractures running through the Iranian diaspora worldwide — and the complicated backdrop facing Iran’s soccer team as it prepares for World Cup competition.
Dara Makoipour, an Iranian who relocated to Tijuana in 2018, says the flags displayed at Assadi’s restaurant are enough to keep him away. “We have different views,” said Makoipour, who instead crosses the border into California when he wants to eat Iranian food.
The flag at issue features a lion and sun design — Iran’s national symbol before the 1979 revolution, and one closely tied to the country’s former Shah-led government. The flag has become a flashpoint heading into the World Cup, as FIFA rules ban political items from stadiums. At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, security personnel turned away fans who tried to bring it inside.
When asked about Iranians who are put off by the flag, Assadi was direct: “Whether that person wants to come eat Iranian food or not because of the flag, that’s his choice. Some people are extremists.”
Still, one thing bridges the divide between Makoipour and Assadi: their shared enthusiasm for Iran’s soccer squad, known widely as Team Melli — Persian for “national team.”
AN UNUSUAL DESTINATION
Last month, the Iranian national team announced it was shifting its training base from Arizona to Tijuana, citing uncertainty over whether the U.S. would grant visas given the strained relations between the two countries. The Mexican border city made geographic sense — it sits relatively close to the team’s group-stage venues in Los Angeles and Seattle, and Mexico was receptive to hosting.
Still, the choice raised eyebrows. Iran prohibits alcohol and requires women to wear hijabs, making Tijuana — a city well known for its nightlife, strip clubs, and gambling establishments — an unconventional fit for the squad.
Any reservations appeared to melt away quickly. When the team arrived at 5 a.m. last Sunday — nearly four hours behind schedule — supporters were on hand to greet them warmly. Since then, a small group of fans has shown up outside the team’s hotel each day looking for autographs.
“Tijuana and especially the Mexican people — they’ve been amazing,” Iranian national team player Saeid Ezzatollahi told Reuters.
The team has kept a low profile since arriving. They travel with a private chef, Mexican soldiers are stationed outside their hotel, and their outings have been limited to chartered bus rides to a nearby stadium for training sessions.
FINDING HOME IN TIJUANA
Tijuana’s Iranian population is so small it doesn’t even appear in census data — a sharp contrast to nearby Los Angeles, which has the largest Iranian community outside of Iran itself.
Sadegh Galavi said he was immediately drawn to the city when he and his wife came to visit in 2022 from Tehran. “Literally, we fell in love with Mexico,” he said. “And then Tijuana makes me feel that there is a lot of opportunity to work, to do many things, to build a life.”
Galavi’s path to employment in Tijuana came through a chance encounter: he spotted a car on the street with vanity plates reading “TEHRAN,” left a note on the windshield, and discovered the owner was Makoipour. Galavi now works as a mechanic at an auto restoration business Makoipour owns.
Both men were thrilled when they learned Team Melli was heading to their city. “As long as the other side” — meaning the U.S. — “doesn’t give them a hard time, the rest is going to be easy peasy,” Makoipour said.
HEADING INTO THE TOURNAMENT
On Sunday, the team will fly by private plane to Los Angeles, arriving one day before their opening World Cup match against New Zealand. Several support staff and soccer federation members who were denied U.S. visas — including the team supervisor, analysts, and press liaison — will remain in Tijuana.
The U.S. State Department has stated it will not allow the Iranian team to “abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the U.S. under false pretenses.” Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, fired back, saying the Trump administration believes “anybody who doesn’t think the same as them is a terrorist.”
The flag controversy continues as well. A California non-profit has filed a lawsuit seeking to block any restrictions on bringing the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag into World Cup stadiums, citing freedom of expression protections. FIFA, which previously told Reuters that its stadium code of conduct prohibits flags “of a political, offensive and/or discriminatory nature,” did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuit.
Assadi, whose restaurant proudly displays the pre-revolutionary flag, said he believes the Islamic Republic is “not giving people the freedom” they deserve. But come Monday, he’ll be rooting for the national team — political differences aside.
“Pretty much everyone in Iran plays soccer,” he said. “I hope all Iranians will support the team as soccer players.”
A senior Iranian official has revealed to Reuters the contents of a draft memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, touching on everything from nuclear restrictions to trade routes and financial relief measures. If agreed upon, the two countries would then have 60 days to hammer out a final deal.
The official outlined several key areas covered in the draft document:
Strait of Hormuz: Under the proposed terms, Iran would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial shipping, while the United States would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports. The blockade would begin to be lifted as soon as the memorandum is signed and would be fully removed within 30 days.
Financial Provisions: The draft calls for the U.S. to hold off on imposing any new sanctions against Iran until a permanent agreement is finalized. Once a final deal is reached, both U.S. and United Nations sanctions on Iran would be lifted on an agreed-upon schedule. The U.S. would also temporarily waive oil sanctions, giving Iran the ability to sell oil and collect revenue during that period. Additionally, Washington would release $25 billion in Iranian assets that have been frozen, through a combination of direct cash payments, cooperation with regional partners, and financial credit arrangements. The U.S. and its regional allies would also develop a reconstruction and development plan for Iran, to be negotiated with Tehran within 60 days.
Nuclear Terms: On the nuclear front, Iran would commit to neither building nor obtaining nuclear weapons. While a final agreement is being worked out, Iran would keep its nuclear program at its current level — meaning no additional uranium enrichment and no expansion of nuclear facilities. The U.S. would agree to permit Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium within its own borders, under the terms of a future comprehensive agreement. The full scope of Iran’s nuclear activities, enrichment operations, and how its enriched uranium stockpile would be handled would all be subject to negotiation within 60 days of the memorandum being signed.
Ukrainian drone attacks claimed one life and ignited a fire at an oil facility inside Russia on Sunday, as Kyiv continues its campaign of strikes targeting military and energy infrastructure deep within Russian territory.
The governor of Russia’s southwestern Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, announced Sunday that one person was killed and nine others were injured after a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building overnight in the regional capital, which shares the same name as the region — Oryol.
Hundreds of miles away, local officials in Russia’s Yaroslavl region reported that fuel storage facilities burst into flames after being struck by a drone. The Yaroslavl region sits roughly 700 kilometers — about 440 miles — from the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed his country’s forces were behind the Yaroslavl attack, stating they had “struck an oil facility that was important for the reserve of the aggressor state.”
Ukraine has intensified its targeting of Russian oil and gas infrastructure in recent months, with Kyiv arguing that Russia’s energy sector both finances and directly supports Moscow’s invasion, which has now stretched beyond four years.
In a related development, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Sunday that the United Kingdom is investigating a sanctioned vessel believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” — a network of ships allegedly used to ship oil in defiance of international sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
British armed forces boarded and seized the ship, identified as the Smyrtos, on Sunday in the English Channel. The country’s Defense Ministry described the operation as “the first U.K.-led operation of its kind.” Russia is thought to be operating hundreds of such vessels to get around the sanctions.
“This operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide,” Starmer said.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A potential agreement to end the war between the United States and Iran moved closer to reality Sunday, as Qatari mediators flew to Tehran to work out the final details of a deal, according to two regional officials who spoke anonymously because they lacked authorization to address the media publicly.
Those officials expressed measured hope that both nations were finally nearing an agreement that could stop a conflict responsible for thousands of deaths and reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a critical waterway whose blockage has sent shockwaves through global markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both stated Saturday that a signing was expected to take place Sunday. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei indicated it could occur within the next few days. Trump added that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened immediately once the deal was signed.
The agreement is expected to be completed electronically rather than through a formal in-person ceremony, though the exact timing and process remain uncertain.
The deal does not resolve the most difficult disputes between Washington and Tehran — including Iran’s nuclear program and its frozen financial assets — but it would create a 60-day window for technical discussions on those topics. Pakistani and regional officials, also speaking anonymously, described months of difficult negotiations led by Pakistan, during which both sides came close to walking away on multiple occasions.
Under the terms currently being discussed, the U.S. and Israel appear to have fallen short of their original objectives, which included dismantling Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities and cutting off its support for proxy forces. It remains unclear whether those issues will be addressed in the final agreement.
Separately, Trump was expected to raise the topic of clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz at the Group of Seven summit beginning Monday. The waterway plays a vital role in global shipments of oil, natural gas, and products like fertilizer, and its effective closure has caused significant economic disruption worldwide.
The apparent progress toward a deal follows a tense week in which Iran exchanged fire with both the U.S. and Israel, raising fears that a fragile ceasefire — in place since April 7 — could collapse and drag the region back into full-scale conflict.
Iran’s nuclear program has been a long-standing source of tension with the U.S. and Israel, and a broader international concern. Trump posted on social media that once conditions stabilize, the U.S. would move to “downblend and destroy” Iran’s enriched uranium, either in Iran or on U.S. soil.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran currently holds 440.9 kilograms — roughly 972 pounds — of uranium enriched to 60% purity, which is just one technical step below the 90% threshold considered weapons-grade. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes and has not publicly agreed to surrender its enriched uranium stockpile. That material is believed to be stored beneath three nuclear facilities that were heavily damaged in U.S. airstrikes last year.
Fighting has also continued in Lebanon, where Israel has pushed its military operations deeper into the country than at any point in more than 25 years, clashing with the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah despite an existing ceasefire. Iran has sought to have the Lebanon conflict included in any broader deal, and has also pushed for the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.
The deal as currently structured has drawn strong criticism from Israel’s government, which has largely been left out of negotiations led by Pakistan and other parties. Even some members of Trump’s own Republican Party — facing pressure from an unpopular war heading into midterm elections — have spoken out against the agreement, with some arguing it does not represent an improvement over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from during his first term and continues to call “bad.”
Drivers looking to get onto northbound I-95 at Naamans Road will need to find another way — the on-ramp at that location is currently shut down because of construction activity.
The closure is expected to remain in effect until 9 a.m. Travelers in the area should allow extra time and consider using an alternate route to avoid delays.
Israel’s military announced Sunday that Hezbollah fired three projectiles aimed at communities in northern Israel, characterizing the incident as a blatant violation of the existing ceasefire.
According to the military, the projectiles came down near the communities of Shomera and Shlomi. Officials noted that these three launches come on top of two additional projectiles that had already crossed into Israeli territory earlier in the weekend.
WASHINGTON — President Trump rang in his 80th birthday Sunday night with a card of seven professional mixed martial arts fights staged inside a specially constructed arena on the White House South Lawn — an event that underscored his boundary-pushing approach to the presidency at a particularly tense moment in his time in office.
Now 17 months into his second term, Trump has repeatedly tested the limits of the presidency to capture attention and project an image of strength. His newest backdrop is the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s eight-sided cage, known as the Octagon, which was erected within view of the president’s White House bedroom for an event called “UFC Freedom 250” — a nod to the country’s 250th birthday coming up next month.
The fights are unfolding as Trump continues to manage the ongoing conflict with Iran, now four months old, which has driven consumer prices to their highest point in three years and rattled many voters according to polling data. The event also comes as Trump works to push back against the notion that he is becoming a lame-duck president.
A Break From the Battlefield
Fourteen fighters representing five countries competed before an expected crowd of 4,000 spectators inside a 92-foot-tall temporary structure nicknamed “The Claw.” The main event — scheduled for as many as five rounds — pitted UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria against former interim titleholder Justin Gaethje. The fights were set to get underway at 8 p.m.
Tickets were not made available to the general public. According to a source with knowledge of the arrangements, UFC offered seats to guests who had contributed more than $1 million. The Trump administration said roughly one quarter of the audience consisted of military service members.
Trump invoked broad executive authority to allow a private company’s event to take place on federal property — a departure from established norms that sparked a legal challenge and raised questions about costs and potential conflicts of interest. The UFC’s parent company is publicly traded TKO Group Holdings.
A Reuters/Ipsos online survey of 4,531 American adults conducted June 3 through 8 found that just 16% considered it appropriate for Trump to hold the event at the White House. A federal judge declined Friday to halt the event after plaintiffs argued the administration had overstepped its authority, including by failing to obtain congressional approval.
Trump has maintained a long personal relationship with UFC Chief Executive Dana White and the Ellison family, whose company Paramount holds a $7.7 billion deal to broadcast UFC fights through 2033.
White has leveraged the sport’s popularity — especially among younger male fans — to back Trump’s political campaigns going back to his first presidential run in 2016.
UFC has stated it invested more than $60 million in staging the event and does not expect to turn a profit.
In the lead-up to the fights, Trump’s trust acquired stock in TKO Group Holdings, while a company licensed to use the president’s image sold commemorative coins priced as high as $12,000. One of the event’s sponsors, Crypto.com, had previously worked with Trump Media & Technology Group.
The White House has maintained there is no conflict of interest and stated that the Trump family handles the president’s business matters.
Independent streaming analyst Dan Rayburn offered a critical take on the event. “The vast majority of Americans are not celebrating 250 years of America by watching a UFC fight,” he said. “This is really a private event.”
Sports as a Presidential Platform
Sports have become a consistent theme throughout Trump’s presidency. He has weighed in on topics ranging from transgender athletes to compensation for college football players and has attended numerous high-profile sporting events.
France even pushed back the start of the Group of Seven summit — which kicks off Monday — to allow Trump to attend the UFC event.
Roughly one in five Americans identifies as an MMA fan. Among that group, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found 45% approve of Trump’s job performance while 55% disapprove — higher than his overall 35% approval rating but far below his 79% approval among Republicans. MMA fans tend to lean male and politically independent, with nearly half saying they do not align with either major party, about a third identifying as Republicans, and one in five as Democrats.
The arena was designed to create a close, intimate atmosphere for the bouts. Some fighters were expected to begin their walk to the Octagon from the Oval Office, passing through the Rose Garden or along the West Wing colonnade. The venue is 20 rows deep on every side, and sound from the event’s audio system bounced off the face of the White House’s Truman Balcony, rattling the walls of the executive mansion.
Tens of thousands of additional spectators were expected to watch the action on a large screen at a nearby park. While daytime temperatures topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the evening was forecast to be cooler — though the National Weather Service warned of possible rain and thunderstorms. The arena was constructed without a roof.
Celebrations in the heart of New York City turned violent overnight Saturday into Sunday after the New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to capture the NBA championship — their first title in more than 50 years.
Fans flooded the streets of midtown Manhattan, lighting fireworks and setting off smoke grenades after pouring out of packed bars and gathering in outdoor spaces. The crowd repeatedly chanted “Knicks in five!” — a nod to Game 5 of the NBA Finals, which New York won 94-90 to take the series 4-1.
The victory marks the Knicks’ first championship since 1973 and only their third appearance in the NBA Finals overall. The team previously fell short in 1994 against the Houston Rockets and in 1999 against the San Antonio Spurs — the same franchise they defeated Saturday night for redemption.
Around 2 a.m., a 17-year-old was struck by a bullet in the foot during the Times Square festivities, a New York City police officer told Reuters. Three suspects were taken into custody in connection with the shooting.
As the night wore on, hundreds of people — most of them young — swarmed a convoy of roughly 15 shuttle buses parked at Times Square. The buses had just finished transporting soccer fans from the first World Cup match held in the New York area, a 1-1 draw between Brazil and Morocco. Celebrants climbed onto the rooftops of the vehicles, forced their way inside, and sat down in the drivers’ seats.
One of the yellow school buses — rented by the city to move World Cup attendees — was set ablaze, according to a Reuters journalist on the scene. At least three additional shuttles sustained serious damage.
At one point, a bicycle was hauled up onto the roof of a bus. Brazilian soccer supporters joined Knicks fans on top of another bus, waving their country’s flag. A man with a bloodied face was also spotted moving through the crowd, though the cause of his injury could not be confirmed.
Youssef Sabbr, a 49-year-old Canadian of Moroccan descent who had stepped off one of the World Cup buses before it was surrounded by the mob, described the scene. “They are expressing their joy, in a somewhat violent way, but that’s how it is,” he said. “This is what happens everywhere in the world when a team wins,” he added.
Police cordoned off several streets in the area and held back for approximately two hours before officers in riot gear moved in, pursuing some individuals through the surrounding blocks. Mounted police also pushed the crowd back and cleared the streets near Madison Square Garden, the home arena of the Knicks.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Half a year after President Donald Trump put states on notice to stay out of artificial intelligence regulation, many are ignoring that warning and moving forward with their own rules.
While Congress has been unable to produce any federal AI legislation, states across the country are examining how AI-powered chatbots communicate with children, how businesses use AI in the workplace, and what obligations AI developers have to prevent worst-case scenarios caused by the technology.
Earlier, broader attempts to regulate AI at the state level were either vetoed or blocked by governors who felt those measures placed too heavy a burden on the industry — including proposals that would have held AI developers responsible for built-in bias in their systems. But state lawmakers have come back with more focused legislation that zeroes in on the specific ways people encounter AI in their everyday lives, often without realizing it.
Trump’s effort to rein in state AI regulation drew pushback from members of both parties, as well as civil liberties and consumer advocacy organizations, who argued that blocking state-level oversight would essentially hand a free pass to major AI companies that already face little accountability.
The president has elevated AI to a top national and economic security priority, arguing that allowing a patchwork of state regulations to complicate things for an industry investing trillions of dollars could jeopardize America’s competitive edge over China in the AI race.
Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to establish a task force to challenge state AI laws deemed more than “minimally burdensome,” while also directing the Commerce Department to compile a list of regulations considered problematic. The order also threatened to cut off funding from a broadband deployment program and other grant initiatives for states that enact AI laws.
The White House said it would not go after state laws designed to prevent fraud or protect consumers and children.
The Trump administration also put out a “national policy framework” urging Congress to override state AI laws that conflict with its regulatory vision and to pass legislation covering children’s protections, intellectual property, and free speech. A new bipartisan proposal in the House recently faced sharp criticism from key members of both parties.
So far, the White House has not followed through on its threat to sue any state over an AI law or to cut off funding. In a statement, the administration said it is “eager to work with partners” to carry out its policy framework.
Rather than discouraging state action, Trump’s executive order appears to have had little effect on lawmakers. More AI-related bills have been introduced this year than last, including from Republican legislators, according to Justine Gluck, policy director of the Future of Privacy Forum — a nonprofit that champions data privacy in technology and draws its membership from industry, academia, and civic organizations.
In Illinois, a bill sitting on Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk builds on legislation passed last year in California and New York. It would require developers of large, advanced AI models to put in place safeguards against catastrophic outcomes — such as a biological weapons attack, a widespread power failure, or a major cyberattack.
Illinois went a step further by adding a requirement that AI developers bring in an independent auditor to verify whether they are living up to their own stated policies — a move analysts view as pushing the industry toward greater accountability.
The bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, dismissed Trump’s warnings outright.
“I don’t know if you’ve met Illinois, but we’re pretty independent,” Edly-Allen told the Associated Press.
The bill passed with near-unanimous support, reflecting a willingness among members of Trump’s own party to join Democrats in addressing the regulatory gap left by federal inaction. Similar legislation is expected to spread to additional states.
A growing number of states are also cracking down on how AI chatbots interact with people — particularly minors. States with both Republican and Democratic leadership have enacted such laws this year, including Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oregon.
In many cases, these laws require companies to disclose when someone is communicating with an AI rather than a real person. Many also restrict how chatbots can engage with children, give parents oversight of their child’s access, and require that information shared with chatbots remain private.
Connecticut recently enacted rules specifically for companion chatbots — AI systems designed to maintain ongoing relationships with users. Under those rules, chatbots cannot interact with anyone under 18 unless they are programmed to discourage self-destructive behavior and give parents tools to monitor and manage their child’s usage.
In May, Colorado passed a law requiring companies that deploy AI in high-stakes areas — such as employment, education, housing, or banking — to notify individuals when AI is being used to influence a decision affecting them. The measure softened an earlier 2024 law aimed at curbing AI-driven discrimination, following pressure from Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
Connecticut also passed a separate requirement that employers using AI in hiring or employment decisions must inform workers or job applicants that they are dealing with an AI system.
Connecticut, Washington, and Utah additionally required AI developers to embed identifying data into digital content — such as photos or videos — so users can determine whether that content was created or modified by AI.
More legislation is still possible before the year is out. In California, lawmakers are advancing the “No Robo Bosses Act of 2026,” which would bar employers from relying entirely on AI to fire or discipline workers. California is also looking to expand its oversight of AI chatbots, including a ban on using chatbot interactions with children for advertising purposes.
In Florida, the state House declined to move forward with what Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called his AI “Bill of Rights.” The proposal would have given parents control over their children’s access to companion chatbots and required companies to disclose when consumers are interacting with AI instead of a human.
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez argued that Trump had made clear that AI regulation belongs at the federal level. DeSantis pushed back on that view, pointing out that the federal government has yet to act.
In Utah, a bill modeled on laws from New York and California stalled after the White House sent lawmakers a one-sentence memo stating it was “categorically opposed” to the legislation.
Celebrations turned chaotic in Midtown Manhattan late Saturday night after the New York Knicks captured the NBA Finals title, with fans swarming the streets, a World Cup shuttle bus going up in flames, and a teenager suffering a gunshot wound in Times Square.
Knicks supporters flooded out of bars and outdoor venues by the thousands, setting off fireworks and smoke grenades while chanting “Knicks in five!” — a reference to the team’s clinching victory in Game 5 of the series.
The win marked the end of a long drought for the franchise. The Knicks had not claimed an NBA title since 1973, and Saturday’s victory over the San Antonio Spurs was only their third trip to the Finals, following losses to the Houston Rockets in 1994 and the San Antonio Spurs in 1999.
Around 2 a.m., a 17-year-old was struck by a bullet in the foot during the Times Square festivities, a New York police officer told Reuters. Three people of interest were taken into custody in connection with the shooting, the officer added.
The mayhem also caught up with a convoy of roughly 15 shuttle buses that had just transported soccer fans from the first World Cup match in the New York City area — a draw between Brazil and Morocco. Hundreds of mostly young people swarmed the buses in Times Square, with some climbing onto the rooftops and others getting inside and sitting behind the wheel.
One yellow school bus, contracted by the city government to help move World Cup attendees, was set on fire. A Reuters video journalist on the scene witnessed the bus burning. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was hurt in that incident. At least three additional shuttle buses sustained significant damage from the crowds.
At one point, a bicycle was hauled up onto the roof of a bus, and fans of the Brazilian national soccer team joined Knicks supporters on top of another bus, waving Brazil’s flag. A man with a bloodied face was spotted moving through the crowd, though the cause of his injury could not be determined.
Youssef Sabbr, a 49-year-old Canadian of Moroccan descent who had stepped off one of the World Cup buses before the crowds descended on it, offered his take on what he witnessed. “They are expressing their happiness, a little bit violently, but it is what it is,” he said. “That’s what happens everywhere around the world when a team wins,” Sabbr added.
After holding their positions for roughly two hours, officers in riot gear eventually moved in, chasing fans through the streets. Mounted police on horseback pushed crowds back and helped clear the area around Madison Square Garden, the Knicks’ home arena.
Carol Marino, a real estate agent from New York in her 50s, paused on a sidewalk to catch her breath after watching the game at a nearby bar. “Oh my God. It’s like New Year’s Eve times twenty,” she said of the scene around her.
Elsewhere in the city, jubilant fans beat drums, embraced one another, and scaled scaffolding and traffic signals. New York couple Dean and Christina Smiros, lifelong Knicks fans, said the victory was something they had never experienced before. “They have not won since before we were born,” Christina said.
The New York Knicks are basking in the glory of their first NBA championship in 53 years after wrapping up the title Saturday night in San Antonio — but according to early oddsmakers, defending that crown won’t be easy.
DraftKings wasted no time releasing its opening odds for the 2026-27 NBA Championship the moment the season came to a close, and the newly crowned Knicks didn’t land at the top of the list. New York checks in at fourth-best odds to win it all next season, sitting at +700.
Ahead of the champs are two teams that squared off in this year’s Western Conference finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder — last year’s 2024-25 league champions — and the San Antonio Spurs, who fell to New York in five games in this year’s Finals, are deadlocked at the top of the board at +250.
Rounding out the upper tier is the Boston Celtics, who earned the No. 2 seed this season before a surprising early exit in the first round. Boston sits at +550 heading into next year.
After the Knicks at +700, the odds drop off sharply. The Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets are both listed at +2800, while the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Pistons, and Cleveland Cavaliers are each sitting at +3000.
At the very bottom of the board, the Sacramento Kings hold the longest odds of any team — a staggering +100000 shot to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy next summer.
Here is the full list of 2026-27 NBA title odds from DraftKings:
Spurs +250 | Thunder +250 | Celtics +550 | Knicks +700 | Pacers +2800 | Nuggets +2800 | Timberwolves +3000 | Lakers +3000 | Pistons +3000 | Cavaliers +3000 | Heat +4000 | Warriors +4500 | 76ers +5500 | Rockets +6000 | Clippers +7500 | Magic +8000 | Trail Blazers +9000 | Hornets +9000 | Raptors +10000 | Hawks +10000 | Wizards +12000 | Mavericks +12000 | Suns +12000 | Jazz +20000 | Pelicans +25000 | Bucks +25000 | Nets +25000 | Grizzlies +50000 | Bulls +75000 | Kings +100000
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Sunday that the United Kingdom is investigating a sanctioned oil tanker believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” — a network of ships allegedly used to move Russian oil in defiance of international sanctions imposed over Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
British armed forces intercepted and took control of the vessel, identified as the Smyrtos, on Sunday in the English Channel. The country’s Defense Ministry described it as “the first UK-led operation of its kind.”
According to a Defense Ministry statement, the tanker will remain under watch off the southern coast of England while an investigation takes place. The mission was conducted “in close coordination” with French authorities, who have previously stopped several vessels suspected of ties to the shadow fleet.
Russia is believed to be operating a fleet of hundreds of ships to circumvent the international sanctions placed on the country in response to its war against Ukraine.
“This operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide,” Starmer said.
British officials added that operations like this one are “directly bearing down on the resources sustaining Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and reducing its capacity to threaten security across Europe and beyond.”
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s president moved Sunday to break a growing political deadlock, naming a former mayor as his new candidate for prime minister after his earlier choice failed to build enough support to move forward.
President Nicusor Dan put forward Adrian Vestea, a 53-year-old career politician from central Brasov County and a longtime member of the National Liberal Party, to attempt to form a new government. Vestea marks Dan’s second prime ministerial pick this month. His previous nominee, Eugen Tomac, was unable to present a cabinet to Parliament within the required 10-day window.
Speaking at the presidential Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, Dan announced the change directly. “Eugen Tomac withdrew his mandate this morning and … I nominate Adrian Vestea as prime minister,” he said. The nomination still requires approval from lawmakers before it can take effect.
Dan defended his choice by pointing to Vestea’s extensive background in public administration. He noted that Vestea had “gone through all the administrative stages” over the course of his career, having served as mayor of a small town and as county council president of Brasov, where he successfully brought in European funding.
“He was a successful mayor, he was a successful county council president, he was a successful minister,” Dan said. “He is a categorically pro-Western person … a person who has worked for a long time with budgets. So I am convinced that he will successfully fulfill this task.”
Vestea, who held the role of development minister from 2023 to 2024, addressed reporters at the palace and outlined his vision. He said he hopes to lead a “political government that will undertake real reforms and keep Romania on a pro-Western path.”
“We are the sixth largest country in Europe, and we need to put a major emphasis on development,” Vestea added. “Which I will do from day one.”
The back-to-back nominations this month follow a no-confidence vote in May that brought down Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. With the next general election not set until 2028, the country faces an extended period of political uncertainty.
Romania is currently dealing with one of the highest budget deficits among European Union member nations, along with widespread inflation and a technical recession. When the governing coalition took power in June 2025, reducing the budget deficit was listed as a top priority. Bolojan had been sworn in with the goal of resolving what was described as one of Romania’s most severe political crises since the end of communist rule, but he remained in office for less than a year.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s top intelligence agency announced Sunday that it is setting up a new online reporting channel designed to allow Chinese nationals to safely submit tips and sensitive information, as tensions between Beijing and the self-governed island continue to run high.
The National Security Bureau of Taiwan said the new webpage will serve as a protected avenue for Chinese citizens to pass along intelligence. Officials noted that a growing number of individuals have recently reached out to Taiwanese agencies expressing a desire to share various kinds of information.
In an official statement, the bureau pointed to conditions inside China as a driving factor. “In recent years, China’s economy has faced mounting difficulties, while political control has remained tight,” the statement read. “Coupled with a growing range of social and livelihood-related problems, these conditions have fueled public discontent.”
Taiwanese officials said the decision was inspired by approaches already in use by intelligence agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel.
The move echoes a similar effort by the CIA, which last year released Mandarin-language videos on social media encouraging unhappy Chinese government officials to make contact and share information.
China has also made its own moves on this front, previously launching an online platform aimed at gathering reports of what it calls “Taiwan independence” activities, with the stated goal of holding what it describes as “separatists” accountable.
The roots of the conflict stretch back to 1949, when China and Taiwan were divided following a civil war. Beijing has long viewed Taiwan as part of its own territory and has insisted the island must eventually come under its authority — by force if necessary.
The latest developments come after U.S. President Donald Trump traveled to Beijing in mid-May for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. During that meeting, Xi warned Trump that the two nations could come into conflict over Taiwan if the matter was not carefully managed.
Military tensions have also been visible in recent days. China has conducted large-scale military drills near Taiwan, while on Wednesday, Taiwan’s armed forces fired rockets toward China from mobile launch vehicles in a show of force intended to demonstrate how the island might defend itself against an attack.
NEW DELHI — An Indian citizen died from medical complications while aboard the tanker MT Celestial, which was docked at Duqm Port in Oman, according to a statement released late Saturday by the Indian embassy in Muscat.
The embassy announced on social media that steps are being taken to return the sailor’s remains to India as quickly as possible. “Necessary arrangements are being made for the early repatriation of the mortal remains to India,” the embassy wrote.
India has a massive maritime workforce, with more than 300,000 seafarers serving on ships around the world, according to government figures. A shipping ministry official noted last week that more than 18,000 of those sailors are currently working in the Middle East.
The incident comes just days after three Indian seafarers lost their lives in a U.S. military strike on a tanker off the coast of Oman — a strike that occurred more than three months into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. That event drew sharp criticism from the Indian public and opposition political parties.
Opposition leaders have called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring up the matter directly with U.S. President Donald Trump when the two are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit later this week.
On Friday, India took the unusual step of filing a second formal protest with the United States over the strike. India’s foreign ministry said it summoned the U.S. chargé d’affaires to express “its deep concern over the use of lethal and deadly force against civilian shipping.”
The sailor who died aboard the MT Celestial has been identified as 35-year-old Nishanth Uirthanathan. He passed away on June 11, and according to the Forward Seamen’s Union of India, his body remained on the vessel for more than two days without proper refrigeration.
The union shared a video on social media that it said was taken aboard the tanker, describing a desperate situation. “Crew is using cold water bottles in a desperate attempt to slow decomposition — a horrifying and health-risking situation,” the union wrote.
WARSAW — Romania’s centrist president, Nicusor Dan, announced Sunday that he is nominating Adrian Vestea, a member of the liberal party, to serve as the country’s next prime minister. The announcement came after independent candidate Eugen Tomac stepped down from consideration earlier that morning.
Vestea, who is 52 years old, currently serves as the county council president of Brasov, a county in central Romania. Tomac had been attempting to form a government made up of technocrats — non-partisan policy experts — but was unable to secure enough backing from Romania’s parliamentary parties.
President Dan addressed the change directly on Sunday, stating, “Eugen Tomac withdrew his mandate this morning and as such I nominate Adrian Vestea as prime minister.” He added, “At the moment it is clear that a political (government) solution is the right one.”
Parties represented in Romania’s parliament had previously argued that a minority political government — one without a guaranteed majority — would be a preferable outcome compared to a technocrat-led administration.
The nomination is part of President Dan’s broader push to bring an end to a political standstill that has slowed government decision-making, put European Union funding at risk, and pushed Romania’s currency, the leu, to record low values. Once nominated, Vestea has a 10-day window to put together a cabinet and secure a parliamentary vote of confidence.
Romania’s next scheduled parliamentary election is not set to take place until 2028. The country has never held an early election, and political analysts suggest the chances of one occurring now are slim, particularly given that far-right opposition parties are currently leading in public opinion polls by a wide margin over pro-European political groups.
Daniel Schneemann’s two-run home run off Tarik Skubal was the defining moment of Saturday afternoon, as the Cleveland Guardians handed the visiting Detroit Tigers a 3-1 defeat — and spoiled the American League Cy Young Award winner’s much-anticipated return from left elbow surgery.
Skubal, now 3-3 on the season, was making his first mound appearance since April 29. The impending free agent lasted just 4 2/3 innings, surrendering three runs — two of them earned — on five hits, while striking out four, walking one and hitting a batter over 80 pitches thrown.
Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo (5-3) was sharp down the stretch, retiring the final nine hitters he faced across a five-inning, one-run performance. The left-hander scattered six hits and punched out four without issuing a single walk, earning his first victory since May 21 against the Tigers.
Schneemann’s 417-foot blast to right field in the third inning gave Cleveland a 3-1 cushion, plating Jose Ramirez — who later exited the contest and is expected to be placed on the injured list after suffering a broken hamate bone in his left hand. For Detroit, Dillon Dingler drove in Gleyber Torres with a first-inning single, but handed the Guardians a gift in the second when his throw sailed into left field on an attempted steal of third base by Travis Bazzana, allowing the tying run to score.
Dodgers 7, White Sox 1
Yoshinobu Yamamoto came within one out of a complete-game shutout before Tristan Peters broke it up with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth, but Los Angeles still cruised past host Chicago. Yamamoto (7-4) retired the first 23 White Sox batters, finished with just the one home run allowed, walked nobody and struck out seven across 8 1/3 innings. Max Muncy went 3-for-3 with a pair of two-run home runs, while Shohei Ohtani homered, scored twice and drew three walks. Kyle Tucker chipped in two RBIs. Chicago starter Sean Burke (3-4) gave up four runs on six hits over four innings, and the White Sox saw their eight-game home winning streak come to an end.
Cardinals 9, Twins 6
Ivan Herrera slugged two home runs, with his second igniting a five-run seventh inning that carried St. Louis past Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Cardinals broke a 4-4 deadlock by scoring five times on five consecutive batters in the seventh. Herrera and Jordan Walker hit back-to-back solo shots with two outs before Blaze Jordan capped the inning with his first career major league home run — a three-run blast. Matt Svanson (2-1) was flawless in 1 2/3 innings of relief. For Minnesota, Royce Lewis homered for the third time in his last four games, Byron Buxton hit his 22nd long ball of the year and Luke Keaschall added a two-run shot. Justin Lawrence (0-3) fanned the first two Cardinals he faced in the seventh before allowing four of the five runs to cross.
Padres 9, Orioles 3
Jackson Merrill and Samad Taylor each hit two-run home runs in the first inning to set the tone as San Diego rolled past host Baltimore. Gavin Sheets, Rodolfo Duran and Manny Machado also went deep as part of a five-homer showing for the Padres, while starter Randy Vasquez (6-4) recovered from a shaky first inning to earn the win. Taylor finished with three of San Diego’s 10 hits and drove in three runs. Pete Alonso homered and added a run-scoring double for Baltimore, falling a triple short of the cycle. Blaze Alexander also had three hits for the Orioles, who saw a three-game winning streak snapped.
Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1
Paul Goldschmidt delivered a two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift visiting New York past Toronto. Louis Varland (3-2) surrendered a bloop single to center by Cody Bellinger to open the ninth, and Goldschmidt followed by driving an 0-1 knuckle curve to left for his ninth home run of the season. David Bednar then struck out the side in the bottom half to earn his 14th save, giving the Yankees a split of the first two games of the series. Fernando Cruz (4-1) navigated three walks in the eighth to pick up the win. Kazuma Okamoto hit a solo homer for Toronto.
Pirates 3, Marlins 2
A bases-loaded hit by pitch to Spencer Horwitz in the eighth inning made the difference as host Pittsburgh edged Miami. Tyler Callihan and Jake Mangum singled off Anthony Bender (1-1), and Jared Triolo drew a walk to load the bases before Bender hit Horwitz with the first pitch to hand the Pirates the lead. It was just Pittsburgh’s second win over its last eight games. Yohan Ramirez (4-2) allowed the first two batters he faced in the top of the eighth to reach base but escaped without giving up a run. The defeat ended Miami’s season-best six-game winning streak. Liam Hicks and Heriberto Hernandez each had RBI singles for the Marlins, while Otto Lopez went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Red Sox 6, Rangers 3
Ceddanne Rafaela came through with a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning to power Boston past visiting Texas. Jarren Duran contributed a two-run home run, and Rafaela finished with two hits and two RBIs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two hits and scored twice, while Willson Contreras went 2-for-4 with a double for the Red Sox. Garrett Whitlock (4-1) earned the victory with a scoreless inning of relief, and Aroldis Chapman worked a clean ninth for his 14th save. For Texas, Jake Burger hit his 12th home run, Wyatt Langford went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Nicky Lopez had two hits.
Nationals 8, Mariners 3
Luis Garcia Jr. broke a tie with a two-run homer in the fifth inning as Washington defeated visiting Seattle. CJ Abrams collected three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice for the Nationals, who had dropped their previous two games. Starter Cade Cavalli (4-4) earned the win, allowing three runs on four hits over five innings. For Seattle, Colt Emerson hit his second home run in as many days — and sixth of the season — as part of a three-run fifth inning that briefly tied the game. Luis Castillo (2-6) gave up five runs, two of them earned, on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Reds 2, Diamondbacks 1
Noelvi Marte crushed a tie-breaking solo home run in the eighth inning to give Cincinnati a win over visiting Arizona in game two of their three-game series. Juan Morillo (1-3) entered to start the eighth and gave up Marte’s second homer of the season — a shot to left-center with one out — to break a 1-1 tie. Reds starter Rhett Lowder went 5 2/3 innings, surrendering one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two. Caleb Ferguson and Chase Petty (1-1) combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings before Tony Santillan closed it out in the ninth for his third save. Cincinnati had lost seven of its previous eight games.
Braves 3, Mets 1
Martin Perez turned in another strong outing, holding the opposition to one run over 5 1/3 innings as Atlanta edged host New York in the middle contest of a three-game series between National League East rivals. Eli White went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, while Michael Harris II added a solo shot in the eighth for the Braves, snapping a three-game skid. Perez (5-3) gave up one run on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Mark Vientos had an RBI single in the sixth for the Mets, who fell to 2-3 on their current homestand. New York starter Sean Manaea (1-2) — making just his second career start after 14 bullpen appearances this season — gave up two runs on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts over six innings.
Phillies 9, Brewers 8
J.T. Realmuto homered and drove in four runs as Philadelphia held on to beat Milwaukee on the road. Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, Edmundo Sosa and Realmuto each had three hits for the Phillies, who racked up a season-high 17 hits after being held to just one hit by Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski the night before. Bryson Stott contributed two hits, two RBIs and two runs. Left-hander Tim Mayza (2-1) allowed one hit in one-third of an inning to earn the win for Philadelphia, which has now won eight of its last 11 games. Jackson Chourio went 4-for-5 with two home runs for the Brewers, while Garrett Mitchell also homered and William Contreras had three hits. Shane Drohan (3-2) was tagged for four runs and eight hits in five-plus innings.
Angels 8, Rays 0
Jo Adell went 4-for-5 with a double and three runs scored, and Jose Siri added a two-run homer as Los Angeles pounded out 15 hits in an 8-0 shutout of Tampa Bay in Anaheim. Denzer Guzman went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Donovan Walton contributed three hits, a double and two RBIs. Nolan Schanuel had two hits and scored twice for the Angels, who have now won four straight and five of their last six. Jose Soriano (8-4) allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five. Tampa Bay starter Griffin Jax (1-5) took the loss despite surrendering just one unearned run on five hits over five innings. The victory gave Los Angeles back-to-back home series wins — the first time that has happened since June 5-11, 2025.
Athletics 7, Rockies 5
Zack Gelof homered and singled to extend his hitting streak to 17 games as the surging Athletics topped Colorado in Las Vegas. Alika Williams had three hits, Henry Bolte added two and Jose Suarez (1-2) worked 1 2/3 innings of relief for the A’s, who have won four straight during their first homestand in their future home city. Elvis Alvarado retired the final three batters for his second save. Brett Sullivan homered for Colorado, while TJ Rumfield and Troy Johnston each had two hits. Starter Kyle Freeland (1-7) gave up six runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings. The Rockies have now dropped three straight and seven of nine.
Astros 8, Royals 7
Christian Walker was part of a four-homer effort for Houston and reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed the go-ahead run to score in the ninth as the Astros edged host Kansas City. Jose Altuve, Jake Meyers, Brice Matthews and Walker all went deep for Houston, while Yordan Alvarez had three hits. In the ninth, with runners on first and third and one out, Alex Lange (0-4) got Walker to hit what looked like a potential double-play grounder, but second baseman Nick Loftin’s throw sailed wide of first base, allowing the tiebreaking run to score. Bryan King (1-1) worked a scoreless inning with a strikeout to earn the win. Carter Jensen’s three-run double in the sixth had given Kansas City a 7-5 lead. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled for his third hit of the game in the ninth but was doubled off second base when Isaac Collins lined out to end the contest.
Cubs 6, Giants 1
Pete Crow-Armstrong homered on the very first pitch of the game, Ben Brown delivered five solid innings and visiting Chicago beat San Francisco for the second straight time in their three-game series. Rookie Pedro Ramirez hit his first career home run and Ian Happ added another as the Cubs collected 11 hits, including four doubles. Brown (3-2) worked in and out of trouble to record 15 outs, allowing just one run despite giving up seven hits and three walks. San Francisco went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position while Brown was on the mound. The Giants’ only run came in the third when Drew Gilbert walked and eventually scored on a Luis Arraez triple. Trevor McDonald (2-4) was charged with four runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Four major banks in Iran had their services disrupted Sunday following a cyberattack, though officials say no customer information was put at risk, according to reports from state media.
Iran’s banking coordination council confirmed the attack hit a shared communications network connecting Bank Melli, Bank Tejarat, Bank Saderat, and the Export Development Bank of Iran. In response, technical teams moved quickly to put protective measures in place, which temporarily affected some banking services.
The council stressed that no customer data had been accessed without authorization and that nothing had been deleted. Officials added that recovery efforts are currently underway to bring services back to normal.
GENEVA — Swiss citizens cast their votes Sunday on a controversial measure that would place a hard ceiling on the country’s population at 10 million people, an effort led by the nation’s dominant right-wing political party.
The Swiss People’s Party, which holds more seats in parliament than any other party, has spent years stoking concerns about immigration — particularly the steady flow of workers arriving from neighboring European Union countries. The party is behind what it calls the “sustainability initiative,” arguing that population growth has put serious strain on Switzerland’s housing, infrastructure, social services, natural resources, and overall quality of life.
But opponents of the measure say it would do more harm than good. They argue that the wave of immigration over the past several decades has been a net positive, supplying skilled workers to key industries including healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology. There are also concerns that passing the measure could damage Switzerland’s relationship with the EU, which is the country’s largest trading partner.
Switzerland’s federal government and parliament both stand in opposition to the initiative.
If voters approve the measure, the Swiss government would be required to take steps to keep the population below 10 million by the year 2050. Should the population hit 9.5 million before that deadline, the government would be compelled to tighten rules around asylum seekers, family reunification, and residency permits. It could also be forced to abandon Switzerland’s agreement with the EU allowing people to freely live and work across their shared borders.
A recent survey from polling agency gfs.bern indicated the vote was shaping up to be a tight race.
Switzerland operates under a direct democracy system that allows citizens to weigh in on policy decisions through referendums, which are typically held four times each year. The majority of votes are submitted by mail, with in-person polling closing at noon local time on Sunday.
According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 32% of Switzerland’s population was foreign-born as of 2024 — a share exceeded only by Luxembourg and Australia among the group’s 38 member nations.
Since Switzerland and the EU opened their borders to one another’s citizens in 2002, Switzerland’s population has climbed 23%, reaching 9.1 million by the close of last year. Over that same stretch, the country’s economic output grew by 24%, according to government figures.
Immigration has been a recurring flashpoint across Europe, where countries face the dual pressures of aging populations and rising anti-foreigner sentiment. In Switzerland’s case, however, most of the foreign-born residents are fellow Europeans — a distinction from other parts of the continent where concerns tend to focus on migrants from developing nations.
Swiss voters have confronted immigration-related questions at the ballot box many times over the past 50 years. Only one such vote has succeeded — a 2014 referendum titled “Against mass immigration” — which squeaked through after campaigners raised alarms about overpopulation and a growing Muslim presence in the country.
Experts in Switzerland note that while many countries place limits on who can immigrate, no nation has ever gone so far as to vote on capping its total population size.
Northbound lanes on Delaware Route 1 at Janice Road are currently closed following a crash, according to transportation officials.
Motorists traveling northbound in the affected area should anticipate significant delays and are encouraged to seek alternate routes until the roadway is cleared.
No further details regarding the crash, including the number of vehicles involved or any injuries, have been made available at this time. TV Delmarva will provide updates as more information becomes available.
The Chicago Cubs wasted no time making their presence felt Saturday night, as Pete Crow-Armstrong sent the game’s opening pitch over the fence in left-center field for his 12th home run of the season. From there, Chicago never slowed down, cruising to a 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants to claim back-to-back wins in their three-game series.
Crow-Armstrong’s leadoff blast came off a slider from Trevor McDonald and set the tone for an evening that saw the Cubs collect 11 total hits, including four doubles and three home runs. Crow-Armstrong finished the night with a double and a single as well, giving him a three-hit performance overall.
Chicago extended its lead in the third inning when Crow-Armstrong’s double helped ignite a two-run rally. He came home on a single by Seiya Suzuki, and Michael Busch pushed the score to 3-0 by stealing home as part of a double steal with Ian Happ.
McDonald ran into further trouble in the fourth, exiting with the bases loaded and two outs. Reliever Reiver Sanmartin then walked Busch to push the Cubs’ advantage to 4-0. McDonald finished the night charged with four runs on six hits across 3 2/3 innings, walking three batters and striking out four to fall to 2-4 on the season.
The Cubs wrapped up their scoring in the fifth inning on home runs by Happ, his 16th of the year, and rookie Pedro Ramirez, who connected for the first home run of his major league career in just his 29th plate appearance. Ramirez also added a double on the night.
On the mound, Ben Brown was the story for Chicago. The right-hander worked through several jams over five innings, surrendering just one run despite giving up seven hits and three walks. He struck out three and improved his record to 3-2. Brown has now allowed one run or fewer in six of his seven starts this season and finished the night with the same ERA he carried into the game — a sharp 1.74.
San Francisco’s lone run came in the third inning when Drew Gilbert drew a walk and eventually scored on a triple by Luis Arraez. The Giants struggled with runners on base all night, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position during Brown’s time on the mound.
Gilbert walked three times for San Francisco, and Rafael Devers contributed a double and a single. The loss dropped the Giants to 1-4 on their current six-game homestand.
British armed forces stopped a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker from passing through the English Channel on Sunday, June 14, in an operation personally ordered by the country’s prime minister.
The tanker, identified as the SMYRTOS, was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos working alongside specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency, according to a statement released by Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
The vessel is being held and monitored off the southern coast of Britain while an investigation moves forward. Officials noted that the enforcement action took place within British territorial waters and was carried out in full compliance with both domestic and international law.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that he gave the order for the interception to take place.
“This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide,” Starmer wrote in a post on X.
Turkey’s long-awaited return to the World Cup ended in disappointment Saturday, as Australia walked away with a 2-0 Group D victory in Vancouver, ending a 24-year absence from the tournament’s biggest stage for the Turkish side on a sour note.
It wasn’t a dominant performance from the Australians — they generated few opportunities — but they converted the chances they did get with clinical precision. Meanwhile, their disciplined defensive unit turned away wave after wave of Turkish pressure to preserve the result.
Turkey, appearing at the World Cup finals for the first time since finishing third back in 2002, leaned heavily on 21-year-old creative midfielder Arda Guler to spark their attack. He tested the Australian goalkeeper as early as the seventh minute, though his first attempt sailed over the crossbar without threatening.
The Australians took notice and worked to limit Guler’s influence. He eventually got a shot on frame in the 27th minute with a struck volley, but goalkeeper Patrick Beach came up with the stop.
Australia then broke the deadlock on their very next offensive push. Speedy forward Nestory Irankunda chased a through ball from Paul Okon-Engstler along the left side, cut toward goal, and slipped the ball past Turkish goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir to put his team ahead.
Turkey nearly pulled level just three minutes afterward. Defender Abdulkerim Bardakci brought the ball down with his chest and unleashed a curling shot off the outside of his left foot, but Beach produced a brilliant fingertip save to redirect the ball onto the post and keep Australia’s lead intact.
The Socceroos carried their one-goal advantage into halftime, and the second half followed a familiar script — Turkey holding the ball and pressing forward, while Australia sat deep, ceded space on the wings, and packed the center of the field to deny Guler and his teammates room to operate.
Despite Turkey’s sustained pressure in search of an equalizer, Australia delivered a knockout blow in the 75th minute. Midfielder Connor Metcalfe pounced on a loose ball and launched a shot from well outside the box. The bouncing effort found the back of the net, putting the match firmly out of reach.
With the win, Australia moves into second place in Group D. The United States, one of the tournament’s co-hosts, leads the group after crushing Paraguay 4-1 on Friday.
GENEVA — Wooden panels now cover the windows and doors of countless shops and businesses in downtown Geneva, as owners brace for large-scale anti-G7 demonstrations planned for Sunday.
Both French and Swiss authorities have put sweeping security measures in place ahead of a G7 summit of leading industrialized nations that kicks off Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders are expected to attend, and officials fear the high-profile gathering could spark violent unrest.
The summit, scheduled for June 15 through 17, is being held in the French town of Evian-les-Bains along the shores of Lake Geneva. Discussions are expected to center on the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and global economic imbalances. A range of activist groups — including environmentalists, feminists, and opponents of capitalism — have called for a large rally Sunday.
On Saturday, roughly 20 boats sailed across Lake Geneva near Evian, flying anti-G7 and pro-Palestinian banners. According to Swiss media, about 20 protesters were taken into custody Friday evening. Earlier, between 100 and 150 people took part in a protest bicycle ride through Geneva, slowing traffic while chanting anti-G7 and pro-Palestinian slogans, according to public broadcaster RTS.
Much of the anxiety stems from memories of the G8 summit in 2003, when Geneva saw widespread property destruction as protests turned violent. Local resident Robin Hedz described the current scene as a “mess” and said he was puzzled by the “wood-wall everywhere,” though he acknowledged the city’s painful history with summit-related unrest.
The Swiss government announced that approximately 4,000 military personnel will be deployed to assist police throughout the summit. Security operations will include restrictions on airspace and roadways, as well as patrols on Lake Geneva. Of 35 border road crossings, only seven will remain open. The city is also shutting down a major park that activists had intended to use as a gathering spot.
Across the border in France, more than 13,000 police and gendarmerie officers will be on duty in the summit zone. French border control staffing is surging from roughly 60 officers under normal conditions to more than 800. French gendarmes were already visible Saturday, patrolling by motorboat off the Evian coastline, with one officer seen carrying a large drone-interception device.
Protests at high-profile international summits are not unusual, but this time demonstrators say they have a long list of grievances. Activists are voicing frustration over Trump’s positions on tariffs, the war in Iran, and climate change, and some want to draw attention to his past connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Francoise Nyffeler, a spokesperson for the NoG7 coalition organizing Sunday’s march, explained the motivation behind the protest. “We are very afraid of the policy and the politics of Mr. Trump and also of the other leaders of the G7, because they are fighting, making war all over the place,” she said.
“The planet is in danger and we are very scared about it and we want to protest and say that the people of the world are against their policies,” Nyffeler added.
The Detroit Tigers announced Saturday that right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty has been sidelined, landing on the 15-day injured list due to a peroneal tendon strain along the outer side of his left ankle and foot.
The timing adds to the team’s pitching challenges, arriving just as ace Tarik Skubal — who had been recovering from left elbow surgery — was activated from the 15-day IL and returned to the mound for the first time since April 29. Skubal’s comeback start ended in a 3-1 defeat to the host Cleveland Guardians.
Flaherty, who turns 30, made his most recent appearance Friday, surrendering two runs on three hits across three innings before leaving the game with the leg issue. The trouble began in the first inning when his left cleat appeared to slip during his follow-through as he faced batter Chase DeLauter.
Speaking Saturday, Flaherty described how the injury progressed during the game. “Kind of tightened up between the first and second,” he said. “Didn’t feel great. When I went over to cover first, it tightened up on me even more. … I wasn’t finishing the same way after the first. My mechanics weren’t the same. There was a lot of discomfort.”
Before leaving the game, Flaherty switched cleats heading into the third inning. He made one final notable play — lunging to field a comebacker off the bat of Kyle Manzardo to record the last out of the inning — before Detroit ultimately fell 3-2.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch confirmed what everyone in the ballpark witnessed. “He slipped on the mound. We all saw that,” Hinch said. “And then he was able to recover and tolerate it. He talked a little bit about it in the second inning, and then the (comebacker in the third) really irritated him. We’re going to get tests and get him worked up and looked at and all that.”
Through 15 starts this season, Flaherty carries a 1-8 record — tied for the most losses in the major leagues — along with a 5.35 ERA. He has walked 34 batters and struck out 78 in 65 and two-thirds innings pitched.
Over the course of his career, Flaherty owns a 64-64 record with a 3.89 ERA, 385 walks, and 1,208 strikeouts across 1,056 and one-third innings in 205 regular-season appearances — 199 of them starts. He has suited up for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2017 through 2023, the Baltimore Orioles in 2023, the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, and the Detroit Tigers in 2024 and into the current season. In postseason play, he is 2-6 with a 5.05 ERA in 13 playoff games, including 11 starts.
The Tigers also made two additional roster moves Saturday. Right-hander Ty Madden, 26, was optioned down to Triple-A Toledo. He posted a 0-0 record with a 3.15 ERA, five walks, and 23 strikeouts across 20 innings in seven appearances — one of them a start — for Detroit this season. Taking his roster spot, infielder Hao-Yu Lee, 23, was recalled from Toledo. Lee is hitting .212, going 18-for-85 with two home runs and nine RBIs across 33 games with the Tigers this year.
Looking ahead, manager Hinch indicated Friday that starting right-hander Casey Mize, currently on the 15-day IL with an adductor injury, is expected to be activated and take the mound Sunday against Cleveland.
MELBOURNE, Australia — A shark attack off a popular Sydney beach has prompted authorities in New South Wales to push for a review of drone flight restrictions, after a woman was left critically injured on Saturday morning.
Emergency crews responded to Coogee Beach in eastern Sydney after reports that a 35-year-old woman had been bitten by a large shark roughly 30 metres — about 100 feet — from the shoreline.
As of Sunday, the woman remained in critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital, according to a spokesperson who spoke with Reuters. She suffered serious injuries to her lower left leg and both arms.
Coogee Beach and several other beaches in the city’s Randwick Council area were shut down for 24 hours in the wake of the attack. Drones were deployed under emergency provisions to scan the waters for sharks during that time.
New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty addressed the growing concern over shark activity in the region. “It’s been a really tough summer of shark activity and shark attacks in Sydney and it’s something that the NSW government is taking really, really seriously,” she said.
Moriarty added that the government would explore new measures to protect swimmers, including expanded use of drones and other surveillance technology.
While Australian lifesavers routinely use drones to watch for sharks, Coogee Beach has long faced restrictions on commercial drone flights because it falls beneath the flight path of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. Following Saturday’s attack, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority released a statement indicating the agency would look into modifying the existing rules.
A paddleboard champion and off-duty lifeguard, 25-year-old Charlie Verco, was credited with rescuing the woman and bringing her safely to shore. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Verco described the terrifying moment he spotted a three-to-four-metre shark near a group of swimmers.
“I just looked at the beach, tried to signal to the lifeguards, a big code X, to get them to understand how it was going on out there, clear the water if they could, and get the power craft out there,” Verco recalled.
He went on to describe the most harrowing part of the rescue: “She ended up getting taken underwater for a second. I couldn’t see where she was because it was all red. And luckily, she popped up and shark had let her go and I was able to get close enough to bring her into shore.”
Once on the beach, the woman was met by lifeguards, police, and medical personnel before being transported by ambulance to the hospital.
Saturday’s attack is part of a broader pattern of shark incidents across Australia this year. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the country’s east and southeast coastline averages around 20 shark attacks annually, with that stretch of shoreline accounting for the majority of such incidents.
Federal health officials announced Saturday that Nara Organics has pulled its organic baby formula from shelves after a multistate outbreak of infant botulism was linked to the product.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, three infants between 2 and 5 months old fell ill in April and May after drinking Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Powdered infant formula. The babies were from California, Pennsylvania, and Washington. All three were hospitalized and received the FDA-approved treatment for infant botulism.
The formula is sold at Target stores across the country and on Nara.com. It is manufactured in Europe but distributed exclusively in the United States.
Infant botulism is a rare but potentially dangerous condition that affects babies under one year of age. Because infants have underdeveloped gut microbiomes, they are vulnerable to bacteria with spores that release a toxin inside the digestive system.
Parents and caregivers should watch for warning signs that include constipation, poor feeding, drooping eyelids, weak muscle tone, trouble swallowing, and breathing difficulties. Any baby showing these symptoms requires immediate medical care.
The only available treatment is BabyBIG, an intravenous medication derived from the blood plasma of individuals who have been immunized against botulism.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement urging anyone who has the formula to stop using it right away. The CDC also recommended that those with an opened can take a photo of the label, write down the lot number and use-by date, and monitor their infant closely.
“Label it ‘DO NOT USE’ and keep it stored in a safe place away from other items you feed your baby for at least a month,” the CDC advised. “If no symptoms appear after a month, throw the leftover formula away.”
The FDA noted that Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula accounts for less than one percent of all baby formula sold in the U.S., and the recall is not expected to cause any shortage concerns for families.
The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey has put a Coastal Flood Advisory into effect starting early June 14 at 12:11 AM EDT, with the alert set to expire at 1:00 AM EDT on June 15.
The advisory signals that minor coastal flooding is possible during this timeframe. Residents living near the coast should take precautions and stay alert to changing water conditions, particularly during high tide cycles.
Coastal flood advisories are typically issued when water levels are expected to rise enough to cause minor flooding in low-lying areas near shorelines, including roads, parking lots, and properties close to the water’s edge.
Residents are encouraged to monitor updates from the National Weather Service and avoid driving through flooded roadways. Additional details and any changes to the advisory can be found through official NWS channels.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jalen Brunson knew exactly how much fans were shelling out to witness the New York Knicks capture an NBA championship. Finals tickets were going for $5,000, $50,000, and in some cases even more.
But no one in those seats gave up more money than Brunson himself.
Brunson walked away from this season as both an NBA champion and the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player — a reward built largely on his performance against the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals, but more importantly on a financial sacrifice he made back in 2024. That year, Brunson voluntarily left as much as $113 million in potential earnings on the table, giving the Knicks the salary cap room they needed to assemble a championship-caliber team around him.
It was called an unprecedented move at the time.
It turned out to be the right one.
With a championship now in hand, Brunson has earned a place among New York’s all-time sports legends — a group that includes the likes of Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, and Mark Messier. Brunson, by most accounts, is someone who prefers to stay out of the spotlight. But when you deliver a first title in more than 50 years to one of sports’ most storied franchises, the attention is unavoidable.
The Knicks’ turnaround over the past four seasons has many contributors, but Brunson sits at the top of that list. Before he arrived, New York had managed just four winning seasons over a 21-year stretch. Since Brunson joined the team, the Knicks have posted four winning seasons in four years. They have won eight playoff series with him in uniform; in the 24 years from 1998 through 2022, the franchise won just seven total.
His individual credentials are equally impressive. Brunson has earned three straight All-Star selections and has averaged at least 26 points per game in each of the past three seasons. The only other players to accomplish both of those things over that same three-year stretch are Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Durant, and Giannis Antetokounmpo — all NBA champions. Brunson now joins that club.
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson offered high praise during the series. “He’s a tremendous player that’s skilled, picks his spots, knows his angles, shoots contested shots without being sped up,” Johnson said. “He’s a phenomenal player.”
Interestingly, the state of Texas has been a lucky destination for Brunson when it comes to winning titles. His Villanova squad claimed the 2016 national championship in Houston, and the 2018 title came in San Antonio — at the Alamodome, just a short distance from the arena where the Spurs play.
Texas as a professional stop, however, was a different story — and that’s ultimately what brought Brunson to New York.
After departing Dallas in 2022 following a contract dispute in which the team failed to offer him what he believed he was worth, Brunson signed with the Knicks.
Two years later, he made another financial decision that raised eyebrows across the league.
In 2024, Brunson agreed to a four-year contract extension with New York valued at up to $156.5 million — if he exercises his option for the 2028-29 season. Had he waited until 2025 to sign an extension, he would have been eligible for a five-year deal worth $269 million.
The expectation is that Brunson will more than make up for the difference in his next contract, which could exceed $300 million — perhaps by a significant margin. But by accepting the smaller deal when he did, he freed up the money the Knicks needed to make additional moves. Following his June 2024 decision, New York added starters Mikal Bridges — a former Villanova teammate — and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Whether those additions could have happened without Brunson’s sacrifice is debatable, but most would say it was unlikely.
Knicks forward Josh Hart — part of what fans have dubbed the ‘Nova Knicks, the nickname for the trio of Hart, Brunson, and Bridges, all of whom won NCAA championships at Villanova and have now won an NBA title in New York — reflected on what Brunson means to the team.
“I think he’s still underrated in the league, and he keeps proving people wrong, game by game, series by series, playoff appearance by playoff appearance,” Hart said. “As a friend, as a teammate, it’s funny because you know he’s one of the best players in the league, and you’re happy that he’s starting to get some recognition.”
Recognition doesn’t quite cover it anymore. Now, he has a ring.
People around the world can’t seem to get enough protein in their diets — but the dairy industry is having a hard time keeping up with that demand.
For years, athletes and older adults have relied on whey protein concentrate — a powdered substance left over from the cheese-making process — to help build and preserve muscle through smoothies and shakes. Now, food manufacturers are adding it to a wide range of everyday products, including breakfast cereals, Pop-Tarts, potato chips, bagels, tortillas, and even certain Starbucks beverages, all in an effort to satisfy shoppers who are paying close attention to what goes into their food.
According to market research firm NielsenIQ, the average American supermarket now carries 38,708 products that promote their protein content. But that rush to capitalize on the protein trend is straining the supply of food-grade whey protein and driving prices to historic highs.
“Demand is very firm and seemingly outpacing supply for right now,” said Kathleen Wolfley, vice president of Ever.Ag Insights, a data and consulting firm serving the agriculture sector.
Wolfley noted that wholesale whey protein prices started climbing in 2024, with the increases picking up speed last year and continuing into this year. Whey protein concentrate with 80% protein content — commonly used by food producers and supplement makers — is now trading on the dairy commodities market at more than $13 per pound in the United States, a jump of 250% compared to a year ago, according to Ever.Ag. A more refined version called whey protein isolate, which contains at least 90% protein, is selling for 150% more than it did a year ago.
Those wholesale increases are working their way to store shelves. U.S. retail prices for whey protein concentrate powder have climbed roughly 15% over the past year, while the pricier whey isolate powder has seen even steeper increases, according to price-tracking company Datasembly.
The situation in Europe is similar. In late May, 80% whey protein concentrate reached a new record average price of 26,450 euros — about $30,518 — per metric ton, more than double the price from less than a year earlier, according to DCA Market Intelligence, a commodity pricing firm based in the Netherlands.
To understand why supplies are so tight, it helps to know how whey is made. Milk naturally contains two proteins: casein and whey. When cheese is produced, the casein forms solid curds and is separated from the liquid whey, which is then dried into a powder. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, every pound of cheese produced generates nine pounds of whey.
While Americans have been drinking less milk for decades, their love of cheese has stayed strong, Wolfley said. That cheese consumption produced large amounts of whey protein, and in the past, a significant portion of the surplus was shipped overseas — particularly to China. But now, growing domestic appetite for high-protein snacks and meals is keeping more of that whey at home, either as a food additive or a nutritional supplement. U.S. exports of 80% whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolate to China dropped 47% from January through April compared to the same stretch a year earlier, according to Vesper, an Amsterdam-based commodity tracking company.
“There simply isn’t enough product for the U.S. customer, and exports have therefore been paused as much as possible,” said Jasper Endlich, a dairy analyst at Vesper.
Endlich added that China is now turning to Europe to fill its whey protein needs — but Europe is also experiencing shortages, partly because of the reduction in American exports.
One major driver of the surge in demand is the growing use of GLP-1 weight-loss medications, Wolfley said. Drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound work by suppressing appetite, meaning the people who take them need to make every bite count nutritionally. Experts advise GLP-1 users to eat enough protein to stay full longer and to protect muscle mass during weight loss.
According to an estimate from investment bank Morgan Stanley, roughly 6% of obese and diabetic patients in the U.S. and 2% of such patients worldwide were using GLP-1 drugs last year. Some estimates place overall GLP-1 use as high as 12% of the U.S. adult population, since many users are not obese or diabetic.
Food and nutrition companies are racing to develop protein-enriched products to appeal to GLP-1 users as well as people who turn to protein shakes as a meal replacement for weight management.
The squeeze on supplies has forced some manufacturers to raise their prices. Now Foods, an Illinois-based maker of health foods and nutritional supplements, said whey protein powder tubs are consistently its top-selling sports nutrition item. After two years of rising raw ingredient costs, the company increased its whey protein product prices earlier this year.
Bryan Morin, the sports brand manager at Now Foods, said the company does not expect to raise whey protein powder prices again this year and is instead trying to absorb some of the added costs by scaling back on discounts. The company is also exploring whether to add products made with milk protein concentrate — a powder that contains less whey and costs less — to its lineup.
“From our perspective, broader market dynamics continue to indicate a tight and evolving protein landscape,” Morin said.
Wolfley said manufacturers are putting money into expanding whey protein production, which should eventually ease the shortage — but not right away. Glanbia, an Irish nutrition company, announced in November that it plans to boost whey protein isolate production at its New Mexico facility, though that added capacity won’t come online until 2027. In February, Canadian dairy company Agropur said it intends to ramp up whey protein manufacturing at plants located in Quebec, Nova Scotia, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
In the meantime, Wolfley said, higher prices may push some consumers to stop buying whey protein products altogether — especially as grocery costs rise across the board. If retail demand softens, that could help ease the shortage at the wholesale level.
“The supply-demand dynamics could start to improve, but I don’t know if that’s a tomorrow dynamic or within a year. Some of these things are going to take time,” Wolfley said.
HOOVER, Ala. — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is no stranger to questions about where he actually calls home. For years, critics have argued the Alabama senator spends more time in Florida than in the state he represents. Now, as he campaigns for governor, those same questions are back — and this time they carry real legal weight.
Alabama Republican Party leaders are set to gather Sunday for a private hearing to decide whether Tuberville has satisfied the Alabama Constitution’s requirement that a governor be a resident of the state for at least seven years before the election. The challenge was brought by Ken McFeeters, who ran against Tuberville in last month’s Republican primary.
McFeeters was blunt about his position. “Does he live in Alabama? No,” he said. “He doesn’t live here.”
Tuberville, who crushed McFeeters in the primary with 85% of the vote and has received an endorsement from President Donald Trump, has dismissed the challenge entirely and insists he meets all legal requirements to run.
His campaign chairman, Jordan Doufexis, struck a confident tone earlier this month. “We’re happy to put the residency issue to bed,” Doufexis said, adding that “it’s time to provide the facts and move on.”
Property records, however, paint a complicated picture. Tuberville and his wife own a beachfront home in Florida appraised at $5.6 million. His campaign points to a much more modest property in Auburn as his official residence — a 1,551-square-foot home with an appraised value of roughly $291,780.
That Auburn property was originally purchased by Tuberville’s wife and son in 2017. The senator’s name was added to the deed later, while his son’s name was subsequently removed. Records indicate both the Auburn and Florida properties have recently been placed into a revocable trust.
To support his residency claim, Tuberville released Alabama income tax returns covering 2018 through 2024, though much of the information in those documents was blacked out. The returns list a redacted Auburn address and suggest the Tubervilles established Alabama residency in August 2018.
Voting records complicate that timeline. Tuberville cast a ballot in Florida in November 2018. He did not register to vote in Alabama until March 28, 2019 — roughly two weeks before he announced his Senate campaign.
McFeeters also pointed to Tuberville’s Senate travel records, which he said show the senator frequently traveling to the Florida Panhandle — further evidence, in his view, that Florida is where Tuberville truly resides.
Tuberville spent a decade as head football coach at Auburn University, from 1999 to 2008, before moving on to coaching positions at Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati. After stepping away from coaching, he joined ESPN as an analyst. In a 2017 promotional video for the network, Tuberville spoke openly about having moved to Florida following his retirement from coaching.
The constitutional language at the center of this dispute is itself somewhat unclear. The Alabama Constitution states that the governor and lieutenant governor “shall have been citizens of the United States ten years and resident citizens of this state at least seven years next before the date of their election” — wording that legal experts say could complicate any court fight over the matter.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Scott Stadthagen is expected to publicly announce the panel’s decision following Sunday’s closed-door session.
McFeeters said he has little confidence the hearing will result in a thorough examination of the issue. Still, he believes the question of where Tuberville lives will continue to follow the candidate if the party allows him to remain on the ballot.
This is not the first time Tuberville has weathered this kind of scrutiny. When he ran for Senate in 2020, his opponent Jeff Sessions — who had previously held the same seat before becoming President Trump’s first attorney general — ran a television ad calling Tuberville a “Florida Man.” Tuberville still won that Republican primary runoff with 61% of the vote to Sessions’ 39%, and went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in the general election.
Tuberville and Jones now appear headed for a rematch, this time in the race for governor in November.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is ringing in his 80th birthday Sunday with a birthday celebration the likes of which the White House has never seen: a professional cage-fighting event staged on the historic South Lawn.
Despite the fanfare, a series of serious challenges have threatened to steal the spotlight from the elaborate UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza — a competition where fighters locked inside a wire-mesh octagon attempt to overpower one another through punches, kicks, and grappling moves.
The president finds himself entangled in an expensive and unpopular war he helped ignite with Iran. A resolution may be within reach, but key details remain unresolved. Meanwhile, just a short distance from the birthday festivities, workers were removing the president’s name from the Kennedy Center after a court determined the renaming had exceeded legal boundaries.
None of that is expected to dim the celebration, however. The president is set to step outside to a crowd of Cabinet members, top administration officials, Republican members of Congress, and more than 4,000 cheering fans packed into a temporary outdoor arena beneath what’s being called “The Claw” — a spacecraft-shaped metal arch loaded with lights, speakers, and oversized video screens. Additional thousands will take in the action from large screens set up at the nearby Ellipse.
UFC chief Dana White, a close friend of the president, spoke enthusiastically about the event during a Friday night promotional gathering at the Lincoln Memorial, where fighters faced off for cameras beneath the marble statue of Abraham Lincoln. “This event is a one of one event, incredible event. I love it,” White said.
The president has framed Sunday’s event — which includes seven bouts running past midnight — as part of a broader, months-long commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In practice, however, the celebration appears far more focused on honoring the president himself. The G7 summit of industrialized nation leaders was even rescheduled to allow the president to attend his cage-match party before flying directly to France for those meetings.
Weather remains a wild card. Severe thunderstorms and lightning forced disruptions at Friday’s Lincoln Memorial event, and forecasts for Sunday evening also look unsettled. “I’m sick and tired of hearing about the weather,” White declared Friday, though he acknowledged he would prefer to hold future UFC events in enclosed arenas.
The contrast with past milestone birthdays is striking. When the previous president turned 80 in November 2022, he marked the occasion with a quiet family brunch at the White House — a far cry from Sunday’s spectacle.
White House spokesperson Allison Schuster pushed back on comparisons, saying the fight “will be one of the most entertaining nights in American history.” Schuster added: “Having this spectacle take place at the people’s house on Flag Day during our nations’ semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute.”
When the previous president hit 80, he held the distinction of being the oldest person ever to serve as U.S. president — a title Trump has since claimed for himself. Trump is constitutionally prohibited from seeking another term, yet he regularly flirts with the idea in public statements. This comes even as polls reflect growing public doubt about his mental and physical fitness — echoing the same concerns that shadowed his predecessor.
A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that fewer than half of American adults believe Trump possesses the mental sharpness or physical health needed to effectively carry out the duties of the presidency.
The White House responded with a lengthy statement from Trump’s former White House physician, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who argued that Trump’s “stamina, focus, and strength are exceptional and on display every day. Claims to the contrary are pure fiction.” Jackson went on to say the polling concerns were “being propagated by the same biased, liberal, Trump-hating press that completely ignored the absolute cognitive and physical disaster that was President Biden.”
The president has undergone four publicly disclosed physical exams during this term, with White House physician Dr. Sean Barbabella recently pronouncing him in “excellent health.”
The UFC event fits neatly with Trump’s combative approach to politics. He has long embraced a confrontational style that mirrors the sport he is celebrating.
Trump has also built a reputation for political sleight of hand — drawing public attention elsewhere when his administration faces difficulties. With the Iran conflict dragging on despite repeated assurances that a conclusion was near, fuel prices remaining elevated, renewed inflation fears, and his job approval numbers sliding, a jaw-dropping White House birthday bash serves as a convenient distraction.
“This is all distraction,” said Mike Fontaine, a classics professor at Cornell University, who compared the event to gladiatorial games in Imperial Rome — public bloodsport used by rulers to boost their standing and head off civil unrest. “This is a classic strategy,” Fontaine said. “In ancient Rome, the phrase would be, ‘bread and circuses.’”
Trump has stated that UFC is footing the bill for the event, though the full financial picture has not been made public. The National Park Service disclosed in a court filing that more than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been invested in the production, with seven federal agencies having “allocated significant resources and manpower.”
UFC also announced Friday that cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial had joined as an official event partner, contributing a $250,000 bonus pool for winning fighters. The crypto firm is co-owned by the Trump family, was founded alongside the president’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, and is operated by his son Zach. The partnership raises further questions about the overlap between the Trump family’s business interests and the events and projects the president has championed using government resources.
Even so, Fontaine acknowledged that when it comes to raw showmanship, the president’s second-term embrace of “hardcore masculinity and brute fighting” reflects a genuine talent for spectacle. “President Trump has a once-in-a-generation talent for this stuff,” he said.
The New York Knicks are NBA champions once again — ending a 53-year title drought with a 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, June 13.
Star guard Jalen Brunson was the standout performer of the night, pouring in a game-high 45 points to help New York close out the best-of-seven NBA Finals in just five games. The series wrapped up only days after the Knicks completed what has been called the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history.
San Antonio came out firing and built multiple double-digit advantages throughout the game, keeping the pressure on New York for much of the night. But the Knicks refused to fold, chipping away at the deficit before finally grabbing their first lead of the game with 3 minutes and 40 seconds remaining.
The Spurs could not answer, and New York held on to seal the championship. The Knicks’ postseason run was remarkably efficient — they lost just three games across the entire playoff stretch on their way to claiming the franchise’s first title since 1973.
TAIPEI — Taiwan’s government took an unusual step Sunday, unveiling a new website designed to give Chinese citizens a secure way to pass along intelligence information — saying a growing number of people inside China are fed up and looking for change.
The two governments have a long history of spying on one another. China considers Taiwan its own territory, despite the island operating as a self-governed democracy. Taiwan has reported a rising number of Chinese espionage cases in recent years.
In explaining the new platform, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau pointed to worsening economic conditions on the mainland and what it described as continued tight political control. “Coupled with a growing range of social and livelihood-related problems, these conditions have fuelled public discontent,” the bureau said in a statement posted in both Chinese and English. “As a result, an increasing number of individuals have approached relevant agencies in Taiwan, wishing to provide various types of information.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office had not responded to a request for comment as of the time of this report.
When visitors open the website, they are greeted by a one-minute promotional video that the bureau said was created using artificial intelligence. The video depicts a Chinese civil servant watching as colleagues are investigated and removed from their positions one after another.
“Ah, yet another person has been taken away,” the unnamed civil servant says in the video, speaking in a northern Chinese accent. The dialogue appears with subtitles written in the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China.
“The old comrades are inexplicably vanishing one by one,” a narrator adds.
The video concludes with the official purchasing a mobile phone and typing on it, accompanied by the words: “Now is the time to change.”
While the website is blocked within China, many Chinese citizens regularly use VPNs — tools that allow access to otherwise restricted sites such as Western social media platforms and search engines.
The bureau called on Chinese nationals both inside the country and living abroad to “actively provide information and make changes with courage.” Officials noted the approach mirrors tactics already used by intelligence agencies in countries including the United States, Britain, and Israel.
The platform is intended to allow Chinese nationals to share intelligence-related information in order to “expand the bureau’s diverse intelligence sources,” according to the bureau’s statement.
China has employed similar strategies in the past. In 2024, Beijing announced an email address where individuals could submit tips about alleged crimes committed by Taiwan “separatists.”
Taiwan’s government continues to reject China’s claims of sovereignty over the island, maintaining that only the Taiwanese people have the right to determine their own future.
Armed kidnappers in Haiti have seized one of the country’s top government and law enforcement figures in Port-au-Prince, in what is being described as the most high-profile abduction the nation has seen in years, according to media reports released Saturday.
James Boyard — who holds the dual roles of cabinet director at the Defense Ministry and inspector general of Haiti’s national police — was taken by force on Thursday from the Bourdon neighborhood of the capital. The Associated Press reported the details, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.
Boyard is considered one of Haiti’s foremost experts on security matters. His kidnapping represents a serious escalation in the targeting of high-ranking officials at a time when gang organizations have been steadily tightening their control over Port-au-Prince.
Abductions in Haiti have been on the rise as criminal networks continue to expand their reach, further eroding the government’s authority and deepening an already severe humanitarian and security crisis gripping the country.
As of Saturday, no official statement has been made by authorities regarding any efforts to secure Boyard’s release.
BOSTON — Scotland’s long-suffering fans finally had something to cheer about Saturday, as their national team ended a 36-year World Cup winning drought with a hard-fought 1-0 result against Haiti in Group C action.
The victory — Scotland’s first at the World Cup since a 2-1 win over Sweden back in 1990 — was far from elegant, but it was enough to send the Tartan Army of traveling supporters into celebration mode.
The breakthrough came in the 28th minute. Che Adams got off a close-range attempt that Haiti goalkeeper Johny Placide managed to stop, but the rebound landed at the feet of John McGinn, whose shot deflected off a defender and found the back of the net.
Earlier in the match, Scott McTominay came close when his strike rattled the post in the 17th minute. Despite some late pressure from Haiti — who showed bursts of speed in the closing minutes — Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn was rarely tested throughout the contest.
The three points vault Scotland to the top of Group C, ahead of five-time world champions Brazil and 2022 semifinalists Morocco, who played to a 1-1 draw earlier Saturday.
Head coach Steve Clarke acknowledged the performance wasn’t flawless but didn’t seem to mind. “We probably put the supporters through it a little bit. Everyone said it was a must-win game. We won the game,” he said on BBC radio. “Defensively — outstanding. We probably could have been a little bit better with the ball, but who cares?”
At the final whistle, Scottish supporters packed the stadium and broke into a boisterous chorus of “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” by Spanish 1970s disco group Baccara — a song that has become their signature celebration anthem.
McGinn’s goal carried extra significance. At 31 years and 238 days old, he became the oldest Scottish player ever to score at a World Cup. The milestone came less than a month after he lifted the Europa League trophy as captain of England’s Aston Villa. Winger Ben Gannon-Doak also made his presence felt with his speed on the flanks.
Under FIFA’s expanded tournament format, accumulating three points and a solid goal difference through the group stage gives a team a strong chance of advancing to the knockout round — something Scotland has never accomplished across their previous eight World Cup appearances.
Haiti, making their first World Cup appearance since 1974, had two players with English Premier League experience in their lineup: Jean-Ricner Bellegarde of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wilson Isidor of Sunderland. However, genuine scoring opportunities were scarce for the Haitian side.
Their best moments came in the 38th minute when the ball dropped to Ruben Providence just yards from goal, only for Aaron Hickey to strip him of possession. Frantzdy Pierrot then headed narrowly wide in the 85th minute and had another late opportunity, but Scotland held firm to secure the win.
Both nations return to action on Friday. Scotland will face Morocco in Boston, while Haiti takes on Brazil in Philadelphia.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was pulled from Saturday night’s game against the Houston Astros after sustaining a right hand and hamate injury.
Pasquantino had kept his hitting streak alive at eight games with a single earlier in the contest before appearing to hurt himself on a swing during the bottom of the fifth inning, with the score knotted at 4-4.
Isaac Collins stepped in as his replacement and took up a spot in left field, while Jac Caglianone moved over to cover first base for the remainder of the game.
The 28-year-old is having a difficult offensive season, posting a career-low .224 batting average. Over five seasons with Kansas City, he carries a .260 career average to go along with 76 home runs.
The contest between Houston and Kansas City was still deadlocked at 7-7 when a rain delay halted play with one out recorded in the top of the eighth inning.
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — A World Cup clash between two heavyweights ended in a 1-1 stalemate Saturday, as Morocco proved they could more than hold their own against Brazil in front of a packed house at the stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Morocco midfielder Ismael Saibari put his team ahead with a well-deserved first-half goal, but Vinicius Jr. answered with a spectacular equalizer to keep Brazil from falling behind in their Group C opener. The draw leaves the group standings evenly matched heading into the later Saturday contest between Haiti and Scotland.
For Morocco, who reached the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup, the showing reinforced the belief that they belong among the sport’s elite nations. Brazil, meanwhile, left the field with plenty of concerns after a disjointed performance that saw Morocco repeatedly exploit gaps in their defense.
Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti was candid about his team’s shortcomings in the opening half. “I don’t think we started the match well, the team was a bit nervous, we lost possession too often and lost too many challenges. The first half wasn’t good,” he said, while acknowledging improvement after halftime. “It improved in the second half; it’s a tough match because Morocco are a good side. I think there was a bit of nervousness. In the first half they were breaking out of our press and making dangerous counter-attacks.”
Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi made clear his ambitions extend beyond what his team achieved three years ago. “If you’re asking me if I want to have the same trajectory as in 2022, no, I want to go beyond the semi-finals this time,” he said. “This was one point but we hoped to have more. One point is good enough and we will improve.”
Morocco controlled much of the early action, moving the ball patiently along the wings and creating danger through Achraf Hakimi and Bilal El Khannouss. Teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi drew attention by carving through Brazil’s midfield with ease, as the five-time world champions struggled to contain Morocco’s pace and organization.
Brazil’s first real opportunity came in the 14th minute, but Igor Thiago squandered it with a poorly directed header. Seven minutes later, Morocco capitalized on a Brazil mistake. Lucas Paqueta lost the ball in midfield, and Brahim Diaz quickly fed Saibari behind a flat-footed Brazilian backline. Goalkeeper Alisson made matters worse by rushing off his line at the wrong moment, and Saibari coolly chipped the ball over him to put Morocco in front.
Brazil pulled level in the 32nd minute thanks to a moment of individual brilliance. Vinicius Jr. received a pass from Bruno Guimaraes on the left side of the penalty area, shifted onto his right foot, and drilled an unstoppable shot into the far top corner of the net. Brazil nearly grabbed the lead just before halftime, but Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou made a sharp save to deny Paqueta’s acrobatic scissor kick.
Brazil made changes at halftime, bringing on Fabinho and Danilo to replace Casemiro and Roger Ibanez — both of whom had difficult first halves. The substitutions helped Brazil assert more control after the break, though clear scoring opportunities remained hard to come by until the 78th minute, when Raphinha got on the end of a Vinicius cross.
The match grew cautious in the closing stages as both teams avoided unnecessary risks. Substitute Matheus Cunha gave Brazil a late jolt of energy and came close to a winner, but the Brazilians never quite rediscovered their trademark flair.
Both nations will still feel confident about their chances of topping the group and earning a more favorable path through the knockout rounds.
Drivers traveling westbound on Atlantic Avenue between Ocean View and Millville should expect slower-than-normal travel times due to congestion on the roadway.
According to traffic reports, the backup is adding roughly 10 minutes to the commute along that stretch. Motorists are encouraged to allow extra time or consider an alternate route if possible.
A crash on southbound Interstate 95 near Churchmans Marsh has resulted in the closure of the right lane, according to traffic officials.
Motorists traveling southbound through that stretch of highway should anticipate slowdowns and consider allowing extra travel time or seeking an alternate route until the lane is reopened.
No further details regarding the crash, including the number of vehicles involved or any injuries, have been made available at this time. Drivers are urged to use caution in the area.
Drivers heading northbound on South DuPont Highway should be aware of an active shoulder closure between Canterbury Road (Route 15) and East Evens Road.
The closure is currently in place and is expected to remain in effect until 6 p.m. Motorists traveling through that stretch of roadway are advised to use caution as they pass through the affected area.
No additional details regarding the cause of the shoulder closure were immediately available. Drivers are encouraged to allow extra time if their route takes them through that corridor.
What started as a satisfying win for Cleveland quickly turned into a nightmare scenario for the Guardians organization.
Star third baseman José Ramírez fractured a bone in his left hand Saturday during Cleveland’s 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers, and the team has no timetable for his return. The injury is a crushing development for the two-time defending AL Central champions.
The 33-year-old suffered a fractured left hamate bone while leading off the fifth inning. Cleveland held off announcing the severity of the situation until the final out was recorded, when manager Stephen Vogt confirmed the diagnosis following imaging tests.
Vogt described how Ramírez tried to push through the pain for the sake of his teammates. “He had a similar injury I think to his right hand a few years ago,” Vogt said. “He tried to go back out. He knew the position we were in, grabbed his glove and said ‘Maybe I can still play defense,’ but he couldn’t squeeze his glove. Hosey wanted to get back out there to help us win that game. He just couldn’t.”
Ramírez is widely considered the face of the Cleveland franchise. A seven-time All-Star who has landed in the top four of MVP voting on five occasions, he is the team’s most irreplaceable piece. Losing him for any amount of time is a serious blow to Cleveland’s title hopes.
Surgery is anticipated within the next few days. While the Guardians do have other options at third base, none of those players come close to matching what Ramírez brings to the lineup. The team had just moved back into first place in the division heading into the weekend.
Ramírez is no stranger to this type of injury. Back in 2019 — the only time in his career he has landed on the injured list — he broke his right hamate bone. Despite initial projections of missing up to seven weeks, he returned within a month after undergoing surgery.
The timing is complicated by the fact that Ramírez had been in a bit of a slump this season. He entered Saturday’s game hitting just .238 with 10 home runs and 33 RBIs. For context, the switch-hitter carries a career batting average of .274 and holds nearly every significant offensive record in Guardians history.
Ramírez wasn’t the only player to exit Saturday’s game hurt. Outfielders Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez also left in the opening two innings. DeLauter bruised his right rib cage after crashing into the outfield wall, while Martinez took a foul ball off his foot. Whether either player will join Ramírez on the injured list has not yet been determined.
With three of his top four hitters suddenly unavailable, Vogt had to get creative with his lineup. He shifted Rhys Hoskins from first base to left field — a position Hoskins hadn’t played since 2018 with Philadelphia.
“We’re working through the logistics and what the next steps are so we’ll know more tomorrow or the next day,” Vogt said. “These things can get complicated.”
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch, whose own team has dealt with a heavy injury burden throughout the season, said he felt for Cleveland after watching the situation unfold.
“It was one after another for those guys,” Hinch said. “If there’s any team that understands having injuries at a weird time, it’s us. I didn’t see anything with Ramírez to have him come out of the game, so when Stephen (Vogt) was on the field I had no idea what it was about and they were moving their players all around. Obviously health is a premium. Sounds like they’ve got a lot to sort out over there.”
Drivers in the area should be aware that Delaware Route 72 is currently closed to through traffic between Farm Lane and Wyoming Road due to ongoing construction.
The closure is expected to remain in place until August 15, 2026, according to Delaware Department of Transportation officials. Motorists are advised to allow extra travel time and seek alternate routes while the work is completed.
No additional details about the nature of the construction project were immediately available. TV Delmarva will provide updates as more information becomes available.
PARIS (AP) — When major economic powers first convened at a French chateau in 1975 to tackle a struggling global economy, China was never part of the conversation. That gathering — the first of what would become the annual G7 summit — brought together wealthy democratic nations to look out for their shared interests, and China simply didn’t fit the mold.
It wasn’t hard to understand why. The idea of Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong sitting down with U.S. President Gerald Ford and other heads of state would have been absurd at the time.
China was in the middle of internal chaos and was nowhere near the economic powerhouse it has since become. Mao had also backed Ho Chi Minh’s communist forces — the same forces that defeated both France and the United States in Vietnam. That made him a highly unlikely guest at the inaugural Rambouillet summit, which started as a six-nation group before Canada joined the following year to form the G7.
Fast forward to today, and U.S. President Donald Trump is joining fellow G7 leaders in France for a Monday-through-Wednesday gathering — yet China’s continued absence from the club raises new questions, given how deeply Beijing now shapes the global economy.
The bottom line: Does the G7 still make sense without China at the table?
On raw economic terms alone, China has long since earned a spot. Since Mao’s death in 1976, decades of explosive growth have made China’s economy larger than those of Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Canada combined — with only the United States still ahead. Leaving China out, by this measure, is a bit like holding the soccer World Cup without Brazil, a five-time champion.
John Kirton, a G7 specialist at the University of Toronto, put it bluntly: From being “only a tiny, benign, panda bear” in 1975, “China has become a great global dragon.”
“So many understandably ask: Would the G7 and the global community be better off if China became a member of the G7 club? A plausible answer is ‘Yes,’” Kirton added.
Even Trump floated the idea a year ago, saying it “was not a bad idea” when a reporter raised the possibility of expanding the club to include China.
But there’s a longstanding, if unwritten, rule at the heart of the G7: membership is for democracies only.
The founding leaders made that clear in their 1975 Rambouillet declaration: “We are each responsible for the government of an open, democratic society, dedicated to individual liberty and social advancement.”
China fell far short of that standard under Mao, whose rule led to the deaths of tens of millions through famine and revolutionary violence. And under current leader President Xi Jinping, China still doesn’t clear the bar. Multiple global measures — including the annual Freedom in the World study, the World Press Freedom Index, and the Canadian Fraser Institute’s economic freedom rankings — place China well behind G7 nations when it comes to civil liberties.
Still, China’s influence is impossible to ignore. The country announced a record trade surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion in 2025, selling far more to the world than it buys. It holds tight control over vital rare minerals. Its military expansion and technological progress are rattling rivals. And it remains the single largest source of climate-warming pollution on Earth.
All of that makes China the proverbial elephant in the room at this week’s summit in the Alpine spa town of Evian-les-Bains.
French President Emmanuel Macron, serving as this year’s host, has set aside dedicated time for leaders to discuss how to rebalance trade with China, as a flood of Chinese-made cars and other goods threatens to undercut G7 industries.
Relations between Trump and his G7 counterparts have been strained lately — over the conflict with Iran and other points of disagreement — but China may actually be a rare area of common ground. Cédric Dupont, an international politics expert at the Geneva Graduate Institute, noted: “They agree on the same thing, you know: China is a problem.”
China’s government has previously criticized the G7 as an exclusive club that belongs to a Cold War era of ideological division. But in a statement to The Associated Press ahead of the Evian summit, China’s Foreign Ministry softened its tone somewhat, saying “the G7 should serve as a catalyst for solidarity and cooperation rather than an amplifier of division and confrontation.”
Beijing-based analyst Wang Zichen explained that “Beijing is wary of the G7 because it sees the group as structurally aligned with U.S.-led Western power, and increasingly as a venue where China is discussed as a challenge or threat.”
Even so, Chinese leaders pay close attention to what happens at these summits. As Wang put it: “China recognizes that the G7 still represents a very significant concentration of economic, technological, military and financial power.”
Experts warn that actually bringing China into the club could fracture it from within. Beijing’s authoritarian government, its positions on Russia and Iran, and its broader strategic interests clash fundamentally with those of the G7’s democratic members. Having China at the table could also strain long-standing alliances.
Kirton called the prospect a potential “Trojan horse.” With a Chinese leader present, he said, “individual members might be tempted to break G7 ranks to secure special favors from him on the economic, critical minerals, digital technology and other issues they address.”
Chris Alden, an international relations scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science, agreed, saying that admitting China “would make it very difficult for it to function.”
The G7’s last membership expansion offers a cautionary tale. Russia was welcomed into the group in 1998, but the experiment soured. When Russian President Vladimir Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the other members froze Russia out — a rupture that foreshadowed the full-scale war that has been raging since 2022.
Trump said last year that kicking Russia out “was a very big mistake.” But Kirton argued the episode taught other leaders a hard lesson — that they should “never take a chance on a less than fully democratic power becoming a full member of their fully democratic club again.”
Washington and Tehran are inching toward a framework peace agreement, though exactly when a deal might be formally signed remains an open question — even as fighting continues on multiple fronts.
President Donald Trump took to social media Saturday to announce that a deal with Iran was set to be signed the following day — which also happens to be his 80th birthday. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif echoed that optimism, saying both sides had agreed on the framework and that Pakistan was preparing for an electronic signing on Sunday, to be followed by technical discussions in the days ahead.
Iran, however, did not confirm that timetable. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, speaking before Trump’s post went up, urged caution about predicting a signing date. State media quoted him as saying, “It will not be tomorrow,” though he added it could happen “in the coming days.”
On the social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote that once a framework deal is signed, the Strait of Hormuz — a critical passageway for global oil supplies that Iran has blocked — would immediately be “open to all.”
A U.S. official spelled out the terms to reporters: “Iran is going to open up the Strait of Hormuz, that’s a requirement. It could be open with no tolls. As they do that, we will lift our blockade.” The official added, “It’s going to happen in conjunction, and part of the next step, the phase after that, is going to be the demining of the straits,” suggesting nations in the Group of Seven major powers could play a role in that process.
Multiple sources familiar with the draft terms told Reuters the U.S. would begin releasing billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets and lift sanctions on Iran’s oil exports in exchange for Iran reopening the strait. Baghaei, quoted by Iran’s Fars news agency, confirmed that recovering those frozen assets was a core part of the deal and that Iran would charge fees for use of the strait. He also said foreign military bases in the region would need to be shut down, though no further details were provided.
Iran’s nuclear program — which Trump has cited as a primary justification for the war — would not be addressed in the initial agreement. Instead, a 60-day period of follow-on talks would cover that issue. A U.S. official said the end goal would be the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium destroyed and removed.
The war between the U.S. and Iran began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Tehran. Trump at that time called on the Iranian people to rise up and seize control of state institutions. U.S. strikes have severely weakened Iran’s military-industrial capacity, though analysts note that hardline Revolutionary Guard elements have actually grown more entrenched as a result of the conflict.
Opposition to any deal was visible inside Iran on Saturday. Videos circulating on social media and Iranian news websites showed crowds gathering in public squares and outside the Foreign Ministry in Tehran, directing their anger at Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Protesters were heard chanting, “Araqchi have some shame, let go of America!” Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the authenticity of those videos.
At pro-government rallies held across Iran on Saturday night, hardliners also made their opposition known. A resident in the northeastern city of Mashhad told Reuters that some in the crowd chanted: “Death to the compromiser” — an apparent dig at Araqchi — followed by “Compromiser, resign, resign.”
Despite the diplomatic activity, military clashes have not stopped. Early Saturday, U.S. forces shot down multiple Iranian one-way attack drones that were headed toward the strait. Israel, which has stated it is not a party to the U.S.-Iran deal, reported striking more than 70 locations in Lebanon over a 24-hour period, targeting Iranian ally Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been at odds with Trump over U.S. pressure on Israel to scale back operations in Lebanon so Washington can finalize a deal with Tehran.
On Friday, Araqchi said that while the agreement’s details could still change, the tentative deal demonstrated that Iran had come out of the conflict in a stronger position. Trump also spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about efforts to bring the Iran conflict to a close, according to a statement from Downing Street.
Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz served as the route for roughly 20% of the world’s oil shipments.
TOKYO — Japan is preparing to dispatch a delegation to Greenland sometime this summer to assess the potential for rare earth mineral extraction on the Arctic island, according to a report from the Nikkei newswire published Sunday.
The delegation is expected to include officials from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, representatives from trading companies, and members of the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security. While there, the group plans to meet with local government officials, Nikkei reported.
Greenland, which is an autonomous territory within the Danish kingdom, has attracted significant international attention in recent months. Earlier this year, in January, the White House indicated that U.S. President Donald Trump was exploring ways to acquire the island — a statement that triggered concern among NATO allies across Europe. Those discussions have since shifted onto a diplomatic track.
The island is considered strategically valuable both for its geographic position in the Arctic and for the potentially abundant rare earth reserves believed to lie beneath its surface.
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, a perennial All-Star, is set to be placed on the injured list after fracturing the hamate bone in his left hand during Saturday’s 3-1 home victory over the Detroit Tigers.
The injury occurred during a swing, and Ramirez was pulled from the game when the sixth inning began.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt spoke about the situation after the final out. “He had a similar injury, I think, to his right hand a few years ago,” Vogt said. “He tried to go back out. He knew the position we were in, grabbed his glove and said, ‘Maybe I can still play defense,’ but he couldn’t squeeze his glove. Hosey wanted to get back out there to help us win that game. He just couldn’t.”
The 33-year-old Ramirez has been selected to the All-Star Game in seven of the past nine seasons, including each of the last five consecutive years. His current campaign has been below his usual standard, however, as he is batting .239 — his lowest average since 2015 — with 10 home runs and 33 RBIs across 72 games this season.
Over his 14-year career with Cleveland, Ramirez has appeared in 1,681 regular-season games, compiling a .278 batting average along with 295 home runs and 982 RBIs.
Hamate bone fracture surgery typically requires a recovery period of anywhere from four to eight weeks.
Saturday was a particularly rough day for the Guardians on the health front. Outfielders Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez also left the game early — DeLauter with a right rib contusion and Martinez with a left foot bruise.
Aldon Smith, the former NFL defensive end who burst onto the professional football scene as one of the game’s most feared pass rushers before a series of personal struggles cut short his career, passed away Saturday at age 36.
The San Francisco 49ers — the team that drafted Smith seventh overall in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Missouri — announced his death Saturday but offered no cause.
“We are devastated by the sudden and tragic passing of Aldon Smith,” the organization said in a statement. “Aldon’s undeniable talent and sheer dominance on the field were on display from the moment he joined our organization, having recorded one of the best rookie seasons the National Football League has seen. Beyond his excellence as a player, Aldon will be remembered for his infectious smile that lit up every room he walked into. Our entire organization sends its deepest condolences to the Smith family and all who knew and loved Aldon.”
During his four seasons in San Francisco, Smith appeared in 50 regular-season games with 30 starts, compiling 152 tackles, 44 sacks, 81 quarterback hits, one interception, five forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one safety. In eight playoff games for the 49ers, he added 20 tackles and 5.5 sacks.
His impact was immediate and historic. Smith’s 14 sacks during his 2011 rookie campaign ranked as the second-highest single-season total by a first-year player since the NFL began officially tracking sacks in 1982, according to the team. He followed that up with 19.5 sacks in 2012, a franchise single-season record, and his combined 33.5 sacks over those first two years stand as the most ever recorded by any player in their opening two NFL seasons, per the team.
Smith earned a spot on the NFL All-Rookie Team in 2011, then received Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors in 2012.
However, his career was repeatedly interrupted by off-field incidents. He was suspended nine games in 2014 for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, and the 49ers cut ties with him in August 2015 following a DUI arrest. According to an ESPN report published Saturday, Smith was arrested 10 times over a nine-year span, including a 2013 arrest on three felony charges related to possession of illegal assault weapons.
Smith landed with the Oakland Raiders and played nine games in 2015, but the NFL again suspended him indefinitely for another substance abuse policy violation. He missed the entire 2016 and 2017 seasons, and the Raiders released him in March 2018 after a domestic violence arrest.
He received another suspension in April 2020 after signing with the Dallas Cowboys, though he was reinstated the following month and went on to start all 16 games he appeared in for Dallas that season.
The Seattle Seahawks signed him in April 2021 but released him that August, effectively ending his playing career.
Over 75 regular-season games and 53 starts, Smith finished with 228 tackles, 52.5 sacks, one interception, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, one safety, and 103 quarterback hits.
ESPN reported that Smith announced his retirement from professional football in 2023. In the year that followed, he channeled his experiences into a mentoring initiative aimed at helping young athletes navigate the pressures and distractions that come with life as a professional. He worked with the rookie classes of both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Smith was a Kansas City, Missouri native who played college football at Missouri for two seasons. In 23 games from 2009 to 2010, he recorded 79 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, and 14.5 sacks. He was named a first-team All-Big 12 Conference selection and the team’s defensive lineman of the year in 2010 before entering the NFL Draft.
Iowa’s own Zach Johnson delivered a spectacular round on Saturday, carding a 9-under-par 63 to pull into a three-way tie for the lead at the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines. Johnson now sits at 12-under for the tournament alongside Brett Quigley and Australian Scott Hend, who had shared the first-round lead.
Johnson’s 63 was the best round of the tournament and matched his personal low for the season. He got hot on the front nine by making birdies on five straight holes — Nos. 4 through 8 — and then picked up four more birdies coming in on the back nine.
“Today was good. I mean, I putted nice,” Johnson said. “I still feel like I left some shots out there. Kind of eats at you, but at the same time I made a couple putts that you’re not supposed to make so it probably all evened out in that regard. Yeah, excited. I put myself in a place now where I can make a run tomorrow.”
In his first season on the tour, the 50-year-old Johnson has finished inside the top ten in each of his seven starts. He is seeking his second Champions Tour win of the year, having previously claimed victory at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational back in March.
Quigley turned in a 7-under 65 on Saturday, highlighted by birdies on both par-3s on the back nine — including the course’s most difficult hole, the 198-yard 14th. On the prospect of being paired with the hometown favorite Johnson in Sunday’s final round, Quigley was enthusiastic.
“I love that. I mean, we like playing in front of people. It certainly means a little bit more and gets us a little more fired up, a little more excited knowing that everybody will be pulling for Zach,” Quigley said. “That’s an easy like. He’s one of the greatest guys in the world, obviously world-class player and just he’ll be right there.”
Hend, who leads the field in putts per green in regulation at 1.50, birdied all four par-5s on the course for the second day in a row. However, he acknowledged that a rain delay made for a tricky start to his round on Saturday.
“I found it a bit hard to get a grasp of the speed of the greens after we had the rain delay,” Hend said. “Took me a little while to sort of get back into how soft the greens had got and the slowness of them. Just took me a little while to get used to it again. Picked that up as we went into the back nine.”
Six players are within two strokes of the top. South Africa’s Retief Goosen shot a 64 to sit at 11-under, joined by Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen (65) and Australia’s David Bransdon (66). Doug Barron (67), Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal (67), and Vaughn Taylor (68) are bunched together at 10-under.
Playing in front of a crowd that will almost certainly be cheering him on, Johnson acknowledged the support he receives from fans while keeping his focus firmly on the task ahead.
“Well, fortunately, I’ve had that response for quite some time,” Johnson said. “I do not take it for granted. The fans are amazing. I do zone out, so apologies if I ignore or don’t hear you because I’m zoned out. There’s not a whole lot — I’m thick-skulled, like there’s not a whole lot going on up there so I’ve got to keep it simple and not try to get too distracted.”
Vinícius Júnior found the back of the net in the 32nd minute to help Brazil secure a 1-1 tie with Morocco in their World Cup opening match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The five-time World Cup winners faced an early challenge when Morocco’s Ismael Saibari scored in the 21st minute, putting the African champions in front. Brazil, which hasn’t claimed a World Cup trophy since 2002, came into the tournament with considerable pressure and expectations. The crowd of 80,663 was filled with Brazilian supporters wearing yellow, though they grew quiet until Vinícius delivered his stunning angled strike to level the match.
In NBA action, the New York Knicks are positioned to capture their first championship in 53 years when they face the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night. The Knicks lead the series 3-1 against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. Thousands of New York supporters have traveled to Texas hoping to witness history, with the Larry O’Brien Trophy already in place at the arena and ceremony preparations completed.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto came within one out of throwing a no-hitter before Chicago White Sox batter Tristan Peters launched a leadoff home run in the ninth inning. The right-hander had retired 23 consecutive batters before Chase Meidroth reached base on a two-out error by shortstop Mookie Betts in the eighth. Peters connected on a 96.6 mph fastball for his third home run of the season, ending Yamamoto’s no-hit attempt. The Dodgers went on to win 7-1 after Alex Vesia replaced Yamamoto.
The San Francisco 49ers announced the unexpected passing of former All-Pro linebacker Aldon Smith at age 36 on Saturday. The team did not reveal the cause of death. Smith was selected seventh overall in the 2011 draft from Missouri and recorded 33.5 sacks in his first two seasons, setting a record for most sacks by any player in their initial two years. His career was derailed by legal troubles, leading to his suspension in 2014 and eventual release from the 49ers. He later played for the Raiders and Dallas Cowboys.
Qatar managed to salvage a 1-1 draw against Switzerland in World Cup Group B play when Boualem Khoukhi headed home an equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Switzerland had taken the lead through Breel Embolo’s first-half penalty kick, just over a week after the player was cleared to enter the United States following visa complications. Despite controlling possession on an unusually warm June day, Switzerland couldn’t convert their numerous scoring opportunities. The match was played in front of a partially filled stadium with many empty seats visible.
Gio Reyna delivered what may become one of the tournament’s most memorable moments with a spectacular goal that capped a 4-1 United States victory over Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium on Friday. The goal came deep into stoppage time with virtually the final touch of the match, completing a brilliant team sequence that lasted 70 seconds and involved 26 passes. The performance showcased what observers called Pochettino-ball at its peak.
American defenseman Jaccob Slavin is one victory away from joining an exclusive club as only the second American to win both an Olympic gold medal and Stanley Cup in the same calendar year. That achievement could come as early as Sunday if Carolina defeats Vegas in Game 6 of the Cup final. His teammate Seth Jarvis, who represented Canada in their overtime loss in the Olympic final in Milan, would gain some redemption. Several Golden Knights players including Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore also suffered that Olympic defeat, while teammates Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin need two more wins to match the Olympic gold-Stanley Cup double that only Ken Morrow accomplished in 1980 with the “Miracle on Ice” and New York Islanders.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden was taken into custody in Houston early Saturday morning on a misdemeanor weapons charge, according to Harris County District Clerk records. Harden was arrested at 3:41 a.m. and processed before 5 a.m. on charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon in a vehicle. He posted a $100 bond and was released from custody. Court documents indicate Harden had a visible handgun that was not secured in a holster. His court appearance is set for June 22, with records showing him as a Houston resident.
Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal returned to the mound for his first appearance since April 29, showing expected signs of rust in the Tigers’ 3-1 defeat to the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday. The two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner pitched 4 2/3 innings after undergoing a new surgical procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow. While not at his dominant best, the Tigers were pleased to have their star left-hander back in action. Skubal threw 80 pitches and surrendered a two-run homer to Daniel Schneemann in the third inning on a fastball.
Jackson Suber holds his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour heading into Sunday’s final round of the RBC Canadian Open in Caledon, Ontario. Suber carded a 66 with a birdie on the final hole, giving him a one-shot advantage over Bud Cauley and several other contenders. Tommy Fleetwood and Wyndham Clark are among 17 players within four shots of the lead. Weather conditions including rain and wind are expected for the final round. Brooks Koepka dropped out of contention due to a hand problem that affected his grip, while 36-hole leader Ben James struggled to a 78.
Aldon Smith, the gifted defensive player whose NFL career was interrupted by numerous legal troubles, has passed away at age 36.
The San Francisco 49ers made the announcement Saturday evening regarding Smith’s death. No cause of death was provided by the organization.
“We are devastated by the sudden and tragic passing of Aldon Smith,” the 49ers said in a statement. “Aldon’s undeniable talent and sheer dominance on the field were on display from the moment he joined our organization, having recorded one of the best rookie seasons the National Football League has seen. Beyond his excellence as a player, Aldon will be remembered for his infectious smile that lit up every room he walked into.”
The 49ers selected Smith as the 11th overall draft choice from Missouri in 2011, and he quickly became a key contributor for San Francisco, helping end the team’s playoff absence and advancing to the NFC championship game during his initial three seasons, including one Super Bowl appearance.
Smith recorded 14 quarterback sacks during his rookie campaign, placing second behind Von Miller for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He set a team record with 19 1/2 sacks in 2012, earning first-team All-Pro recognition.
His 33 1/2 sacks during his opening two seasons remain an NFL record. He maintained that productivity with 4 1/2 sacks through the first three contests in 2013 before legal difficulties began with a DUI arrest and substance abuse treatment that cost him five games.
That same season brought a weapons-related arrest, though he eventually returned to play.
“I’m getting there,” he said after his stint in 2013 on the non-football injury list. “Every day’s just a step closer to getting to where I want to be I’ve gotten a lot of support, from my family, friends, organization, teammates and everything. And it really says a lot that people care about me outside the field and they care about me as a person.”
Smith contributed 3 1/2 sacks during that season’s playoffs but faced a nine-game suspension to start 2014 and never regained his initial performance level due to suspensions and injuries.
San Francisco cut ties with him in August 2015 following another drunk driving incident — his fifth arrest within three years. Oakland signed him just before the 2015 season began, where he managed 3 1/2 sacks across nine games before another suspension.
“Aldon proudly wore the Silver and Black, was respected by his teammates and will be missed dearly,” the Raiders said in a statement.
Smith sought NFL reinstatement in 2016 but was initially denied. The Raiders released him in 2018 after a domestic violence arrest, which resulted in a plea agreement.
He was eventually reinstated in 2020 and appeared in 16 games for Dallas that season, recording five sacks.
He joined Seattle the following season but was arrested again for battery and released during training camp. He completed a six-month jail term for DUI in 2023 and never returned to the NFL.
Smith concluded his professional career with 52 1/2 sacks across 75 games.
During his college years, he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and received Missouri’s Defensive Lineman of the Year Award in 2010.
CLEVELAND — Tarik Skubal had no interest in celebrating his comeback from elbow surgery with feel-good stories or congratulatory messages. Keep the encouragement for somebody else.
The fierce left-handed pitcher didn’t earn consecutive AL Cy Young Awards through sentiment or emotional storylines. He’s focused purely on results, and his months away from pitching didn’t change that competitive drive one bit.
“I don’t want to play into that narrative of trying to be back,” Skubal stated Saturday after his first appearance since April 29. “I need to be better, plain and simple. ‘Just happy to be there,’ that’s a loser mentality to me. I need to go out there and pitch and compete and give my team a chance to win and I didn’t do that.”
The pitcher displayed some expected shakiness during his 4 2/3-inning performance as Detroit once more struggled with clutch hitting, leaving 11 baserunners stranded in their 3-1 defeat to the Cleveland Guardians. Skubal underwent an advanced surgical technique on May 6 to extract a loose fragment from his elbow, which sped up his recovery timeline.
Though Skubal wasn’t at his dominant best, the Tigers were simply grateful to see jersey No. 29 back on the hill, throwing with his distinctive high-leg windup.
“He didn’t execute at the level that we’re used to,” said Detroit manager A.J. Hinch. “But man, it was nice to see him out there.”
Hinch pulled Skubal after 80 throws, calling it a “weird start” because Cleveland’s batting order shifted significantly early on when the Guardians lost outfielders Angel Martinez (bruised foot) and Chase DeLauter (bruised ribs) to injuries.
The southpaw surrendered five hits, recorded four strikeouts and committed one costly error in judgment when he threw a high pitch with two strikes to Daniel Schneemann, who launched a two-run blast in the third frame.
“If I want one pitch back, it’s the one to Schneemann,” Skubal reflected.
Leading the count 0-2, Skubal missed his target with an elevated fastball that Schneeman, a left-handed batter facing Detroit’s star for the first time, sent 417 feet to put Cleveland ahead 3-1.
“It was bad. Really bad,” Skubal admitted. “On 0-2, I’m going up and away and I kind of miss. It’s not in enough and it’s not up enough. If I’m going to miss, it needs to be more in and more up. It’s a good swing on it, but the execution on it was pretty poor.”
Skubal’s throwing speed appeared normal, with his fastball reaching the mid-90s (mph). His curveball and slider maintained their typical rotation, and overall he felt satisfied with most aspects of his performance.
“My process was really good today,” he explained. “Every pitch I was bought-in on. At the end of the day, that’s all I can really control, is me trying to go out there and execute every pitch and sometimes things just don’t fall your way.
“Credit to those guys, too. They had some really good at-bats, and they were in on some pitches, and fouled off some pitches and took some really good pitches, too. You kind of give credit where credit is due. At the same time, I’ve got to be better to give our team a chance to win. I just didn’t do that today.”
Health authorities are working to educate the public about a dangerous condition many people haven’t heard of: a potentially fatal meat allergy that develops after being bitten by ticks.
This condition, called alpha-gal syndrome, was initially connected to a specific tick species approximately 15 years ago. However, medical professionals are seeing more patients experiencing reactions like skin rashes, stomach problems, and severe itching after consuming even small amounts of red meat and sometimes dairy products. The allergy doesn’t affect people’s ability to eat fish or birds like chicken, turkey, and eggs remain safe to consume.
Traditionally, doctors have told patients to stay away from foods derived from cattle, swine, and sheep while keeping emergency epinephrine shots available. However, federal regulators have recently given approval to the first medication specifically for this syndrome, with additional treatments potentially coming.
The syndrome differs from other tick-related diseases like Rocky Mountain spotted fever because it’s not triggered by bacteria or viruses. The condition develops when a person’s immune system creates an allergic reaction to a specific sugar molecule called alpha-gal.
This sugar exists in the meat of most mammals, excluding humans and other primates. It’s also present in the saliva of certain tick species.
While consuming this sugar through food is typically safe, tick bites can deliver it straight into a person’s bloodstream. This direct exposure causes the immune system to create antibodies that learn to recognize and attack alpha-gal molecules.
“It turns out that the skin is a fantastic way to make an allergic response,” said Dr. Scott Commins, an alpha-gal syndrome researcher at the University of North Carolina. “If this all happened orally, and we were eating alpha-gal like we do with steaks or barbecue, then we wouldn’t become allergic.”
Individuals who develop these antibodies typically experience severe allergic reactions several hours after eating meat or dairy. The condition can take weeks or months to manifest, with symptoms often becoming more severe as time passes.
Medical experts attribute rising case numbers to better recognition among healthcare providers and the general population.
“I think part of it is more people have learned about it and are on the watch for this syndrome,” said Maria Diuk-Wasser, a Columbia University researcher who studies tick-borne diseases.
However, increasing cases also mirror the growing territory of the lone star tick, which is the main carrier of this condition in America. This tick, recognizable by a white mark on its back, is typically found in eastern and southern states. Recently, it has appeared in previously unaffected areas, including regions around the Great Lakes and extending north to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Scientists are concerned that additional tick species, including blacklegged ticks, might also begin transmitting the condition.
According to a 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, approximately 450,000 Americans are believed to have developed this allergy.
Patients typically seek medical care after experiencing concerning symptoms like skin rashes, lightheadedness, breathing difficulties, and swelling in the lips, throat, tongue, or eyelids. Others may only have digestive symptoms including diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and nausea.
Medical professionals identify the allergy using blood test results, patient-reported symptoms, and other information including recent insect bites.
The blood test identifies alpha-gal antibodies, though not everyone with positive results develops the syndrome. The test can sometimes produce incorrect results.
“The blood test in and of itself is great, but you can’t rely on that just for diagnosis. You need the actual symptoms too,” Commins said. “In the allergy world, we have a lot of trouble with false positives on blood tests.”
Physicians typically recommend patients eliminate beef, pork, lamb, and other mammalian meats from their diets. Some individuals can still consume dairy items like milk, cheese, and butter from these animals. Those with extremely severe reactions might need to avoid products containing animal byproducts such as gelatin, found in marshmallows and gummy bears.
One unusual exception exists: meat from a limited number of genetically altered pigs that don’t produce alpha-gal. The Food and Drug Administration approved these pigs for human consumption in 2020, as they were developed for experimental organ transplantation research. Eliminating the alpha-gal gene was essential to prevent human immune systems from rejecting transplanted organs. Meat from these “GalSafe” pigs is sold by a company called Amaroo Hills.
People with this syndrome may also need to avoid certain medical devices and implants, as many heart valves are manufactured using cow or pig components.
The allergy may disappear in some patients after multiple years. Commins has observed this improvement in roughly 15% to 20% of his patients. However, preventing additional tick bites remains essential.
In 2024, the FDA authorized an injectable medication called Xolair for various food allergies, including alpha-gal syndrome. While the drug doesn’t cure the condition, it helps minimize severe allergic reactions following accidental meat consumption.
This medication received initial approval over two decades ago for patients with difficult-to-manage asthma. It functions by reducing the release of biological substances that trigger inflammation and allergic reactions.
Commins and fellow researchers hope to investigate other existing medications as potential treatment options for patients.
“There are certain (biologic drugs) out there nowadays that interfere with the allergic signaling,” Commins said. “We think that if you were on one of those — or if you got one quickly enough after a tick bite — perhaps it could interfere with the entire allergic response process.”
Colorado Rockies right-hander Chase Dollander has been moved to the 60-day injured list due to what the team believes could be a UCL injury.
The pitcher exited his May 14 matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates early because of tightness in his right arm. While initial MRI results showed an elbow sprain, manager Warren Schaeffer announced Friday that UCL surgery may be necessary.
“(Dollander) is going for a pre-op appointment soon, within a week,” Schaeffer said. “Then, possibly, it is looking like surgery on the UCL. It’s still not set in stone, but that’s the way it’s trending.”
The 24-year-old has posted a 3-3 record with a 3.89 ERA across 10 outings this season, showing marked improvement in his second year.
During the previous fall, Colorado moved the then-rookie to the 15-day injured list to end the season following a knee injury. That concluded a difficult debut campaign where Dollander recorded a 6.52 ERA and went 2-12 while making 21 starts.
Sadly, his improved performance in 2026 may be cut short by this latest setback.
“If anything happens to that area, your mind automatically goes to the worst-case scenario,” Dollander said at the time of the injury.
KINSHASA, June 13 – Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo report that confirmed Ebola infections have climbed to 710 cases, with 149 people losing their lives to the disease, according to official government statistics released Saturday.
The figures reflect the cumulative total of verified cases through Friday, based on a health ministry situation report that recorded 21 additional infections during the preceding day.
A New York-based company has issued a voluntary recall of its entire line of powdered baby formula products due to concerns about potential bacterial contamination.
The manufacturer, based in New York, NY, announced it is pulling all lots of its organic powdered infant formula from store shelves as a precautionary measure. The company cited the possibility of Clostridium botulinum contamination as the reason for the recall.
According to health officials, infant botulism is an uncommon but serious condition that can be life-threatening.
Citizens of Switzerland cast ballots Sunday on a controversial constitutional amendment that would establish a legal ceiling on the nation’s population, in a referendum being compared to Britain’s Brexit decision due to its potential economic and diplomatic ramifications.
The Swiss People’s Party, a right-wing political organization, has championed the constitutional modification that would require the population to stay below 10 million residents by 2050. Government forecasts indicate the country is expected to reach that threshold in the early 2040s, driven by worries over immigration levels, strain on government services, and housing availability.
This novel approach to legally controlling population numbers reflects a broader European trend among conservative political movements seeking stricter immigration policies, fueled by public frustration over living costs, sluggish economic performance, and criminal activity.
“If it goes above 10 million, it will become tight, and immigration should be restricted,” said Helen Gulea, a 58-year-old seamstress and part-time kiosk worker in Zurich, originally from Kenya, who voted by post for the cap.
Vote tallies were anticipated to start arriving around midday local time (1000 GMT).
Approval of this initiative would mean that hitting the 10 million population threshold could force Switzerland to abandon its labor mobility pact with the European Union, which provides a significant portion of workers for the mountainous nation.
With an aging population already surpassing 9 million, polling data indicates public sentiment remains closely divided on the issue.
Recent survey results showed momentum shifting away from the proposal, though an earlier poll had indicated it might succeed.
Patrick Leisibach, a migration expert at think-tank Avenir Suisse, said concern was now widespread that overcrowding was stretching public infrastructure to the limit.
“There’s a traditional anti-immigration vote on the right wing, but these days even many on the left are feeling the pressure,” he said.
Switzerland’s direct democracy framework typically involves citizens voting on national ballot measures four times annually, with passage requiring majority support from both voters and the country’s cantons.
Government officials and parliamentary leaders have encouraged voters to defeat the SVP’s “sustainability initiative,” calling it misguided during a sensitive period for Switzerland’s export-dependent economy.
In the previous year, President Donald Trump imposed Europe’s steepest U.S. tariffs on Swiss products, and the possibility of population restrictions could complicate business planning.
However, SVP lawmaker Thomas Matter argued Swiss gains in prosperity had not kept pace with overall immigration and the country needed to step on the brakes.
Shortly before Trump’s return to office, Switzerland finalized an agreement with Brussels to strengthen economic ties with the EU.
This arrangement, along with other bilateral trade agreements, could face uncertainty if a population cap threatens labor mobility, which serves as a cornerstone of the EU single market.
While Swiss voters have historically rejected measures considered damaging to long-term economic interests, this pattern has become less reliable.
In 2014, voters surprised observers by narrowly approving an SVP-supported initiative to limit EU immigration, though its effects were subsequently weakened during the lawmaking process.
If the current measure passes, certain provisions, including the potential for Switzerland to end labor mobility with the EU, might face separate referendums, according to officials speaking privately.
Some SVP members indicate the proposal aims not to eliminate labor mobility but to sound an alarm.
“I don’t want freedom of movement ended,” said Heinz Taennler, an SVP politician and finance director of the canton of Zug. “Another million people can still immigrate to Switzerland, but the government needs to take action.”
Drivers using southbound Route 13 should expect delays this evening due to a lane restriction in effect until 10 PM.
The right lane is currently blocked to traffic along the stretch between Allens Mill Road and Raceway Road, according to transportation officials.
Motorists are advised to allow extra travel time and use caution when navigating through the affected area.
The Vegas Golden Knights will be without center William Karlsson for Sunday’s critical Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals after he suffered a left arm injury.
The injury occurred during Thursday’s 4-2 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes on their home ice in Game 5.
The incident happened in the second period when Carolina defenseman Sean Walker delivered a crushing blow to Karlsson. His left arm struck the glass during the collision, and medical staff attended to him before he departed the venue for further evaluation.
When asked Saturday about Karlsson’s potential availability for a potential Game 7 in Raleigh, N.C., scheduled for Wednesday, Vegas coach John Tortorella refused to provide details.
Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner, who shares a line with Karlsson, expressed his frustration about losing his teammate at such a crucial time.
“It’s obviously a big miss,” Marner said following Saturday’s morning skate. “He’s done a lot of great things for us since he’s been back. But we’ve done this all year. We’ve had a lot of injuries throughout the year, throughout playoffs. So obviously it sucks losing Will, but it’s a ‘next-man-up’ mentality.”
The 33-year-old Karlsson has contributed three goals and nine points across 15 playoff contests. His regular season was limited to just 14 games after he suffered a lower-body injury on Nov. 8.
Throughout his entire nine-year tenure with Vegas since the franchise joined the NHL, Karlsson has been a consistent contributor. Across 569 regular season games with the Golden Knights, he has recorded 403 points, including 165 goals and 238 assists. His playoff statistics with Vegas include 80 points from 34 goals and 46 assists over 121 postseason games.
Prior to joining Vegas, Karlsson had stints with the Anaheim Ducks during the 2014-15 season and the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2015-17.
Iran kicks off their World Cup Group G schedule Monday against New Zealand in Los Angeles, with political developments away from the field creating as much attention as both teams’ hopes for an elusive tournament breakthrough.
The contest unfolds amid ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict and takes place in an area housing the world’s biggest Iranian population outside their homeland, creating an emotionally charged environment for two countries meeting for the first time at a World Cup.
Iran’s tournament participation seemed doubtful leading up to the competition due to the ongoing conflict. The team also relocated their training headquarters from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, forcing them to cross borders for all three of their group matches on U.S. soil.
Despite reports suggesting diplomatic progress toward resolving the hostilities, tensions surrounding the squad remain high, with Iranian football leadership condemning FIFA following visa rejections for 15 Iranian federation officials attempting to attend the tournament.
The atmosphere in Los Angeles became apparent during Friday’s opening ceremony at Los Angeles Stadium, where audible jeers erupted as Iran’s flag entered the venue. Monday’s match will reveal what kind of crowd response awaits the Iranian players during actual competition.
TWO TEAMS CHASING HISTORY
Both Iran and New Zealand view this matchup as an opportunity to rewrite their typical World Cup stories.
Iran enters their fourth consecutive World Cup appearance and seventh overall participation but has never advanced beyond the group phase. New Zealand returns to the finals for the first time since 2010 in just their third-ever tournament appearance, still searching for their inaugural World Cup victory.
Iran’s manager Amir Ghalenoei, the first Iranian-born coach to guide the national squad at a World Cup since Jalal Talebi in 1998, led his team through Asian qualification after clinching their berth with a 2-2 tie against Uzbekistan in Tehran on March 25, 2025.
New Zealand secured their position one day prior with a 3-0 triumph over New Caledonia in the Oceania qualifying championship. Darren Bazeley’s squad hopes to recall their 2010 performance, when they exited during group play but departed South Africa without a loss following ties with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay.
Monday’s encounter marks the inaugural World Cup clash between these nations and represents the first occasion either team has battled an opponent from the other’s confederation at the tournament.
Iran brings superior recent tournament experience. They secured group-stage victories in their previous two World Cups, defeating Morocco 1-0 in 2018 — when they achieved a national record four points in a group including Spain and Portugal — and beating Wales 2-0 in Qatar during 2022 with two injury-time goals.
However, advancement to the elimination rounds has continued to prove impossible.
New Zealand’s chances likely depend significantly on captain Chris Wood, their nation’s all-time top goalscorer, who demonstrated his value during qualification with back-to-back hat-tricks against Samoa and Fiji.
Drivers heading north on Route 1 between Dewey and Lewes are facing delays of around 10 minutes due to traffic congestion.
The backup is affecting the northbound lanes in that stretch of the highway, causing slower than normal travel times for commuters and travelers in the area.
Pakistan and President Donald Trump have both verified that an electronic ceremony to sign a US-Iran agreement will take place on Sunday, though Iranian officials are casting doubt on the proposed schedule while Israeli leaders voice security concerns.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Saturday evening that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar spoke by phone with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan about the matter.
The ministry’s statement said both officials welcomed the final stages of US-Iran negotiations, with the electronic signing ceremony set for Sunday, and shared hopes that this significant development would help bring lasting peace and stability to the region.
The Saudi Foreign Minister praised Pakistan’s consistent and ongoing efforts supporting mediation and dialogue during the process. The two sides also talked about the upcoming Regional Four (R-4) Foreign Ministers’ meeting planned for Egypt later this month.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif previously stated that the United States and Iran are nearer to a peace agreement than they have ever been, with the deal’s completion anticipated within the next 24 hours.
In a Saturday evening post on X, he said Pakistan was getting ready for the electronic signing of the agreement right after its completion, with technical-level discussions to follow next week.
The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their ongoing commitment throughout the negotiations and thanked regional partners for their support.
Shehbaz Sharif said he felt confident that the “historic peace deal” would create a solid foundation for enduring peace.
The Prime Minister included tags for US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in his message.
US President Donald Trump then shared his X post on his Truth Social platform.
President Donald Trump verified that an agreement with Iran is set to be signed on Sunday and stated the Strait of Hormuz would reopen right after.
In a Truth Social message, President Trump wrote: “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.”
The president said Iran would not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and claimed the regime is no longer seeking one. He also discussed Iran’s enriched uranium supplies, suggesting they would not be removed right away.
“At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains,” President Trump wrote.
CNN reported that Iran had reinforced areas around enriched uranium supplies with explosives to stop the material from being taken.
President Trump added: “We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future. Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”
The president’s statements differed from comments by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, who indicated that no signing was anticipated Sunday.
“We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” Baghaei said.
The reported framework includes a suggested 60-day ceasefire on several fronts, including the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the end of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, talks on sanctions relief and the potential release of frozen Iranian assets depending on Iranian compliance. Additional negotiations would address Iran’s nuclear program and enriched uranium supplies.
Senior Israeli officials quoted by Channel 12 said the agreement seems to accept Tehran’s “main conditions” and could “endanger Israel’s security interests.”
According to the officials, Iran would gain substantial benefits before addressing core concerns. “The Iranians are not agreeing to this for nothing,” one official said.
The officials maintained that Tehran is essentially “paying on credit” and questioned what leverage Washington would keep if Iran fails to fulfill future commitments. They also criticized the reported handling of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
“The uranium extraction has become uranium dilution and the missile system is not part of the agreement at all,” the officials said.
They further maintained that the framework does not require Iran to stop support for proxy organizations. “All the goals that Israel set are not immediately dealt with in the agreement,” the officials said, adding, “Not only is Iran not required to stop supporting proxies, it is reconnecting itself with Hezbollah through the agreement.”
Channel 12 reported that President Trump talked about the agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Thursday phone call. According to an American official, President Trump told Netanyahu: “This is the deal. It’s an excellent deal, and it’s to end this war.” The US official added: “Bibi didn’t say much in the call. Evidently, he understood that there’s going to be a deal, and that he can’t stop it.”
On Friday, Sharif said that the final text of a peace agreement between Iran and the United States had been settled during Pakistan’s intensive mediation efforts.
In a statement, he said that a coordinated disinformation campaign was currently happening to undermine the agreement. However, he added that Pakistan was moving forward, completely unaffected by the surrounding noise.
According to the Prime Minister, the final and mutually agreed text of the agreement has been completed, and Pakistan is working in close coordination with both parties to shape the next phases of the process.
According to a separate statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dar spoke by telephone with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Saturday.
Both leaders welcomed progress toward understanding between the United States and Iran, expressing hope that ongoing diplomatic efforts would help promote peace and stability in the region. They also agreed to keep continued mutual contact.
Switzerland had previously offered to host the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran.
This is a developing story
CHICAGO — Right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers threw six perfect innings Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, retiring all 18 batters he faced.
The 27-year-old hurler recorded six strikeouts while throwing 72 total pitches, with 51 finding the strike zone. Los Angeles held a commanding 5-0 advantage entering the seventh inning.
Chicago’s closest opportunity for a base hit came from Chase Meidroth, who lined a ball that curved just outside the foul line before going down swinging to end the fifth inning.
Play was briefly halted before the sixth inning’s bottom half as the grounds crew made repairs to the mound area surrounding the pitcher’s rubber. When action continued, Yamamoto showed no effects from the interruption, fanning Jacob Gonzalez on a full-count cutter before retiring Tristan Peters on a ground ball to first base and getting Edgar Quero to foul out to left field.
Yamamoto is currently in his third campaign with the Los Angeles franchise. He earned World Series MVP honors last season while helping the Dodgers capture their second straight championship title.
The performance continues an impressive run for Yamamoto as the NL West-leading team’s ace. Over his four previous outings before Saturday’s game, he posted a 3-1 record alongside an outstanding 0.99 ERA.
WASHINGTON — The White House South Lawn is being transformed into a venue for an enormous UFC celebration. The event marks two major milestones: President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday alongside America’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Combat matches are set to take place Sunday evening, while organizers have arranged additional festivities spanning the entire weekend.
The Associated Press photo editors have assembled a collection of images documenting this unprecedented event.
A researcher examining the Democratic Party’s poor performance in the 2024 elections says party leadership fails to grasp what drove voters away. Nicholas Jacobs, who studies politics at Colby University, has analyzed the election results and believes social issues played a major role in the party’s losses.
“A pattern persists: Working-class voters did not move right in reactionary revolt. Democrats moved to the left,” Jacobs stated. His research points to polling data showing former Democratic voters switching to the Republican Party due to concerns about abortion, the LGBT agenda, religious freedom, family values and immigration. According to Jacobs, Democratic leadership still hasn’t grasped this shift.
In baseball news, the Los Angeles Dodgers recently installed a permanent exhibit celebrating Glenn Burke and Billy Bean, the first two major league players to publicly identify as gay. The dedication took place during the team’s 13th annual Pride Night this month, just before their game against the Los Angeles Angels. While MLB leadership has promoted LGBT initiatives for years, an increasing number of teams are declining to participate. Professional sports leagues nationwide are experiencing pushback from both athletes and fans regarding Gay Pride events.
America’s oldest synagogue is making preparations to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary. Touro Synagogue, which opened its doors in 1763, sits just one-tenth of a mile from the Old Colony House, which served as Rhode Island’s colonial government building. In 1790, one year after George Washington took office as the nation’s first president, the Touro congregation wrote to him praising “a government, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” Washington gained recognition for using those exact words in his written reply to the congregation, promising his dedication to religious freedom.
FBI Director Kash Patel has terminated several analysts involved in creating a controversial 2023 memo that identified potential threats from Catholic “violent extremists.” Five employees lost their jobs, including four intelligence analysts and one supervisory analyst. The intelligence document, produced by the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, field office in January 2023, sparked significant political controversy after its release. Previous Justice Department reviews of the memo questioned the quality of the analysis. The FBI stated that “investigative activity must not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
Extreme heat couldn’t stop World Cup enthusiasts from flocking to Houston’s fan festival on Saturday, where they armed themselves with portable fans, shade umbrellas and plenty of icy beverages to combat the blistering Texas temperatures.
As mercury climbed toward 100 degrees Fahrenheit before Sunday’s opening Houston match featuring Germany versus Curacao, event coordinators implemented numerous cooling strategies, from complimentary sunscreen distribution to climate-controlled refuge areas.
“We know it’s the summer and there is nothing we can do about the heat but we want to make it as comfortable as possible,” Houston fan festival organiser Patti Smith told Reuters.
Approximately 30,000 soccer supporters flooded Houston’s downtown area for the tournament’s opening contest between Mexico and South Africa, though the sweltering conditions resulted in over 100 documented heat-related medical incidents.
Medical staff handled most cases at the venue, where authorities established water refill stations and constructed open-air cooling zones equipped with misting fountains to provide relief for overheated attendees.
Assistant principal Jessica Garza came dressed in lightweight clothing with her hair pulled back, keeping hydration and a personal fan close at hand throughout the day.
“It’s worth it, it’s the World Cup. They only come here once in a lifetime so I am going to be hot for today, I am going to enjoy it,” Garza said.
While intense temperatures challenge multiple tournament locations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Houston’s combination of extreme heat and oppressive humidity creates outdoor conditions resembling a furnace blast.
Tournament officials anticipate additional challenges when supporters from temperate nations like Germany and Sweden, unaccustomed to such severe heat, arrive for their teams’ Houston matches.
Saturday’s festival-goers demonstrated creative heat management, with many carrying umbrellas for sun protection, gripping handheld fans, or draping shirts over their heads for makeshift cooling. Some chose simpler approaches.
“I’m trying to stay in the cooler areas, the shadier areas,” geophysicist John Banwagoner told Reuters.
North Korea declared Sunday that nuclear disarmament has been permanently abandoned, while criticizing recent nuclear deterrence discussions between the United States and South Korea.
“The U.S. and its vassal forces’ meaningless rhetoric against the DPRK and cooperation in posing a nuclear threat to it can never affect the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state,” a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media KCNA, using the country’s official name.
“The ‘denuclearisation’ is an irreversibly finalised matter,” it said.
The declaration follows last week’s discussions between U.S. and South Korean officials in Seoul, where they worked to strengthen nuclear deterrence and preparedness against North Korea’s expanding weapons program through their Nuclear Consultative Group.
The New York Yankees’ outfielder and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton has encountered complications in his recovery from a left calf strain he sustained on April 24.
The injury reoccurred while Stanton was running bases during practice last week.
Team officials had been optimistic about Stanton’s return to active play during the club’s upcoming homestand, but those plans now appear uncertain.
Manager Aaron Boone addressed the situation, saying, “He felt a little something in there a day or two ago, so that’s kind of slowed him down. I expected him back early in this homestand. That’s in jeopardy now.”
This season, the 36-year-old Stanton has appeared in 24 games, posting a .256 batting average along with three home runs, six doubles and 14 RBIs.
The team is currently managing multiple significant injuries among its outfield players.
Current American League MVP Aaron Judge remains sidelined with a right rib stress fracture and won’t be available until July or August.
Additionally, outfielder Trent Grisham joined the 10-day injured list on Saturday. The organization has brought up Jasson Dominguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill the roster spot.
Boone acknowledged the team’s injury challenges, stating, “No getting around it, we’ve lost some key people. It’s part of it. The (162 game schedule) is coming for you. I feel like we’re way more equipped to deal with it than we have been in some years. It’s a great opportunity for some of our young players.”
A 19-year-old basketball player from Italy has decided to forgo the 2026 NBA Draft and will instead play college basketball at Villanova, news outlets are reporting.
Luigi Suigo, who stands 7’3″ with a 7’5.5″ wingspan, put up 8.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while playing 18.1 minutes nightly for Mega Superbet in the AdmiralBet ABA League during the previous season.
The young center from Tradate, Varese, Italy, had been considered by basketball analysts as a possible late first-round selection. ESPN placed him at No. 32 on their prospect rankings.
Suigo chose Villanova over scholarship offers from Illinois, Purdue and Indiana. He’ll be joining a Wildcats team that recently made the NCAA Tournament and finished with a 24-9 record during Kevin Willard’s inaugural season leading the program.
DELMARVA — Rootless corn syndrome has emerged as a major problem for growers this week as extreme weather conditions create ideal circumstances for the condition’s spread.
Robby Meeker, an agronomy manager with Wyffels Hybrids overseeing operations across eastern Illinois and Indiana, says extreme weather in June has severely impacted crop development. The combination of excessive heat, drought conditions, and persistent strong winds created a perfect storm for the syndrome’s spread. The condition has plagued corn crops across multiple states this growing season.
Drought has devastated hay crops across the region. Rosemary Life, an associate Extension agent in Rockingham County, Virginia, reports producers there saw first cutting yields at just 40% of normal. That shortfall comes on the heels of a long harsh winter that already strained hay supplies. Many farmers went into spring with fewer reserves than usual after feeding livestock through extended snow cover. Even if weather improves, the reduced first cutting means there will be less hay available heading into fall and winter.
Friday’s close saw corn finish steady to firm while soybeans and wheat weakened. Soybeans faced pressure from fund and technical selling. Locally, corn at Laurel Grain Company in Laurel, Delaware is bringing $4.58 a bushel for July delivery. Soybeans there are $10.54 for July.
Saturday afternoon will reach 83° with sunny skies. Tonight drops to 69° and partly cloudy. Sunday brings 80° with partly sunny skies, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.
This article is based on the Delmarva Farm Report Update Evening Edition, June 13, 2026. Hosted by Tom Bradley.
The Kennedy Center’s facade no longer displays President Trump’s name after workers removed it following a court directive, with the entire operation conducted in secrecy away from public scrutiny.
NPR correspondent Frank Langfitt witnessed the concealed removal process alongside other observers as crews took steps to shield their work from public view.
The name removal came as a result of a judicial order, though the specifics of the court’s decision and the reasoning behind the secretive nature of the operation remain unclear.
Exhausted teenagers, committed fathers, and countless bird species came together for an intensive competition that NPR followed for a complete day.
National Public Radio documented the full 24-hour experience at the World Series of Birding, observing how young participants worked together while battling fatigue during the demanding event.
The competition featured hundreds of different bird species as teams raced against time to spot and identify as many as possible throughout the marathon event.
Law enforcement officials in southern Mexico have launched an investigation into the deadly shooting of a municipal leader in Oaxaca state, according to the state prosecutor’s office on Saturday. Security forces have begun operations to locate those responsible for the crime.
Jose Angel Bravo Martinez lost his life after being gunned down during an incident in the Mixteca region, according to officials who classified the case as a high-impact crime requiring formal investigation. This marks the second killing of an Oaxaca municipal leader within the past month.
Crime scene investigators and forensic specialists were sent to the location following the shooting to collect evidence and retrieve the victim’s remains, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office. The agency reported coordination efforts with federal security personnel.
Officials have not yet released additional information regarding potential reasons behind the killing of Bravo, who was affiliated with a coalition of opposition parties, including the PAN (National Action Party).
Attacks on municipal leaders continue to pose significant challenges across regions of Mexico, where criminal organizations frequently exercise control, especially in remote communities. Mario Hernandez Garcia, the mayor of another Oaxaca town, Santiago Amoltepec, was killed last month during an assault that claimed two additional lives.
Data compiled by the non-governmental organization Causa en Comun indicates that no fewer than 60 politicians or lawmakers were killed in deliberate attacks during the previous year.
Pittsburgh has completed a player exchange with Florida, trading defenseman Emil Pieniniemi to the Panthers in return for forward Oliver Okuliar.
The 26-year-old Okuliar spent last season with Skelleftea AIK in Sweden’s top professional hockey league, where he tallied 15 goals and 14 assists across 46 regular season contests. In playoff action, he shared the league lead with six goals and contributed to his team’s championship victory.
Most recently during the 2024-25 campaign, Okuliar suited up for the Charlotte Checkers in the American Hockey League, where he accumulated 19 goals and 22 assists over 69 games.
The departing Pieniniemi, age 21, was selected by Pittsburgh in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft. He appeared in nine games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season, contributing three points.
Weather officials have issued a coastal flood advisory that went into effect Thursday afternoon and will remain active until midnight.
The National Weather Service office located in Mount Holly, New Jersey issued the advisory at 4:20 PM on June 13th, with the warning set to expire at 12:00 AM on June 14th.
Residents in affected coastal areas should monitor conditions and take appropriate precautions during the advisory period.
CHICAGO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani took his spot back in the Los Angeles Dodgers starting lineup Saturday following a one-game absence due to left knee inflammation.
The star player batted leadoff as designated hitter when the Dodgers faced the Chicago White Sox. Ohtani had exited Thursday evening’s 8-6 victory over Pittsburgh during the seventh inning, then sat out Friday’s 8-2 defeat in Chicago to open the series.
“We took him out of the game the other night just for precautionary,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday. “Yesterday, treated it up, today he feels great. All the confidence that he can go out there and hit, feel good, not regress at all.”
The 31-year-old Ohtani is still set to take the mound Wednesday versus Tampa Bay. The 6-foot-4 right-hander checked how his knee responded to his pitching mechanics by throwing in the outfield prior to Saturday’s contest against the White Sox.
Ohtani, who underwent left knee surgery in September 2019, is hitting .305 with 13 home runs and 40 RBIs across 67 games for the NL West-leading team. As a pitcher, the defending NL MVP holds a 6-2 record with a 1.06 ERA through 11 starts.
Roberts also mentioned that Justin Wrobleski should make his next planned start Tuesday against the Rays. The left-handed pitcher departed Thursday night’s game in the fifth inning with a left hamstring contusion.
“Yesterday I talked to him and he is a little sore, which is understandable, but he’ll be ready to go on Tuesday,” Roberts said.
The 54-year-old Roberts will be absent for Sunday’s series conclusion against the White Sox. Bench coach Danny Lehmann will manage the team while Roberts attends his daughter’s college graduation.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of advocates for LGBTQ+ rights filled the streets of Romania and Bulgaria’s capital cities Saturday during their yearly Pride celebrations, facing growing pushback from traditional groups in these Orthodox Christian nations.
Demonstrators paraded through Bucharest and Sofia, displaying rainbow banners and sounding horns while demanding equal treatment under the law.
Romania and Bulgaria both became European Union members in 2007. Before joining the bloc, each nation enacted human rights laws to satisfy EU requirements, though public polling frequently shows less acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community compared to other member nations.
According to ILGA-Europe’s 2025 Rainbow Map, which evaluates legal and policy conditions for LGBTQ+ individuals throughout Europe, Romania and Bulgaria placed at the bottom among all 27 EU member states.
“We still have a deeply conservative society, with very strong traditional values,” said Alina Purcaru, a writer who attended the Bucharest march. “We still live in a patriarchy, sometimes explicit … with a lot of prejudice and a lot of fear.”
Neither Romania nor Bulgaria permits same-sex marriage or civil unions, even though the EU forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“That is why we are taking to the streets today … to demand the legalization of civil partnerships,” Vlad Viski, president of the nongovernmental organization MozaiQ, told The Associated Press.
“We are talking about essential rights, such as the right to inheritance, hospital visits, medical decisions, survivor’s pension,” he added.
Simeon Vassilev, one of the organizers of Sofia Pride, told journalists on Saturday that in Bulgaria, “thousands of same-sex couples live together, build homes, raise children, and care for one another … without the right to legal protection or recognition of their relationships.”
According to advocacy organizations, animosity and hateful rhetoric targeting LGBTQ+ communities in these two Eastern European nations have increased in recent years. Counter-demonstrations opposing LGBTQ+ rights occurred in both cities Saturday.
In Sofia, a “March of the Family” gathering — organized by conservative and faith-based organizations since 2021 — promoted “Christian, patriotic and traditional values” during Saturday’s event. The traditional Orthodox Church, representing approximately 80% of Bulgarians, stated its “disagreement with the ideas and messages” and supported the “traditional family.” In Bucharest, a “March for Normality” was conducted by a nationalist organization.
This year’s Pride celebration in Sofia operated under a “Different Together” theme, with organizers seeking to challenge widespread negative messaging about the community.
Furthermore, the “Progressive Bulgaria” party of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, which secured victory in an April general election, expressed backing for the “March of the Family” in Parliament, declaring it “a cornerstone of our national security, identity and future.”
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee condemned the statement for “placing one type of citizens as more valuable than others.”
President Donald Trump revealed Saturday his intention to appoint James M. McDonald as the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, filling the position left vacant by Jay Clayton, whom Trump selected earlier this week to head national intelligence.
McDonald previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York and currently works as a litigation partner with Sullivan & Cromwell law firm. He also represented Trump personally, taking on the appeal of the former president’s Manhattan hush money case, which remains unresolved.
Trump faced conviction on 34 felony charges related to hiding a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Should McDonald receive confirmation as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, he would lead one of the Justice Department’s most influential offices, handling cases that span from terrorism and espionage to securities fraud and government corruption.
Last month, McDonald was among the attorneys who achieved a positive result for Indian businessman Gautam Adani after the Trump administration’s Justice Department dismissed fraud and conspiracy charges that were filed during the Biden presidency.
During Trump’s initial presidency, McDonald held the enforcement director position at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and previously worked as deputy associate counsel in the White House under President George W. Bush.
“I am confident that Jamie will deliver strong results for our Country,” Trump wrote about McDonald’s selection on Truth Social Saturday afternoon.
Clayton’s appointment followed mounting congressional pressure to select a permanent successor for Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down as ODNI director last month. Trump encountered significant criticism for choosing Bill Pulte, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as interim director.
