The pilot of Delta flight 1076 notified air traffic controllers just before landing at Chicago Midway International Airport on Saturday night that a firework hit the commercial airliner during its descent. In an audio recording published online by LiveATC.net, the pilot described feeling “a big bang” on the plane.

According to the recording, the incident occurred when the plane was flying at an altitude of 200 to 250 feet. The pilot said the crew hoped the bang “was just a mortar that went off,” referencing the tube that helps launch aerial fireworks.

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and Delta said the plane, which had taken off from Atlanta carrying 52 passengers and six crew members, landed safely just after 8:30 p.m. local time.

The incident didn't result in any onboard injuries, and Atlanta-based Delta said Sunday that mechanics who inspected the Airbus A319 did not find any damage.

The FAA said it would investigate the incident.

It's unclear if fireworks struck other airplanes on Saturday. In the LiveATC.net audio, an air traffic controller was heard saying there had been “multiple reports" of such encounters and that Chicago city officials were aware.

The FAA did not immediately respond to questions about whether it was aware of additional firework-related incidents impacting Saturday flights. The Associated Press also reached out to the city government and the Chicago Police Department for further information.

Balogun, the American leader with three goals, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday. A red card triggers an automatic one-game suspension.

FIFA announced Sunday that the suspension had been lifted, triggering praise from Trump and outrage from Belgium’s team.

Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the game asking FIFA review the red card, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said in a statement on social media.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished" and Belgium coach Rudi Garcia mocked FIFA’s action.

“I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the 5th of July was the 1st of April in Europe,” Garcia said through a translator in an April Fools' Day comparison. “The Belgian federation does not defend itself, it does not protect the national team, She defends football in general, she defends her integrity, her ethics. I think it’s the first time in the history of the World Cup that there is this kind of decision.”

Garcia wouldn’t respond when asked about a possible appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport or whether he thought Trump impacted FIFA’s action.

“In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options,” the Belgian federation said in a statement.

American players learned of Balogun’s availability when social media posts started popping up during the 10-minute bus ride Sunday from their hotel to training at the University of Washington’s Husky Soccer Stadium.

Balogun’s red card had been one of the World Cup's most controversial and consequential decisions.

“If you look at the foul, it was just zero intent at all,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said. “I felt like there was much worse ones that went on this tournament.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation learned of FIFA's action in a message sent by FIFA in its portal at 10:31 a.m. EDT.

“The implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA announced. “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”

Balogun’s three goals included a go-ahead strike against Bosnia. He matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament in 1930.

A 25-year-old who plays for Monaco, Balogun scored 13 Ligue 1 goals last season. He has 12 goals in 30 international appearances. He was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents who were living in London and in 2023 opted to change his national team affiliation from England, which he had represented at the under-21 level.

“He strikes fear into a lot of defenders,” Richards said.

The host U.S. is seeking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. The Americans lost in the round of 16 to Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and the Netherlands in 2022. They failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn’t qualify for the 2018 tournament.

The USSF said it will not make Balogun available for comment Sunday, but Balogun posted on social media a picture of himself in front of U.S. fans and overlaid with music of Michael Jackson’s pop single “Bad.”

On Friday, Balogun said he thought a yellow card instead of red “would have been fair.”

FIFA said its decision relied on Article 27 of disciplinary committee rules.

“The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years,” the rule states.

FIFA in November deferred the final two games of a three-match ban for Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo for a red card against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, allowing him to play at the start of the World Cup.

Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi and Ecuadoran midfielder Moisés Caicedo in April had one-game bans deferred for red cards in qualifiers, also allowing them to be available for World Cup openers.

Brazil’s Garrincha was ejected from a 1962 semifinal but allowed to play in the final against Chile after political pressure.

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Price reported from Washington, D.C.

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson and AP Sports Writers Andrew Destin and Jim Vertuno contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” as they called for revenge over the Feb. 28 attack that killed the 86-year-old supreme leader and other top officials, triggering the war. Some hard-liners called for the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

At the height of the war, before an April ceasefire, Israel had targeted top leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position. It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.

The U.S. is meanwhile pressing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.

Ziba Naderi, a nurse attending the funeral Sunday, said Iran needed to heed Mojtaba Khamenei's commands. “I heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we need to do,” she said. “And we must listen to him.”

Top officials appear as the crowd size swells

Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led the prayers at Tehran's Grand Mosalla for the late Khamenei and his family members killed in the strike.

On hand were Khamenei’s other sons, Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, who had not been seen since the war. Revolutionary Guard head Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who was photographed for the first time since the war on Thursday, could be seen in the crowd by Associated Press journalists, flanked by plainclothes security forces and wearing a black baseball cap.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — who has led the negotiations with the U.S. — and Esmail Qaani, who leads the elite Quds Force of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also attended.

The crowd had grown from the day before. Mourners dressed in black carried banners and flags honoring Khamenei.

Some mention Trump by name as mourners call for revenge

Posters and graffiti at the Grand Mosalla called for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Why is the biggest bastard in the world still alive?” Mohammad Rasouli, a poet who emceed the event before the prayers, said to the crowd over loudspeakers, referring to Trump. “The world is no longer a good place” for Trump, he added as the crowd cheered.

“I came here to shout and seek revenge,” said Gholamreza Sabooni, a 29-year-old man who works in a grocery. “They killed our imam. We should kill their leader, Trump.”

The U.S. president was giving a speech at the same time across the world in Washington, D.C., for the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.

“We’ve had tremendous success,” Trump said about the U.S. military. “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military.”

U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years. The threats stem from Trump ordering the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who had led the Quds Force. Iran repeatedly has denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran's crosshairs.

Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran's civilization during the war, among other threats.

Funeral postpones talks with US

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq, with authorities planning to drive his casket and others through the streets of Tehran on Monday. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s place of birth.

Authorities offered no attendance count for the event Saturday and Sunday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

The funeral was in part a show of unity as Iran demands a measure of control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war. The U.S. has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including Iran's nuclear program and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The U.S. assisted 70 transits of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 72 hours, including 18 on Saturday, a multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday. It called traffic steady along routes near Oman and Iran but still below prewar levels. The threat level remained “substantial” and mine clearance and surveying work continued.

“Our foreign policy should not be shaped in a way that allows our martyred leader’s blood to be dishonored,” mourner Mohammad Reza Sharifi said. He said he expected a “serious response” from Iran's government.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, contributed.

The administration has ordered National Guard deployments in Memphis and five other Democrat-run cities, including New Orleans and Washington, D.C., to confront what Trump has described as an out-of-control crime wave — though violent crime in dozens of cities led by Democrats is down significantly since a pandemic high. The Guard members in Memphis were part of a troop deployment the administration launched in Tennessee's second-largest city last fall.

Local leaders in these cities have said they do not believe the federal intervention is necessary, and some have challenged the deployments in court.

The soldiers in Memphis were responding with local police to reports of gunshots around 4 a.m. when they began pursuing an armed man fleeing on foot, the city's police department said.

The guardsmen opened fire after the man turned towards them with his weapon, the department said.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson and said it is investigating the circumstances of the shooting. No law enforcement officers were injured, the agency added.

Johnson died at the scene after two National Guard medical specialists attempted first aid, Guard spokesperson Lt. Col Darrin Haas said in a statement.

Johnson’s older cousin, Terracle Nelson, 46, told The Associated Press that he was “as good a boy as can be.” Johnson was living in Nashville, working in construction and taking university classes, she said. He had just had his first child earlier this year, she added.

Nelson was present with other members of Johnson’s family when authorities told them that Johnson had been shot twice in the chest.

“I just want to know, how they shot a 20-year-old twice in the chest, he hadn’t harmed anyone,” Nelson said.

Law enforcement authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the number of shots fired. The TBI declined comment on Nelson's account of the shooting.

Mayor Paul Young called the shooting an “unfortunate incident” and said he was waiting to see the results of the TBI investigation before commenting further, according to a statement provided by spokesperson Penelope Huston.

Federal troops have been patrolling the city since October over the objections of Young, a Democrat, but with the support of Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican. The troops are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, convened by Trump and comprised of federal and local agencies.

For years, Memphis, whose population exceeds 600,000, has dealt with high violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. Both Democratic and Republican officials have noted decreases last year in some crime categories, preceding the deployment and paralleling trends across U.S. cities.

The deployments cost nearly half a billion dollars through the end of December and are expected to cost taxpayers more than $1 billion this year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

In April, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that state and local Democratic officials lacked standing to block the deployment of federal troops in Memphis.

In May, four Memphis residents filed a pending federal lawsuit seeking to block the federal task force from applying a law that bars residents from approaching within 25 feet of law enforcement officers to record their activities.

The residents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, also alleged that task force members have engaged in a pattern of retaliating against them for filming their operations. They alleged they have been followed by law enforcement officers and that unmarked vehicles and individuals in tactical vests have showed up outside their homes after they observed the task force.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

In a matchup of two of the hardest hitters on tour, that was Naomi Osaka's strategy against top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the most highly awaited matchup of Wimbledon so far this year.

Sabalenka had beaten Osaka in all three of their previous matches this year — including at the same stage of the French Open last month.

“On the clay courts I felt like she was pushing me back a lot. I just tried to do it to her first,” Osaka said.

The tactics worked, and Osaka outslugged Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6 (2) to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the first time on Sunday.

Osaka’s pace and flat groundstrokes overwhelmed Sabalenka.

“Obviously we’re big ball strikers. It’s not like I’m going to start running around the court trying to draw an error from her. I can only focus on my strengths," Osaka said.

"I just tried to serve really well, because it’s grass. I also tried to get the upper hand in the rallies first.”

Osaka's power had an even bigger impact than usual as her balls flew through the air faster on the warmest day of the tournament so far: The temperature during the match reached 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit).

“She overpowered me,” Sabalenka said. “I felt like it was incredible level from her."

Besides Paris, Sabalenka also beat Osaka in Indian Wells, California, and Madrid this year.

“That really sucked,” Osaka said. “So I wanted to turn it (around)."

When it was over, Osaka performed a few fist pumps, let out a brief smile and then placed her racket over her head and spun around in delight to celebrate her first career win on Centre Court.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court," Osaka said. "And to do it here, it really means a lot.”

Mental health and maternity

It was Osaka’s first win over a No. 1 player since beating Ash Barty in Beijing in 2019. That was before Osaka, a former No. 1 herself, took breaks from the tour to manage her mental health in 2021 and for maternity leave that resulted in her missing all of 2023.

Osaka's daughter turned three on Thursday.

After getting routed by Iga Swiatek in the Italian Open round of 16 in May, Osaka said she “shut everyone out” on her team and "literally just got on a plane back home.

“It wasn’t the most professional thing to do,” she said. “I felt really ashamed about what I did. So then after that I just told myself, ‘Hey, I’m nearing 30, I really got to enjoy the time that I have.’ Also, obviously tennis is very, very important to me, but I have a life outside of that. I have to treasure tennis in the way that I can, which is not putting too much importance on it.”

Sabalenka to ‘forget about tennis’

It’s the second straight Grand Slam in which Sabalenka has failed to reach the latter stages. After a stunning meltdown against Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarterfinals last month, Sabalenka said she “just want to quit tennis.”

This time, Sabalenka said she wanted to “get completely drunk, forget about tennis, and try to get in better shape.”

Sabalenka and Osaka have each won four Grand Slam titles. All their major trophies have come on hard courts — at the Australian Open and U.S. Open.

Osaka is coming off her first grass-court final. She had to retire against Karolina Muchova in Bad Homburg, Germany, last weekend because of a foot injury.

She'll now get a rematch with Muchova, who beat 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

Kimono walk-on fashion

Before the match, Osaka came out in the white kimono she’s been wearing for her walk-ons at Wimbledon — which was inspired by a character in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Unlike at the French Open, when the designer for Osaka's walk-on outfits “was sewing things immediately after I won,” the kimono was designed in Japan, so “it’s not like (the designer) can make a brand-new thing every time.”

Instead, Osaka is using variations on the same outfit. For her past two matches, she's employed “the free-robe vibe” inspired by an anime called Bleach.

Aces and winners

Osaka saved the only two break points she faced and put 87% of her first serves in play — compared to 69% for Sabalenka.

Osaka also led 8-5 in aces and 21-15 in winners in the match, which lasted less than 1 ½ hours.

“What could I do if the person is acing and hitting the lines, just going for her shots without any fear?" Sabalenka said. "She was just going for it.

“Level-wise, today,” Sabalenka added, “I wasn’t world No. 1.”

New women’s champion

Krejcikova’s loss ensures a new women’s champion at Wimbledon for the ninth straight time.

No woman has won multiple Wimbledon titles since Serena Williams won her seventh in 2016.

No. 4 Jessica Pegula also advanced by beating fellow American Iva Jovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Djokovic edges Federer

Earlier on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic beat 132nd-ranked qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 for his 106th match victory at the All England Club.

That puts Djokovic one ahead of Roger Federer atop the all-time list for men’s match wins at Wimbledon, although he still trails Martina Navratilova’s 120.

Djokovic will next play third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1.

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

“I’ve lived over here in this area for like ten years, and I already know like four kids who passed away,” one neighbor said, “and it’s just like it’s horrible and I just I don’t think I can do it anymore. I don’t want to live here anymore. I just want to get away from here, and I wish we didn’t have to be scared just to be at the park.”

The investigation continued into Sunday morning as detectives from the San Antonio Police Department remained in the 1700 block of Lamar Street, near North Mittman Street, for more than 12 hours after the shooting.

The cause of the shooting, and what led up to it, have not yet been released. Police said no arrests have been made as of Sunday morning.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before in my whole life,” said neighbor Rita Bethany.

Six people were shot, both inside and outside the apartment complex. An 18-year-old man later died from his injuries at a local hospital.

Four other victims — ages 12, 5, 41 and 22 — were transported to local hospitals in critical condition. A fifth person was also shot, though their age has not been released.

“We should not live like this,” Bethany said.

Read more:

• Teen killed, 5 others injured in Fourth of July shooting on East Side, police say

Around 7 a.m. Sunday, police said they were dispatched to a crash involving a black Chevrolet Camaro and a GMC Yukon in the westbound lanes of U.S. Highway 90 East at Tondre Parkway.

Police said the Camaro, driven by a woman, had rear-ended the Yukon occupied by a family of four.

One passenger, who has not been identified, in the Yukon was pronounced dead at the scene. Another passenger suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital, police said.

The driver of the Camaro also sustained injuries and was taken to a hospital.

Based on the preliminary investigation, police said intoxicants may have been a contributing factor in the crash, but toxicology testing is pending.

Read also:

• Man killed in Southeast Side crash; Driver showed signs of intoxication, SAPD says

Behind the Kitchen Door is a series where KSAT investigates health inspections of restaurants in and around San Antonio.

Ramona’s Taco

The Mexican restaurant, located in the 600 block of Northwest 24th Street, was given a score of 86 after inspectors visited last month.

During the June 15 inspection, the report lists the 17 demerits issued to Ramona’s Taco for issues like rat feces, cooking equipment encrusted with grease and uncovered food in the freezer. Metro Health ordered the restaurant to get another inspection.

The inspection report surprised a longtime customer.

“Oh, hell no,” the customer said as she read the restaurant’s laundry list of health code violations. “I think it’s f------ nasty, and I just made an order right now. I’m thinking about when I should go get my money back.”

KSAT visited the restaurant to ask the owner, Doña Ramona, about the violations.

Ramona said fumigators are taking care of the rodents and allowed KSAT’s cameras behind their kitchen door.

The report said inspectors found grease built up throughout the kitchen on the floors, walls and ceiling.

Doña Ramona told KSAT that the score given by Metro Health was not bad or good and said that the restaurant always had scored 90 or above.

KSAT reviewed the restaurant’s past health inspection records, which showed that was not the case. Records show the last time Doña Ramona’s restaurant earned above a 90 was in April 2024.

Doña Ramona told KSAT she plans to close the restaurant for a few weeks later this summer for repairs.

Other scores from the week of June 14 through June 20:

Arby’s #8514 - 100

13601 Nacogdoches Road

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Molina’s - 100

700 North Alamo Street

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Tiff’s Treats - 100

726 NW Loop 410, Suite 106

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Flip Flop Cafe - 100

9310 Timber Path

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Amen Cafe Eritrean & Ethiopian Restaurant- 100

5115 Fredericksburg Road

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Frankie G’s Sports Bar - 100

2437 Frio City Road

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Fuentes - 100

2703 West Southcross Boulevard

Score Guide

100-90 = A (Very Good to Acceptable)

89-80 = B (Acceptable to Marginal)

79 or lower = C (Marginal to Poor)

• RELATED: What do Metro Health inspectors look for when inspecting a restaurant?

You can catch Daniela’s BKD reports on Thursdays on the Nightbeat.

ALSO ON KSAT.COM

Watch other Behind the Kitchen Door stories here

Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were remembered for being courageous public servants who left a lasting impact on the communities where they worked.

“They showed up to make order out of chaos day after day with purpose, dedication and heart,” U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said during a memorial service in Grand Junction, Colorado, near where the firefighters died while battling flames on the Colorado-Utah border.

While that fire is now almost entirely contained, nearly 40 large fires are still going strong across the West. Most of the current fires are scattered around Colorado, Utah and New Mexico while there are wildfires in eight other states — from Alaska to Arizona.

Over the holiday weekend, more evacuations in Colorado were ordered across four counties where the Aspen Acres fire had burned about 136 square miles (352 square kilometers) south of Colorado Springs.

The fire had damaged or destroyed more than 200 structures as of Sunday, authorities said. National Guard soldiers were sent in Friday to help with staffing checkpoints on roads near the fire zone.

Months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places along with erratic winds have been fueling the fires.

The three firefighters killed on June 27 in western Colorado were members of a Helitack crew that sometimes drops into remote areas by helicopters.

Barker, Hutcherson and Watson and two others who sustained burn injuries were overcome by flames from fast-moving fires in Mesa County. They had deployed emergency protective shelters, which are considered a “last resort” for firefighters when there is no other way out.

Fennessy, the Wildland Fire Service chief, said Sunday that “the weight of this tragedy is felt way beyond our wildland fire community.”

Photos of the firefighters were set up on the stage at the memorial service alongside flowers and flags.

They worked jobs that require courage, selflessness, strength and heart, said Sarah Fisher, the U.S. Forest Service's deputy chief for fire and aviation management.

“The work demands long days, heavy burdens and quiet acts of bravery,” she said. “We will remember them, we will honor their legacy and we will carry their light forward.”

Emily Barker

Barker, 38, had so much spirit, and the people around her always strived to be a better person by her presence, said Sarah Brubeck Schnurbusch, a friend and former roommate.

Barker was from Clinton, Michigan, and liked hiking, skiing, dirt biking and playing hockey. She loved firefighting.

“I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to work,” Brubeck Schnurbusch said. She added that her friend helped pave the way for many women in the industry.

Barker was a trailblazer, first working as a teacher “shaping young lives,” Fennessy said. “She didn't just live in wild places, she helped to shape them, care for them and make them better,” he said.

Nick Hutcherson

Hutcherson, 27, served in the U.S. Navy and had plans to become a physical therapy doctor, according to the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona where he was assigned. He was also an active member of the Northern Arizona Deaf and American Sign Language community.

Hutcherson, who was from Glendale, Arizona, “embodied the spirit of public service” Fennessy said.

He was a dedicated practitioner of Muay Thai martial arts who trained in Flagstaff.

His favorite saying was “easy day,” Fennessy said, “because Nick had an uncommon ability to face hard things with optimism, humility and a smile.”

Sydney Watson

Watson, 27, was from Warrior, Alabama, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee Southern, where she was a pitcher on the softball team, the university said.

In 2023, she participated in a program in North Carolina organized by the Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges, the group said. In her application, she said she wanted to see more women on the fire line and to learn from other women in the field, the statement said.

“From the time she was very young, she knew she wanted to be a firefighter someday,” Fennessy said.

“I have no doubt she inspired many young women to become a firefighter,” he said.

Rene Moreno, 29, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with murder, Bexar County court records show.

The victim, identified as Eric Tellez Perez, 39, was found unresponsive at the home around 1:30 p.m. on May 8 in the 8900 block of Prairie Hill. The affidavit states Perez was pronounced dead at the scene with severe trauma to the back of his head.

A neighbor who lives across the street approached officers and told them he had an altercation with Perez that morning. The neighbor had visible facial injuries consistent with his account, the affidavit states.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for the neighbor’s residence, where they recovered evidence and a DVR recorder connected to cameras facing the crime scene.

Surveillance footage from the DVR system showed three masked men entering the abandoned home where Perez was found. One man was carrying an aluminum bat, and another a metal rod, the affidavit states. The third man appeared to be unarmed.

Moreno was allegedly one of the masked men carrying the metal rod.

One of the three men was identified as Victor Sigala, 51, who was found sleeping inside a home during a search warrant. Sigala, who was later determined to be carrying the aluminum bat, was arrested in June in connection with the murder.

After Sigala’s arrest, he told detectives that Moreno was with him during the attack and also struck Perez, the affidavit states.

Detectives positively identified Moreno on June 23 using body camera footage from May 26 showing him approximately one mile from the murder scene.

The footage showed Moreno wearing a large silver wallet chain, a distinct dark mark on his left hand and a large silver skull ring on his left pinkie finger — all of which matched identifiers visible in DVR footage from the day of the murder, the affidavit states.

Multiple witnesses also came forward to identify Moreno in connection with the attack, according to the affidavit.

Moreno was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on Sunday, according to jail records.

Related coverage on KSAT:

• ‘I knew I killed him’: Man arrested in connection with South Side murder, affidavit states
• Man who died of gunshot wound to head identified by Bexar County ME’s Office
• Man with apparent gunshot to head dies inside South Side home, authorities say

McMorrow’s exit comes after many Democrats increasingly viewed her as a long shot for the nomination. It also creates a fresh dynamic in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races, forcing Democratic voters into a direct choice between Stevens, a mainstream congresswoman backed by much of the party establishment, and El-Sayed, supported by many progressive movement leaders.

The binary choice will be on full display Tuesday, when Stevens and El-Sayed are set to face off in a televised debate. During a May debate, El-Sayed repeatedly went on the offensive against Stevens, who mostly declined to engage directly with him.

McMorrow’s departure could also prompt influential Democrats in the state to announce their support for Stevens because of concerns about El-Sayed’s electability in a general election. Some had stayed on the sidelines because of relationships with McMorrow.

The seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is one that the party must hold if it hopes to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections. The primary winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024.

McMorrow made the announcement in a statement and video posted online Sunday, which came after ballots have already gone out.

“Today, I’m announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate,” McMorrow wrote.

“And I’m doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude," she said. “For our thousands of volunteers, for everyone who donated what you could — building a campaign with zero corporate PAC dollars. For my staff, who built this team up from nothing. I thank you.”

While McMorrow did not elaborate on her decision to exit the race, a person with direct knowledge said the biggest factor was the recent influx of outside spending boosting Stevens. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has poured millions into ads supporting Stevens, leaving both McMorrow and El-Sayed struggling to keep pace. The person, who would only speak on condition of anonymity, said McMorrow has no plans to endorse either remaining candidate at this point.

McMorrow's rivals reacted quickly to her announcement.

El-Sayed appealed to McMorrow supporters to join “our movement” and accused “party insiders” of “bullying anyone who opposes their chosen candidate.” In a post on X, he said, “We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.” Stevens described herself as “the strongest Democrat to defeat Mike Rogers this November” and said in a statement that she looked forward to working with McMorrow “to build a stronger Michigan for everyone.”

The race has increasingly split Democrats along ideological lines, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer backing Stevens and El-Sayed drawing the support of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and allies such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced on Facebook that she was endorsing Stevens soon after McMorrow dropped out.

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Peoples reported from New York.

One of the victims, a 21-year-old woman, was in critical condition while the others were described as being stable and expected to survive, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday.

The shooting occurred Saturday night in the courtyard of an apartment building about a block from the famed Coney Island boardwalk and not far from the site of the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest held earlier on the holiday.

The police commissioner said a suspect wearing a black mask fired into the courtyard where a family had gathered for a cookout. The shooter fled but police did recover a gun, Tisch said.

The children shot are ages 6, 7, 12 and 14, Tisch said. There were no reports of any earlier disturbances at the gathering, she said.

In the weeks leading up to the performance, local leaders questioned whether the city-owned Alamodome should give a platform to Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has had a history of well-publicized antisemitic comments. Ye has since apologized for those remarks.

The City of San Antonio said more than 60,000 people were expected to be at the concert, which Ye touted will be one of the most well-attended in the venue’s history.

Some fans told KSAT that their attendance does not indicate support for the beliefs he previously shared.

“I can separate the music from the artist because his music is great,” said Aaron Queen, a fan who traveled from Washington, D.C. “It’s timeless and it’s a classic.”

Ye has been criticized over the last several years for antisemitic actions, including saying “I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” in a 2022 social media post and releasing a song titled “Heil Hitler.”

“People have the right to say what they want to say. There are consequences to certain actions,” fan Rob Monsivais said, “but at the end of the day we all make mistakes.”

In January, Ye took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal to apologize for his previous behavior. In the letter, he said he is not a Nazi nor an antisemite, and attributed his actions to a brain injury and bipolar disorder.

“He’s also had his moment of mental health issues and I can’t hold that against him. You don’t know the battle he’s battling.” said Paula Escalera, who traveled from Houston. “We’ve all had our controversial moments. I don’t care who it is.”

Read also:

• Councilwoman Misty Spears accepted free Ye concert tickets before publicly denouncing rapper
• All eyes on Ye: San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones doubles down against Alamodome concert

Around 8 p.m. Saturday, officers were dispatched to a crash involving one vehicle in the 9000 block of Southeast Loop 410 eastbound access road.

The driver, identified as a 42-year-old man, was operating the vehicle at a high rate of speed when it veered off the roadway, ejecting the passenger, according to an SAPD preliminary report.

Police said the passenger, identified as a 43-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver showed signs of intoxication, police said.

Additional information was not immediately available. The investigation remains ongoing.

Read also:

• Teen killed, 5 others injured in Fourth of July shooting on East Side, police say

Like President Donald Trump, Burgum said he was 100% sure that vandals caused the damage to the century-old Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. Trump has charged that a 350-foot gash was cut into the pool's liner in the midst of recent renovations, while Burgum described it as multiple cuts adding up to that figure. He also said the pool would have to be at least partially drained in the coming week to finish the repairs.

The repairs will not be opened up to new contractors, he said.

“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum told CNN's “State of the Union." ”Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was bad. I mean, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, so then it could fall into a felony ... just like damaging any other government property could. But the job that was done to fix the Reflecting Pool was done extremely well."

Trump this spring pledged to beautify the Reflecting Pool before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations on July Fourth. Water was drained and the Republican president directed that the bottom be painted a color he called “American flag blue.” But after the site was restored, the water was plagued by an algae bloom for more than a week, and pieces of the new coating have appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, but Burgum said that was due to a safety issue related to the fireworks.

The evolving debate over the Reflecting Pool has inflamed the broader fight over Trump's aggressive push to overhaul Washington landmarks, including the White House, nearly two years into his final term in office.

Authorities have arrested more than a half dozen people in relation to Reflecting Pool damage, including former Olympian David Hearn, who was indicted last week on a felony of property destruction.

The top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, said Hearn ripped up recently installed sealant on the pool in “a deliberate act” that caused more than $1,000 in damage. She accused him of “forcefully and violently” pulling up the bottom liner “with both hands” and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.

Hearn's lawyers, Democracy Defenders Fund co-founder Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, said the charges were “outrageous and should be alarming to every American.” Eisen and Dohrmann construed the case as representative of “the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.”

Burgum was asked and did not answer directly whether there was photographic evidence of vandals cutting the pool's liner. He was also asked whether Hearn should face a 10-year prison sentence, which is the maximum legal penalty for his charge.

“Just because you were a former something doesn’t exclude you from the law today,” Burgum told CNN. “The courts will decide.”

Meanwhile, questions loom over the no-bid contracts for the project that were awarded to vendors with prior ties to Trump.

Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

About 10 Democratic senators and House members are investigating the pool project.

“Taxpayers deserve a full explanation of how these failures occurred and who will be held accountable for correcting them,″ said a letter signed last month by six senators.

Burgum also appeared on ABC's “This Week.”

Take a look at some photos shared by viewers on KSAT Connect:

Whether you are headed out to see the fireworks or staying at home and hosting a cookout, we want to see your photos!

Submit your photos using KSAT Connect, and they could be used on-air and online. You can find a guide on how to post down below.

KSAT Connect Posting Guide:

• Open the KSAT Weather Authority app OR visit the KSAT Connect web page. We recommend using the app for regular access to KSAT Connect!
• If you’re on the KSAT Weather Authority app, click the camera icon on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. You can also upload from the KSAT News app. Click here for instructions.
• Sign in or sign up for a FREE KSAT Insider (member) account by clicking the orange button with the text “Log in to Upload a Pin.”
• Once you’re signed in, you’ll click the orange button that now reads “Upload a Pin.”
• Click the blue button at the top to choose the photo or video you’d like to share.
• For Fireworks photos, select “Holidays” as the channel and “Fireworks” as your category.
• For Cookout photos, select “Food” as the channel and “Food” as your category.
• Tell us about your photo or video by including a description.
• The last step is to click the orange button at the bottom to upload.

But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week’s summit in Turkey.

Initially, it was about money. Trump has long railed against NATO allies for spending too small a fraction of their national budgets on defense. But those problems were addressed at their summit last year, when U.S. allies committed to invest as much as America, in gross domestic product terms.

NATO's real problem now is turning that money into military capabilities, particularly as European countries worry about a possible attack from Russia.

Still, Rutte tried to put to bed any lingering concerns at a White House meeting last month, with a new pitch using a chart labeled the “The Trump Trillion” in gold letters — showing $1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017.

But Trump appeared unmoved, saying he was still disappointed at some NATO allies’ refusal to join the Iran war, which he had launched alongside Israel without consulting them.

“We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “I just want loyalty.”

Trump suggested he might have skipped the upcoming summit entirely were it not being hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It’s a sign that even Erdogan and Rutte — foreign leaders Trump seems to hold in rare esteem — will have their work cut out for them in keeping the summit on track.

Rutte set a new marker for flattery at the White House

Historically, the prime tasks of NATO’s top civilian official — always a European, never an American — have been to encourage consensus in an organization that makes its decisions unanimously, and to speak on behalf of all 32 member countries.

But during both of Trump’s terms, Rutte and his predecessor at the helm of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, have dedicated a huge amount of energy just to keep the United States inside their alliance.

Trump has threatened to leave NATO, dallied with pulling U.S. troops out of Europe and vowed to take over the island of Greenland — a semiautonomous part of ally Denmark. He has cast doubt over whether he would defend another member not spending enough on their military, eroding trust.

Rutte’s approach has been heavy on flattery. Last month’s carefully choreographed pitch in the Oval Office — with props redolent of an American flag — laid down a new marker, even for a man heavily criticized for likening Trump to a “daddy.”

The charts showed tens of thousands of U.S. jobs were being created and a backlog of $300 billion in European orders for military equipment — all thanks to the “leader of the free world,” Rutte said.

He pushed back, gently, on Trump’s complaints that NATO did not support the U.S. against Iran, noting that up to 5,000 U.S. planes took off from bases in Europe before an April ceasefire.

Trump has threatened to pull forces from Europe at a moment of peril

NATO cannot function without its biggest and most powerful ally. Europe is being pushed to fend for itself even as Russia, the historical reason for the alliance, poses a greater threat.

Last month, the Pentagon surprised its NATO allies by announcing that it was scaling back the number of troops, warships, aircraft and drones it would provide if one of them came under attack. Trump has also sent conflicting messages about whether U.S. troop numbers would be lowered or increased.

The cutbacks and mixed messaging has undermined unity at the alliance, just as Russia has been probing Europe's defenses with drone flights near military bases across multiple countries, according to a study released on Thursday.

Flattery worked last year, but now there are new challenges

Each summit is meant to showcase the commitment to collective security — the all-for-one, one-for-all pledge enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s treaty. It’s only been invoked once, when allies came to America’s aid after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The last NATO summit was held in The Hague, the hometown of Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister. The Dutch royal family hosted dinner, and Trump stayed overnight at the king’s palace.

Rutte got the allies behind a major defense spending pledge, and Trump left a happy man, calling his NATO partners a “nice group of people.”

This year, the summit will be hosted by Erdogan, another key NATO member with an independent streak. His close ties to Trump may keep the American president at the table, but it’s unlikely to mend the rifts.

Rutte has tried to convince Trump that his European partners are spending so much more that America can safely turn its attention to security challenges posed by China while they handle the war in Ukraine.

But Trump wants more now, and his demand for “loyalty” is hard to capture on any chart.

Rutte’s predecessor, Stoltenberg, has written in his memoir about chairing a 2018 summit that Trump nearly upended.

“If an American president says he no longer wishes to defend the other allies and leaves a NATO summit in protest, then the NATO treaty and its security guarantee aren’t worth very much,” Stoltenberg wrote.

Leclerc surged past Antonelli at the start as the Mercedes driver dropped to third but the Italian was chasing Leclerc down in the final laps when he reported a steering problem. Leclerc took a landmark 250th victory for Ferrari under the safety car brought out by a spectacular spin into the gravel from third by Max Verstappen.

“Finally!” Leclerc said over the radio after taking the win. “This one felt particularly good, even if I wished it was a more normal ending.”

Leclerc leaped out of his car and ran to a crowd of Ferrari staff who surged forward to embrace him, toppling a crowd barrier onto their driver. Leclerc’s last F1 victory was at the United States Grand Prix in October 2024.

Antonelli's race falls apart

After Antonelli reported issues with his car, he came into the pits but that didn't help and he started dropping back through the field. Later, Verstappen's spin shook up the race again.

Antonelli's Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell went on to second to deny Ferrari a one-two finish, staying out on old tires when Lewis Hamilton came into the pits under the safety car.

Hamilton had fresh tires but couldn't use them because the race ended up finishing behind that safety car. He was third.

Hamilton held onto third after getting only a reprimand in a post-race investigation into allegedly infringing yellow-flag conditions. He said he was distracted by looking in his mirrors for Verstappen, not realizing he had gone off, and didn't notice the flag.

Antonelli was ninth across the line after ignoring the team’s pleas to retire the car so he could fight for the final points places. He ended up outside the points anyway. The Italian dropped to 16th with a time penalty for going off-track as he wrangled his damaged car around the corners.

Mercedes has dominated the 2026 season so far but reliability is becoming its weak spot.

Antonelli has now missed the points twice in three Grand Prix races after car trouble also derailed him when Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and Russell had a dramatic car failure in Canada in May.

The lack of racing at the finish was a disappointment to fans, especially after a graphic was wrongly displayed indicating the safety car would come in, leaving a one-lap sprint to the finish.

Russell gets title boost despite lack of pace

Second place for Russell revives his title chances even though the British driver had struggled for competitive pace all weekend. Antonelli's lead shrinks from 43 points over Russell to 25, the value of a single race win.

Russell had been fourth in the sprint, fourth in qualifying and was battling Verstappen for fourth in the race before the late drama.

“If I want to fight for the championship, the performances need to be better,” he said. “I need to be better.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports Germany the team believed Antonelli's car was damaged when he hit a curb on what he called a bittersweet day for the team.

Verstappen crash echoes Austria incident

When he saw a replay of Verstappen's crash post-race, Russell called the crash “weird” and questioned whether there'd been a problem with the rear wing on the four-time champions car.

If so, it would be the second time in just over a week that's happened to Verstappen, who was thrown into a barrier when his wing broke in qualifying in Austria.

Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren after his teammate Oscar Piastri's race was ruined by early damage, while Isack Hadjar was fifth for Red Bull.

The Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and British rookie Arvid Lindblad were sixth and seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth for Audi. The two Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, ended up ninth and 10th thanks to Antonelli's penalty.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Authorities urged residents in parts of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, to remain indoors and shut their windows and doors due to toxic smoke from a burning recycling plant that was engulfed by a wildfire.

Another major wildfire broke out Sunday afternoon west of the Greek capital, Athens. The fire department said 210 firefighters, backed up by volunteers, specialized teams and 29 aircraft, including water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed to battle the blaze burning through pine forest in the Mandra area. Authorities were racing to contain the blaze before nightfall, when aircraft can no longer perform firefighting operations.

In central Portugal’s Vouzela area, more than 1,200 firefighters backed up by nearly 400 vehicles and 15 aircraft tried to put out a blaze that broke out Thursday, according to the Civil Protection authority. The wildfire had burned across an area of 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) by Sunday, information from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite mapping agency showed.

The EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid said that Spain sent 120 firefighters and 45 vehicles as reinforcements to Portugal on Friday, while three firefighting aircraft from Italy and Spain were also dispatched to help.

By Sunday afternoon, the fire appeared to be abating somewhat, with Portuguese media quoting officials as saying it no longer had major active fronts but that some hot spots remained.

In Spain, a wildfire burning since Friday in the northeastern Girona region had burned nearly 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres), the EFE news agency said. Catalan Fire Service head of operations Eduard Martinez said the blaze had a perimeter of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and firefighters may not be able to bring it under control on Sunday, EFE said.

Toxic smoke from wildfire in northern Greece

On the other side of southern Europe, in Greece, a fast-moving blaze at a recycling plant broke out Saturday evening near the Oraiokastro suburb of Thessaloniki, triggering evacuation alerts for three suburbs and a facility housing 157 people with disabilities.

Strong winds fanned the flames, and around 160 firefighters were deployed to battle the flames through the night until water-dropping aircraft could take off at dawn, the fire department said.

Oraiokastro Mayor Pandelis Tsakiris said on Greece’s state broadcaster ERT that several businesses and homes were damaged but a clearer picture would emerge after authorities conduct a full evaluation.

A 76-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of having started the blaze through negligence by generating sparks with his vehicle that set vegetation near the road alight, the fire department said. He was due to appear before a prosecutor Sunday.

The fire came days after another wildfire in a nearby area killed a 12-year-old boy and his father.

Most fires in Greece caused by negligence, fire department says

Fire department spokesman Brig. Ioannis Artopoios, speaking on ERT TV on Sunday, said that about 85% of wildfires in Greece were caused by negligence, including through sparks generated through the use of agriculture machinery, discarded cigarettes and the use of outdoor barbecues. “This means most of them could have been avoided,” he said.

Greece suffers frequent, often devastating, wildfires during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a blaze east of Athens killed more than 100 people, while a massive fire in 2023, which tore through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece, was the largest wildfire recorded in the EU.

The country has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change. It is integrating an array of four satellites, launched into low orbit in May, that will monitor for wildfires.

So far this summer, Greece has been spared the heatwaves that have scorched much of western Europe in recent weeks. But it has still seen dozens of blazes across the country, both on the mainland and the country's islands.

New Jersey officials said Saturday that they began seeing what they believe are heat-related deaths as early as Thursday with most occurring in the central and northern parts of the state.

“Unfortunately, many of these individuals were found in homes without air conditioning,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington told reporters Saturday. "A few were outside their residences, some on the street and some even in parked cars.”

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called the current weather “the hottest stretch we’ve seen in over 14 years.”

“The heat's hitting all of us, not just seniors, not just with underlying health conditions, people of all ages,” Sherrill said.

On Thursday, LaGuardia Airport in New York set a new record high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), topping the previous record of 101 F (38.3 C) set in 1966, according to Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center.

Trenton, New Jersey, reached 101 F, which broke the record of 100 F (37.7 C) set in 1901. Newark’s high Thursday was 105 F (40.5 C).

Atlantic City, New Jersey, hit 103 F (39.4 C) on Thursday, breaking the city’s record of 100 F set in 1966, Jackson said. Atlantic City reached 105 F on Friday and 106 F (41.1 C) on Saturday.

Heat domes can be dangerous and combine very high temperatures with high moisture, Jackson said.

“In a lot of cases they also had direct sunshine,” he said. “It was relentless. It was multiple days. It was not as cool overnight, as well. The low Friday morning in Atlantic City was 80. The body can't recover as well. You just have that multiple day buildup and too much added stress on the body.”

But even as the heat moved to the east, lowering temperatures a bit, severe storms blew in with heavy winds that toppled utility poles and split trees, causing their boles and branches to fall onto power lines.

About 900,000 utility customers in parts of the central, eastern and southern United States were without electricity early Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.com.

More than 223,000 customers in Michigan and close to 170,000 in Pennsylvania had lost power.

PPL Electric reported 121,417 without power Sunday morning, including about 47,000 in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area.

Central Hudson in New York State reported that it had more than 430 reported downed wires on Sunday. The utility said about 50,000 customers were affected by the storm and that about 650 still were without power Sunday.

Amanda Vesper was putting her children to bed Friday evening when the first storm rolled through the Detroit area, knocking out her power.

“It didn't seem that awful. It got quite windy,” said Vesper, 40, of Commerce Township.

As of late Sunday morning, the electricity still was out.

“We've been going back and forth between a hotel and our home because we have dogs there,” she said. “We really can't stay there. I have a small child with autism. Our well runs on an electric pump.”

The outage also ruined the family's July 4 celebration.

“We had planned on having company over at the house, but had to cancel,” Vesper said. “I went grocery shopping. I'm hoping my freezer holds.”

Jackson, with the Weather Prediction Center, said Sunday will see heavy thunderstorms in and around the Cleveland area. Those storms then will shift eastward and move into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York — where chances exist for flash flooding, he added.

Officers were dispatched to the scene just before 4:30 a.m. Sunday in the 5300 block of Southcross Ranch Road.

The 62-year-old man told police that an unknown person approached him and stabbed him in the back of the head, police said. He was taken to a local hospital for further treatment.

As of Sunday morning, no information on the person who allegedly stabbed the man is available, police said.

It is unknown what led up to the stabbing. The investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

• Man killed in Southeast Side crash; Driver showed signs of intoxication, SAPD says
• Teen killed, 5 others injured in Fourth of July shooting on East Side, police say

The five-day preliminary hearing that starts Monday will be the first time members of Kirk's family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be livestreamed.

Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege that he also sent a text message confession to his partner and left a note saying he had an opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices “and I’m going to take it.”

He has not entered a plea in the case, however.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, who was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence.

Months of legal jostling leading up to the hearing centered largely on media access. Beginning Monday, the focus shifts to whether there is enough evidence for a trial and if the death penalty is warranted, said Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor and former federal judge.

Cassell said evidence made public to date in court filings suggests prosecutors have “an overwhelming case.”

“This seems like the proverbial slam dunk at this stage of the case, where the only issue is whether there is a sound basis for moving forward with a trial on the merits,” he said.

A death sentence is an option in Utah only when a crime has aggravating circumstances. Prosecutors will argue in Robinson's case that Kirk’s shooting endangered others in attendance.

The proceeding will resemble a minitrial, with prosecutors planning to offer DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, testimony from investigators, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk's killing. They are not required to present all their evidence and can use secondhand information, or hearsay.

After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.

Reporters and the public will be allowed to attend after Graf denied a defense request to restrict access.

Kirk’s killing drew backlash from his Republican allies, including President Donald Trump, who first announced Robinson’s arrest in a Sept. 12 interview on Fox News and said, “I hope he gets the death penalty.”

This week prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle.

Robinson’s parents had confronted him after authorities released a surveillance photo of the suspect and details about the rifle, authorities have said. His parents convinced him to meet with a family friend, who is a retired sheriff’s deputy, who reportedly helped arrange for Robinson to turn himself in.

Prosecutors have said Robinson left a note for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” They also said he wrote to his roommate in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block prosecutors from using recorded statements from Robinson’s roommate during the hearing. The defense wanted the roommate to testify in person so Robinson could exercise his right challenge the credibility of witnesses against him. Graf said the time for challenging witnesses would come later.

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.

His widow, Erika Kirk, who took the helm of the organization after his death, pushed to maintain public access to Robinson’s prosecution when defense attorneys sought to exclude cameras from the courtroom. She forgave Robinson during her husband’s memorial service.

She is expected in court throughout the week with her husband's parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

___

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Police said the shooting was reported around 10:45 p.m. on July 4 at an apartment complex in the 1700 block of Lamar Street, near North Mittman Street.

Upon arrival, police said officers found multiple people with apparent gunshot wounds outside the complex.

According to a preliminary report, officers were told several people walking near the area began firing at a residence, striking multiple individuals both inside and outside the building.

In a Facebook post, police initially said three people were walking when they shot a gun toward the complex.

The man was taken to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Among the five others wounded were two girls, ages 5 and 12, an unknown person, a 41-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man. All were taken to local hospitals in “critical but stable condition,” police said.

SAPD’s Facebook post stated one of those shot was a suspect, though the preliminary report does not confirm that detail.

Several individuals were detained for questioning, the report states, but no arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.

It is unknown what led up to the shooting. The investigation is ongoing.

• SUNDAY: Hot and mostly dry with highs around 95–96 degrees.
• MONDAY: Slight chance of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms, mainly north of San Antonio.
• TEMPS: Hotter, drier weather with highs climbing into the upper 90s.
• NEXT WEEKEND: Rain and thunderstorm chances return Saturday.

FORECAST

TODAY

Today brings another classic early July day across South-Central Texas, with hot temperatures, plenty of sunshine, and only a slight chance for a few isolated showers.

NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN

The overall weather pattern remains largely unchanged to start the new week. Warm, humid conditions will continue Monday, with another chance for scattered sea breeze showers. The best opportunity for rain and a few thunderstorms will be Monday afternoon and evening, mainly across the Hill Country and along the Interstate 35 corridor. Any storms that develop should remain confined to northern portions of the region.

Looking ahead to next weekend, another upper-level disturbance and approaching cold front may bring the return of scattered showers and thunderstorms to South-Central Texas on Saturday.

REMAINING SEASONABLE

By the middle of the week, high pressure will strengthen over Texas, bringing a stretch of hot and dry weather. Temperatures will gradually edge higher, with afternoon highs reaching the upper 90s by the end of the workweek.

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

• WATCH LIVE: Doppler Radar
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The Stoned Climbers festival, which took place last week in the Zhytomyr region, is Ukraine’s biggest outdoors event combining climbing and live music. Like many public events in wartime Ukraine, the festival blended ordinary leisure with reminders that the war is never far away.

Visitors received multiple air raid alert notifications on their phones throughout the weekend. Soldiers on leave quietly blended into the crowd, while organizers directed all profits from this year’s festival to a fundraising initiative supporting Ukraine’s Azov Brigade. Unlike last year, however, no Russian drones or missiles crossed the sky above the campsite on their way toward Kyiv.

The volunteer-run festival was launched in 2023 by about 15 friends who had spent more than a year climbing together after becoming fascinated by Yosemite’s climbing culture.

The U.S. national park has long been regarded as one of the birthplaces of modern rock climbing, where climbers built a counterculture around sleeping in tents, living out of vans and spending months on the granite walls of the valley.

“We realized climbing could be much more than just a sport,” said festival co-founder Dmytro Isaienko, 39. “It’s about a specific way of life — in nature, camping, on the rocks.”

Isaienko and his friends wanted to challenge the perception that climbing was reserved for elite athletes. Their first festival attracted about 150 visitors. This summer, attendance grew to more than 500, most of them beginners or amateur climbers.

Organizing the festival during wartime has given it a broader purpose, Isaienko said. He believes creating places where people can gather, learn new skills and spend time together has become a way of sustaining one’s well-being through a prolonged war.

“You need to get away from the war for a while,” he said. “Leave Kyiv and come spend some time here together, a little longer than usual.”

A climbing community grows even as war grinds on

On the rocks below, instructors help complete beginners fasten their harnesses, chalk their hands and search for the next hold on the granite wall. Whenever someone reaches the top of the 25-meter (82-feet) cliff — often for the first time — spectators, instructors and climbers break into applause.

Among the festival’s newcomers was 21-year-old Liliia Karpach, who traveled from Ukraine’s western Lviv region for her first Stoned Climbers festival.

“I decided to come because it had been a very long time since I’d climbed on real rocks,” she said. “I also wanted to meet the community in person and get to know new people.”

She said climbing is mental as well as physical exercise, and hopes others will give it a try.

“If you’re really nervous about coming on your own, invite some friends,” she said. “Even if neither of you knows how to climb, you’ll have a good time together.”

Helping first-time climbers gain that confidence is one of the most rewarding parts of the festival for instructor Andrii Lamei, 24.

While belaying a young woman during her first climb, he calmly talked her through the most difficult part of the ascent. As she climbed higher, her movements became more confident. After reaching the top, Lamei encouraged her to pause before descending.

“Look around,” he shouted. “Enjoy the moment. You made it.”

“Climbing helps you work with stress,” Lamei said. “It helps you manage stressful situations in everyday life.”

He dreams of climbing outside Ukraine one day but, like most Ukrainian men, he cannot leave the country while wartime travel restrictions remain in place.

“I want to go across the border to visit Yosemite, to visit Norway's mountains, but I can’t,” he said. “But maybe this is how I’m forced to enjoy what I have here.”

For Isaienko, that is precisely why festivals like Stoned Climbers matter.

While many Ukrainians have put parts of their lives on hold during the war, he hopes the community taking shape around the cliffs shows that new traditions can still emerge.

“This is a festival for everyone,” he said. “Including people who have never tried climbing before.”

And each time another first-time climber reaches the top, the applause rising from the rocks below suggests that, little by little, that community is growing.

Hussam Abu Safiya who served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, became the face of health workers struggling to treat patients throughout the Israel-Hamas war.

He led the facility through an 85-day siege by the Israeli military, releasing videos in which he pleaded for help before he was arrested in December 2024. He has not been charged.

The Israeli military said Abu Safiya, 53, was being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas. Staff and international aid groups that worked with him deny the claims.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said Abu Safiya appeared extremely weak and struggled to sit upright during a visit on July 2. Odeh said he had recent head injuries around his eyes, ears and neck and experienced difficulty breathing.

Odeh and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said they have petitioned to have Abu Safiya transferred to another facility.

Abu Safiya faced physical and psychological abuse and was kept in solitary confinement for extended periods, Odeh said following an appearance before Israel’s Supreme Court last month challenging his continued detainment without charge.

Abu Safiya appeared briefly by video during that hearing, looking pale and gaunt and with lash-like marks on both arms.

Israel’s Prison Service called the allegations “false and entirely without factual basis.” The prison service declined to discuss the case directly, citing privacy concerns, but said all prisoners and detainees are held in accordance with the law and receive medical care based on Ministry of Health guidelines.

“The Israel Prison Service rejects allegations of abuse, torture, starvation, or denial of medical treatment,” the prison service said.

Israel has faced severe criticism over its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees since the start of its war with Hamas in October 2023. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have alleged systematic patterns of abuse.

The number of Palestinians in Israeli detention surged after the start of the war and thousands remain in detention. The Associated Press has previously reported on the dire conditions in prisons.

The war between Israel and Hamas began Oct. 7, 2023, after the Gaza-based militant group led an attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage. Since then, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Speaking in Washington after storms prompted a roughly two-hour evacuation of the National Mall, Trump honored veterans, including several from World War II and one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat in Vietnam. They appeared before flags that symbolized some of the most significant and challenging moments in American history, from the one that was draped over Abraham Lincoln's casket to the one that flew on the plane piloted by the Wright Brothers.

Yet Trump also leaned into partisan territory unusual for an Independence Day address, which presidents typically use as a moment to unify the country. Instead, he stumped again for the SAVE America Act, an elections bill that's encountering challenges even from Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress. He highlighted his support for the Second Amendment and revived denunciations of communism, which are becoming an increasingly central part of Trump's message ahead of the November midterms.

The speech capped a holiday that Trump has gone to great lengths to shape to his own tastes. He was introduced by two musical performers who often appear at his trademark rallies, including Lee Greenwood, who performed “God Bless the USA.” The event organizers were largely aligned with the White House, supplanting a bipartisan organization that was launched by Congress a decade ago.

“We will always be on top,” Trump said. "We will never let our country fall. We will always be the best.”

Trump didn’t talk about himself as much as he does during his normal rally speeches. Still, he still found time to include a joke about seeking a third presidential term and about World War II’s “greatest generation.”

“They are the greatest generation,” Trump said. “I hate to admit that, but they are.”

Anticipation for the milestone holiday has been building for much of the year, serving as an opportunity for Americans to reflect on their complicated history as onetime colonists of an empire who became a superpower of their own. Organizers of celebrations months in the making had to adjust or cancel activities entirely as much of the East Coast sweltered under heat that approached and in many cases surpassed triple digits.

Heat is defining the big weekend in many places

Severe weather prompted the cancellation of celebrations in Hartford, Connecticut, along with Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Spectators at Boston’s fireworks and concert were told to briefly seek shelter before events later resumed. An evacuation was also ordered in Philadelphia. New York and Pittsburgh moved forward with fireworks but shifted the time to accommodate the shifting weather.

The disruption was particularly acute in Washington, where signs at the Great American State Fair posted an alert shortly after 7 p.m. ET encouraging participants to leave the area. Crowds gathered in museums, subway stations and federal buildings near the Mall. At the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center they waited in chairs and sat on the floor to cool off in the air conditioning.

Crowds were building in the area several hours before the evacuation. Tina Hale, 58, of Cohoes, New York, watched three of her grandchildren children dip their hands into a pool of water near a museum. Hale pointed toward the sky and urged them to look up as three military jets roared above the crowd.

“If that doesn’t make you proud to be an American,” she said.

David Koshko, 42, and his wife, Jennifer Koshko, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, came to Washington for a baseball game but planned to stay for the city’s fireworks show. After baking in the heat for hours during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ win over the Washington Nationals, they took a break in the shade of an overpass near the National Mall to plot their next stop.

“Just to be a part of the 250 years (anniversary) is an amazing thing,” said David Koshko, a commercial driver and veteran of the Marine Corps reserves.

In Philadelphia, fireworks began to crack as early as midday in the birthplace of the nation near the site where the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Hundreds of visitors were gathering at Independence Hall in the sweltering heat to await the celebrations coinciding with the France-Paraguay World Cup knockout game at Philadelphia Stadium, which began with commemorations of the holiday.

“It’s one big party in here,” Carlos Alban, who traveled to Philadelphia from Chicago to watch the match, said as he arrived at the stadium, adding that he spotted a fan in the parking lot dressed as one of the Founding Fathers.

In New York, tall ships, with their masts, rigging and white sails outlined against a blue sky, made a procession around the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River, recalling the fanfare around America’s 200th anniversary in 1976.

The 43 ships were followed by a display of aerial might with a stealth bomber and the Navy's Blue Angels. Patrouille de France, the French Air Force's acrobatic teams, flew over New York Harbor with their red, white and blue trails, evoking images of the American flag.

“We got up early and just rode our bikes about a mile down here to come see the scene,” said Oona Moore, a Jersey City, New Jersey, resident who took in the New York festivities. “We saw the tall ships and we saw the planes, you know, all different manner of military aircraft. I’ve never seen it so close and in the sky at the same time.”

At George Washington's Mount Vernon, people took the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. They stood with eyes closed and hands over hearts for the national anthem.

In Phoenix, Steven Dortch, 25, and his brother JayLn Dortch, 23, gathered at Granada Park to try to forge a new July 4 cookout tradition. JayLn Dortch said young people in the U.S. give him hope by thinking for themselves and not taking the words from older people at face value.

He said the country needs to keep in mind the everyday, hardworking people who “keep America going.”

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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the last name of a holiday visitor to Washington. It is Jennifer Koshko, not Koskho.

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Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix, Emily Wang in New York, Luis Andres Henao in Philadelphia, Kristie Rieken in Houston, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va., Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Safiyah Riddle in Los Angeles and Jesse Bedayn, Anna Johnson, Will Weissert and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.

Two others were injured in the attack on northern Crimea, including one in a serious condition, the Russia-installed regional Gov. Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram. He did not give details of the attack.

In recent weeks Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on key infrastructure targets in Crimea as Kyiv’s military seeks to isolate the vital Russian-held peninsula in the latest stage of the war.

The peninsula was seized by force and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine’s increasing use of long-range strikes has highlighted its ability to inflict painful damage on Russia and put added pressure on the Kremlin while Moscow’s advances recently have ground to a near halt, Western analysts and officials say.

The latest attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Trump on ending the war.

Writing on X, Zelenskyy said he called to congratulate Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and that the two leaders discussed the situation along the front line.

“There is a real prospect of ending this war, and America’s determination will be crucial. We agreed to continue the conversation in person during the NATO summit in Ankara,” he said late Saturday.

The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump discussed the conflict in Ukraine in a “constructive” phone call on Saturday.

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin congratulated Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence during the call that lasted nearly an hour and half, their fourth conversation so far this year.

Ushakov said that Trump reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine, while Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will continue mediation efforts and stand ready to visit Moscow.

The Kremlin adviser said Putin once again emphasized Russia’s “preference for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, provided that Russia’s well-known, fundamental positions are taken into account.”

At the same time, Putin charged that Kyiv and its European allies are “betting on prolonging, and even escalating the conflict,” arguing that “the European ‘party of war’ proceeds from a flawed perception of the overall situation and the state of things along the line of contact,” Ushakov said.

He added that Putin told Trump about the “real situation on the battlefield, where Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one settlement after another.”

The Russian leader specifically mentioned the capture of the Ukrainian stronghold of Kostyantynivka, describing it as a key step toward the “liberation” of the entire Donetsk region.

Kyiv has denied the Russian claim of capturing Kostyantynivka. Ukraine’s General Staff reiterated that the embattled city remains under Ukrainian control in a statement on Telegram on Sunday, a day after Zelenskyy said that Russia's claim to have taken control was “just another Russian lie.”

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The game at the iconic North Side ballpark was delayed by fog for 15 minutes after the sixth inning. The Cardinals led 2-0 when play was stopped, then went on to win their third straight.

The crowd of 38,872 joined in singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as the delay began. The early 1970s hit song has re-emerged during the World Cup soccer tournament, with U.S. players joining tens of thousands of fans in singing it at the end of matches.

The rare Saturday night game at Wrigley started an hour late due to rain, then fog billowed in from the north starting in the second inning and got denser.

The visibility became so poor that players said they would lose sight of the ball. They struggled and called out tracking fly balls, but there were no misplays.

“Yeah, that was brutal,” Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. "I've never seen anything like that so, I’ll just leave it at that. It was reminiscent of when like I was kid playing rec ball, soccer and stuff like that. Yes, you could see the ball hitting the bat, then not so much."

Crow-Armstrong, a Gold Glove winner last season, somehow caught Masyn Winn's deep fly for the second out of the sixth. He drifted to the edge of the warning track, then dropped to one knee to do it.

“I don't know how he saw my ball, to be honest with you,” Winn said. “When the ball was getting above the lights, I just thought it disappeared. I was crazy to me.”

Winn, the Cardinals shortstop, said he had a tough time seeing on the field.

“Right when they hit it, you could see kind of the direction of where the ball was going” Winn said. "And you know, as soon as it touched, like light level, it was gone. It was weird.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh this is pretty damn cool.' It felt like this was a sick game to play on July 4. But by the end of it, I was, like, ‘This is crazy.’ Nobody could see anything.”

Winn said Cardinals left fielder Lars Nootbar told him he couldn't see the hitters. Nootbar went on to catch Dansby Swanson's drive against the wall for the final out of the seventh after the fog subsided.

Nootbar said he thought Swanson's ball was headed to the stands for a two-run homer, but the wind that had pushed the fog into the ballpark kept Swanson's fly inside as well.

“I'm glad they didn't put more balls in the air, because we probably would have been in some trouble,” Winn said.

The umpires conferred with St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol and Chicago’s Craig Counsell after the sixth. Then the delay was announced on video boards as the result of “weather in the area.”

Marmol said it was the right call.

“There was a point there where no one on the field could see where the ball in play was,” Marmol said. "Thankfully we got a groundball to short with some punch-outs involved, because it would have been very circus-like otherwise.

“So good job pausing the game, letting (the fog) go through and then continuing, because that was different.”

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

Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri arrived in Los Angeles and “is finally reunited with his family,” Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation wrote on X.

He and 17 other leaders of the underground Zion Church were detained in October in one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single church in decades, raising worries over an escalation in the government’s curtailing of religious freedom.

A family statement said Jin's release happened very quickly. It thanked Trump and said they know the release could not have happened without Xi’s direct intervention.

“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the statement said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jin’s case gained attention after Trump, on the way home from a state visit to Beijing in May, said he raised with Xi the detentions of both the pastor and that of imprisoned Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai.

“He said he’s gonna strongly consider the pastor,” Trump told reporters on his flight. But, he said, Xi told him that Lai's case “would be a tough one.”

The 78-year-old Lai, a former clothing magnate and publisher of a Hong Kong tabloid critical of Beijing, received a 20-year sentence in February.

Activists welcomed Jin's release but also remembered other church leaders still being held.

“At least 8 members of Zion Church remain detained in China,” Maya Wang from Human Rights Watch wrote on X. “They should all be freed.”

The Zion Church is among the largest underground or house churches in China that are unregistered with authorities. They defy a requirement that believers worship only in registered congregations.

The ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, views organized religion as a potential threat to its hold on power. Under Xi, Chinese authorities have pushed to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the party.

“My father started Zion in order to worship freely in a church that put God as the sole head of our church, like many faithful Christians everywhere,” his daughter Grace Jin Drexel, who lives in the United States, told a congressional committee in November.

Jin brought his family to the U.S. after authorities targeted Zion Church in 2018 but decided to go back despite the risks. His daughter said last fall that she hadn't seen her father in six years.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

• This evening: Warm temperatures persist
• Sunday: Warm and dry conditions roll over
• Next week: Highs move into the upper 90s

FORECAST

Fourth of July Evening

We only saw one small and quick shower in our area this afternoon, but the chance for any more activity is gone. Conditions will stay dry and warm this evening when you head out to your firework shows. Pack plenty of water and a portable fan if you have one because temperatures won’t fall out of the 90s until those shows begin.

Sunday

Our weather pattern is just going to rewind and play out the same tomorrow. Afternoon temperatures will be close to 95 and 96 degrees and another sea breeze shower could be possible. Weakening showers could move into northern Hill Country areas during the middle of the night. Bad weather is not expected.

Next Week

There’s still a possibility for sea breeze showers Monday and Tuesday. Afterwards, a quiet pattern takes over and temperatures get a little warmer. No triple digits yet, thankfully. Rain showers and potentially a storm could be something to watch next weekend.

QUICK WEATHER LINKS

• WATCH LIVE: Doppler Radar
• Hourly and 10-Day Forecast
• Download FREE KSAT Weather Authority App: Up-to-date forecast information and livestreams from trusted local meteorologists.
• KSAT Connect: Share your weather photos.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout earned his 12th All-Star selection and first since 2023 based on the second round of fan balloting announced Saturday by Major League Baseball. Trout, who grew up near Philadelphia in Millville, New Jersey, was voted by fans to start for the 11th time and hopes to return from a strained right hamstring sustained June 17.

First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., among four All-Stars from the American League champion Toronto Blue Jays, said he will skip the July 14 game at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park to rest a bad back that has bothered him for much of the season.

“Those four days will be great,” Guerrero said through a translator, “to come back strong in the second half.”

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, elected to his eighth start, will miss the game because of a broken rib that has sidelined him since May.

Skenes, the NL starter in the last two All-Star Games, is scheduled to pitch for Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Sunday. The 24-year-old right-hander is 0-6 in his last nine starts, dropping to 6-8 with a 3.62 ERA for the season. He was voted in by players, as was Misiorowski.

“To be honest, probably a little surprised,” Skenes said of his selection.

Misiorowski, averaging 100.4 mph with his fastball and leading the major leagues with a 1.47 ERA, was an All-Star last year after just five big league games.

“This year I think I proved that it wasn’t a fluke thing and that I do belong. It’s really cool,” he said before Saturday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He also is scheduled to start Sunday.

“We’re looking for September, October,” he said Friday. “It sucks — obviously I want to throw in a game like that — but so be it.”

Ohtani, a three-time, two-way All-Star and six-time pick overall, is unlikely to pitch in the game because of a right biceps issue that will push his last prebreak start to next weekend, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Freddie Freeman became a 10-time All-Star when the LA first baseman was announced Sunday with Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy and outfielder Andy Pages as winners in the second phase on fan voting, which ran from June 29 to Thursday. They joined Ohtani, who won the NL designated hitter spot by finishing with the most votes in the initial round of fan selection announced June 25.

In the closest race, Pages edged Atlanta's Michael Harris II by fewer than 5,000 votes for the third NL outfield spot.

Four Dodgers were elected to start for the first time since Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Reggie Smith in 1980. World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto was picked for the NL pitching staff by Major League Baseball with one of its six selections, giving the Dodgers five or more All-Stars for the seventh straight time.

Twenty-six first-time All-Stars were among the 64 players picked including four rookies: Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana, Detroit shortstop Kevin McGonigle, Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick and Cincinnati third baseman Sal Stewart.

McGonigle is the youngest player at 21 and Boston closer Aroldis Chapman at 38 is the oldest.

Atlanta and the host Phillies each have five All-Stars.

Philadelphia outfielder Brandon Marsh was elected to start and will be joined by four fellow Phillies: first baseman Bryce Harper, DH Kyle Schwarber, reliever Jhoan Duran and left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. Harper was a legend pick added by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin and second baseman Ozzie Albies were voted in as starters and will be joined by left-hander Chris Sale, a 10-time All-Star, and closer Raisel Iglesias.

Toronto has four, with Guerrero joined by second baseman Ernie Clement, who led AL players in the first phase of voting from June 3-25, and pitchers Dylan Cease and Louis Varland.

“Our fan support is unlike any other team, obviously, because of the country backing you,” said Toronto's John Schneider, the AL manager. “Not just Canada — I think a lot of baseball people really recognized how those guys play the game.”

Elected AL starters also include Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers; Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.; Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero; Houston designated hitter Yordan Alvarez; and the New York Yankees' Judge and Minnesota's Byron Buxton in the outfield.

Guerrero will be replaced in the starting lineup by the Athletics' Nick Kurtz and Judge by Yankees teammate Cody Bellinger. Replacements are based on player, manager and coach voting.

Bellinger earned his third All-Star selection but first since 2019.

“That’s going to be cool. Last time I had no kids or family or anything," he said.

NL starters also include New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto and Washington shortstop CJ Abrams.

MLB had in previous years announced starters first, then pitchers and reserves several days later.

Other AL pitchers elected by players include Boston's Chapman, Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen, Minnesota's Joe Ryan, Yankees' Cam Schlittler, Cleveland's Cade Smith. Other NL pitchers voted in by players include Cincinnati's Chase Burns and San Diego's Mason Miller.

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AP freelance writers Larry Fleisher and Patrick Stevens contributed to this report.

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

Mexico boasts an incredible record in official matches at Estadio Azteca. Since the venue opened in 1966, the national team has suffered just two defeats there, the latter of which was over a decade ago against Honduras in September 2013.

“The stadium is a monster; that explains the high number of wins and draws, and the few losses — which were just accidents,” said Hugo Sánchez, the striker who played in the 1986 World Cup and now works as an ESPN analyst. “We approach this with optimism because we know it’s England, but if we play the way we did against Ecuador, we can beat them.”

The numbers back up the myth. Across the 1970, 1986, and current World Cups on home soil, Mexico has played 10 matches at Azteca, winning eight and drawing two. In this tournament alone, El Tri has secured three home wins without conceding a goal: 2-0 against South Africa and 3-0 against Czech Republic in the group stage, and 2-0 against Ecuador in the Round of 32. Mexico also defeated South Korea 1-0 in Guadalajara in the group stage.

It's the first time Mexico has started a World Cup by winning four consecutive matches.

“We have played three World Cups in Mexico; it is hard for me to say if it is (the biggest match). In 1970 we played Italy for the semifinals, in '86 we played Germany also for the semifinals,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said Saturday. “There have been several important matches in history and tomorrow is certainly one of them.”

Breaking the curse

These results have ignited the hopes of millions of Mexicans, many of whom weren’t even born the last time the nation reached the quarterfinals. After achieving that feat in 1986, Mexico’s World Cup history became a psychological hurdle: It missed the 1990 tournament, followed by seven consecutive, agonizing Round of 16 exits before failing to escape the group stage four years ago in Qatar.

“I’m one of those who couldn’t make it through; it happened to me in South Africa and Korea,” said Aguirre, who coached El Tri during those campaigns. “It’s deeply painful because you play a great group stage, only to be knocked out for a variety of reasons.”

Mexico's eliminations comprise a catalog of heartbreaks, including a penalty shootout loss to Bulgaria in 1994 when Aguirre was an assistant coach under Miguel Mejía Barón and defeats in 1998 and 2014 to Germany and the Netherlands when El Tri squandered late leads in the final minutes.

“We will be facing a top-four team in the world according to FIFA, a world champion in '66 and one country with a great league,” Aguirre said. “In order to beat them, we need to do a nearly perfect match and to be better than what we’ve been so far.”

Now, the script could flip. At Azteca — which sits 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level — Mexico will rely heavily on the altitude and the backing of a ferocious home crowd, as it did in the group stage.

“England is one of the great national teams in the history of football, with outstanding players. We all agreed that we wanted a match like this,” midfielder Alvaro Fidalgo said Saturday. “We are in great form, the Azteca is an intimidating venue, and ultimately, it’s a World Cup Round of 16 match. That’s never easy for anyone.”

The English challenge

England enters the knockout stage fresh off a 2-1 victory over Congo, powered by a pair of goals from star striker Harry Kane. Kane headlines an elite English squad that reached the quarterfinals at the last World Cup before falling to eventual finalist France.

A victory for the Three Lions would send them to the quarterfinals for the sixth time in their history — and the third consecutive time — keeping alive the dream of a title that has eluded them since 1966.

On paper, England holds the clear advantage in talent, led by Premier League standouts, whereas Mexico’s spearhead is Julián Quiñones, the top scorer in the Saudi League.

“We have very experienced players who play in the toughest leagues and the biggest clubs in the world. We all know these games from Champions League matches where you play up against, against the energy of a stadium and that we are prepared for that,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said Saturday. “We are prepared for strong start of the Mexican team. I guess they will they will try to give us a taste of intensity.”

However, the playing conditions could serve as the ultimate equalizer.

England arrived in the northern part of Mexico City on Friday night, a mere two days before kickoff. Sports scientists and altitude experts generally recommend two options for high-altitude competition: Arrive weeks in advance for full acclimatization or fly in as close as possible to kickoff. By choosing a 48-hour window, England has entered the dead zone experts warn against.

“We feel it. Even if we don’t train, we feel it. I felt a slight headache. And in the hotel room through the day, didn’t sleep as well as the days before, but nothing that you cannot handle,” Tuchel said. “It’s just what it is. We cannot physically adapt. It’s just impossible. But we are here one day before to experience it, at least to not have all the first time experience in the warm-up.”

To compound the strain, passionate Mexican fans are already plotting psychological warfare. Hundreds are expected to converge on England’s hotel to disrupt players' sleep — a tactic deployed against Ecuador, when fans used loudspeakers, drums and revving motorcycles into the early-morning hours.

England is attempting to remain unfazed.

“We had no issues last night. I think FIFA took care of the situation. And we have security around the hotel, so we expect a good night of sleep,” Tuchel said. “I don’t want to talk about problems that don’t exist yet.”

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Mbappé stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, beating Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill in the 70th minute to break a scoreless tie. France's captain was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review.

“I've said from the first day that he had the spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts,” France coach Didier Deschamps said after Les Bleus won 1-0. “He’s a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group.”

It was the seventh goal of this tournament for Mbappé, matching Messi in the race for the Golden Boot for the World Cup's top scorer. Mbappé won that award four years ago in Qatar, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.

Mbappé is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups. On Saturday, he endured against perhaps the most physical opponent he's faced in this tournament.

Tempers flared in the first half when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.

After Mbappé ignored Gill's attempt at a postgame handshake, the goalkeeper threw a ball at the France star's back.

“We knew what kind of match it was going to be. We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it,” Mbappé said in French. “We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready. Even at that kind of game, we were better than them. That’s their style of football. There’s no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to beat us that way, but we won.”

And the victory cleared the way for Mbappé to continue chasing Messi's career goals mark.

Messi scored his 20th career World Cup goal in Argentina's 3-2 win over Cape Verde on Friday night. The 39-year-old great also has goals in a record eight consecutive World Cup games.

Norway's Erling Haaland and England's Harry Kane are next in the Golden Boot race with five goals each.

If there’s a tie in the Golden Boot standings when the tournament ends, FIFA will use assists as the first tiebreaker and fewest minutes played as the second tiebreaker. Mbappé has a 2-0 lead over Messi in assists.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

After the final whistle, Mbappé kept on walking and left Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill hanging as Gill extended his right hand in a show of sportsmanship.

In response, Gill thew the ball right at the No. 10 on Mbappé's jersey.

Mbappé got the last laugh as he scored his 19th career World Cup goal, and France survived stifling heat to beat Paraguay 1-0 on Saturday, sending Les Bleus into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight time.

“We knew what kind of match it was going to be,” Mbappé said in French. “We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it. We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready.”

France advanced to play Morocco on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts. France beat Morocco 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

With an extreme heat warning in effect throughout the match as temperatures hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Mbappé finally broke through against a physical, defensive-minded Paraguay side when he converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute.

That was enough for Les Bleus, whose red, white and blue-clad fans looked plenty patriotic on July Fourth in the city where the United States was founded exactly 250 years earlier.

Mbappé was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review. Then he stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, one behind career record holder Lionel Messi of Argentina. Mbappé and Messi each have seven goals in this tournament to top the Golden Boot race.

Mbappé won that award four years ago, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.

Mbappé — who frequently trash-talked the Paraguayans in Spanish — is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups.

Mbappé botched a breakaway attempt in the second half, and Manu Koné had his top-corner shot knocked away by Gill after he was wiped out in the netting by Ousmane Dembélé only moments earlier.

Gill also stopped two strong attempts by Mbappé in second-half stoppage time.

The 26-year-old Gill had bested German great Manuel Neuer in a penalty shootout in the previous round. He then lost his cool after the loss to France when he chucked the ball at Mbappé.

“I tried to shake his hand, but since he didn’t pay me any attention, I lost my temper,” Gill said. “But anyway, that was all I did; I calmed down afterward.”

For the criticism that hydration breaks have watered down the pace of play at the World Cup, they were never more needed for the players than in the midst of a miserable heat wave. Sprinklers showered the Kentucky bluegrass field during the breaks and at halftime.

“Given our style of play, it was harder to give high intensity,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.

More than in any of the five other World Cup games played before 68,000-plus fans at Lincoln Financial Field, spectators fled for the concourse at halftime, seeking shade and refuge from the sun.

Maybe they were looking for some action of any kind.

Les Bleus scored 13 goals in the first five games of the tournament but were stymied in the first half by a Paraguay team trying to turn the match into a rock fight. Tempers flared when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.

Paraguay advanced by beating Germany in a penalty shootout on Monday, the biggest upset of this World Cup. But after a gritty effort by La Albirroja, it's France that's moving on.

After defeating Croatia for the 2018 title, France lost to Argentina on penalty kicks in the 2022 final. Les Bleus are 5-0 in this year’s tournament, outscoring opponents 14-2.

“As I said to the players, we’ve had easy games so far, so it is good to have a tough one,” Deschamps said.

The city soaked in the moment as the 250th anniversary of American independence was celebrated. More fans honored America — draped in flags or wearing Uncle Sam hats as they tailgated in the parking lot — than at any of the other games in Philadelphia, and Idina Menzel, The Roots and DJ Jazzy Jeff all performed.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Azzedine Ounahi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 win over Canada in the Round of 16 Saturday to make the country the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals more than once.

“We are no longer a surprise,” Ouahbi said through an interpreter. “Now when people talk about Morocco we’re a major contender and it’s a great source of pride. I think it’s only the beginning and I hope we continue to have runs like this.”

And despite already making history in this World Cup, Morocco has much higher goals.

“We want to keep going,” Ouahbi said. “We don’t want to stop.”

It’s Morocco’s second straight appearance in the final eight after becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals in 2022.

“We are so proud to represent Africa because it’s a continent with a lot of talent and Africa deserves to be in the best level in football,” goalkeeper Yassine Bounou said.

Neither team was able to break through until Ounahi took a free kick from Achraf Hakimi and made a right-footed shot through traffic from outside the box to the bottom right corner to put Morocco on top 1-0 in the 50th minute.

Ounahi made it 2-0 on a right-footed shot from the middle of the box off a pass from Brahim Díaz in the 82nd minute.

Soufiane Rahimi added a goal in the final minute of stoppage time.

Morocco will meet France, which beat Paraguay later Saturday, on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The loss ends a historic run for World Cup co-host Canada, which won its first-ever knockout round game, beating South Africa 1-0 to reach Saturday’s match. The country was playing in the World Cup for just the third time and the run enchanted a nation that is normally far more interested in hockey than the pitch.

Canada coach Jesse Marsch shared his postgame message to the team.

“I told them that I was proud of them and I challenged them to understand that we can play like this all the time against the best teams in the world,” he said. “We can be better on the day. And then the challenge is, can we hold that standard for 90 minutes?”

Morocco, No. 7 in the FIFA rankings entering the tournament, dispatched the Netherlands in a penalty shootout to reach the Round of 16 and send the country to its earliest World Cup exit.

Marsch lauded how his team performed against a squad of Morocco's caliber and how Canada controlled the match for much of the day.

“The way we pushed, the way we were in the match, the quality we showed, the overall impact in the match, we were better,” he said. “We were better than the No. 7 team in the world today.”

Ouahbi had a strong response when told of those comments.

“In terms of intensity they were good,” he said. “They were good for 98 minutes. Were they better? It’s hard to say. It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-nil.”

Canada had a couple of chances to score late. Jonathan David had a free kick from outside the box in the 78th minute, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Just after that, Tajon Buchanan’s shot from about 30 yards was stopped with a diving save from Bounou. Bounou, who was born in Canada to Moroccan parents, had three saves.

The victory set off a huge celebration for Morocco's fans back home.

Within minutes, thousands poured into the streets of Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city. Horns echoed as supporters climbed onto car roofs, waving flags and chanting.

Traffic ground to a halt along the Corniche Boulevard, one of the city’s main avenues, where ecstatic Atlas Lions supporters danced, set off fireworks and waved flares. Other major boulevards across Casablanca were also jammed with jubilant fans.

Canada reached the Round of 16 despite missing star Alphonso Davies for the majority of the tournament because of a hamstring injury. The Bayern Munich player logged only 15 minutes as a substitute in the victory over South Africa but wasn't available Saturday.

“His hamstring didn’t feel right,” Marsch said. “We were hoping that by the time he woke up this morning that he would feel better, but he didn’t.”

This game was a rematch from the last World Cup when Morocco beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage. Morocco went on to finish fourth.

It was an extremely physical match with eight yellow cards being issued. Both teams received four.

Hakimi and Canada’s Richie Laryea received yellow cards in the 40th minute. Hakimi shoved Laryea to the ground and then Laryea pushed him and a minor scuffle ensued.

Morocco midfielder Ismael Saibari left with an injury in the 22nd minute.

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Associated Press writer Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Paul Pelosi was driving his brown convertible Friday in Yountville, a town in the heart of wine country, when he struck a legally parked car on the side of the road, briefly stopped and then drove away, the Napa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. No injuries were reported.

A witness saw the collision and called 911. Shortly afterward sheriff's deputies found Pelosi with damage to the front of his car on a road roughly a quarter of a mile away. He reportedly told officers he knew he hit something but was not sure when or what caused the damage.

Pelosi, 86, did not have any alcohol in his system, according to the statement. The sheriff's office referred him to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a process to determine whether he may continue to drive — something that officials say is common for older drivers.

Pelosi was not arrested, and because no one was injured, the sheriff's office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident.

A staffer for Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty in 2022 to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence in Napa County and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation. However, he served only two days in jail and received good conduct credit for two other days, leaving just one day to serve in a work program at the courthouse.

As part of his probation, Pelosi was required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device, which forces drivers to provide a breath sample to prove sobriety before the engine will start. He also was ordered to pay about $5,000 in victim restitution for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines.

That same year he was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer at the couple's San Francisco home.

The sun beat down and the well-dressed crowd was a flutter of paddle fans stamped with American flags. Their families clung to the shade of the trees on either side, where one woman had two American flags stuck through her ponytail.

“Well, good morning, everybody,” said Anne Neal Petri, the regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

“Good morning!” an excited crowd returned.

“And Happy Birthday, United States of America!” exclaimed Petri.

There were 150 people from 50 globe-spanning countries sitting in front of the small stage as they prepared to be sworn in as U.S. citizens on the July Fourth holiday and America's 250th birthday. Among them was U.S. Marine Sgt. Diakaria Sangare from Guinea, who attended in his pressed Dress Blue uniform with three medals pinned to his left breast.

Sangare had served two deployments, and, like all assembled, had gone through the long citizenship process: The test, interviews, green cards and biometrics. Others in the crowd, it was said, came from countries bathed in violence. Some fled persecution.

After a speech about Washington, the crowd was asked to rise for the national anthem.

They did. Their hats came off and their hands covered their hearts. The paddle fans calmed.

The singer belted the words: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” — as Sangare held his right hand in a rigid salute, his face sober.

As the song concluded, the soon-to-be citizens clapped and returned to their seats, while another speaker asked them to stand and remain standing when their country was called.

“Albania.”

A woman in the front row with long black hair rose with a broad grin, a small U.S. flag in her hand.

“Bangladesh.”

A man in a black shirt stood. The Albanian woman, looking back, beamed at him.

It went on for 50 countries, through China and El Salvador and Iraq and Mongolia, as people stood, sometimes smiling, sometimes sedate.

At “Morocco,” a man in the back thrusts his fists in the air in support. A young boy looked up at him and then did the same, a little flag in his fist.

Then the crowd, with hands raised, recited an Oath of Allegiance, not so different from the oath Washington signed in 1778.

“Congratulations,” they were told. “You just became U.S. citizens.”

There was applause and laughter, then the Pledge of Allegiance. Sangare, his hand now over his heart, closed his eyes for a moment.

Nearby stood a tulip poplar tree, planted at Washington’s direction 250 years ago, that had lived through America's history.

The next speaker, historian Douglas Bradburn, pointed it out in his speech before the day's special guest.

“All the stories that are part of you, now become American stories,” said Bradburn. “When people ask me what are American people like, I now can talk about you, and your stories.”

“The second side of that is that, now, all America’s stories, and our history, are your stories. The father of your country is George Washington.”

The first president, it turned out, was the next speaker.

As he was introduced, the re-enactor stood by a massive draped American flag, a sword scabbard on his hip. Then he donned the stage, doffed his cap to the audience, and began to speak.

“Today the name of ‘American’ belongs to you every bit as much as it does to me,” he said. He spoke to their arduous journeys to this point and their histories, now merged with America.

“So, my fellow Americans, to you, I say simply: ‘Welcome home’.”

Afterward, Sangare, the U.S. Marine, posed for a portrait, hands clasped in front of him, holding the American flag paddle fan, his Marine cap slightly askew.

“I just became a United States citizen,” he said, his emotions pushing out in an earnest smile.

____ Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.

Instead, she used one that also doubled as a basketball court.

“There would be the basketball hoops, so I couldn’t really step back a lot because then I would hit the basketball hoop,” Eala said.

The 21-year-old Eala found Centre Court at Wimbledon a bit more accommodating Saturday when she beat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-6 (9), 6-2 in the third round at the grass-court major and made some history in the process.

Eala is the first Filipino player, male or female, to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

The left-handed Eala dropped to her knees and rolled onto her back after hitting a forehand winner on her third match point.

“It’s incredible to have my countrymen cheering me on and knowing that we’re all in this together,” she said in an on-court interview as she looked around at the Philippines flags.

“This goes out to them, this goes out to my family, this goes out to all the little girls with ruffled socks and chubby cheeks. It means the world,” said the 29th-seeded Eala, who saved two set points in the first-set tiebreaker.

The third-seeded Swiatek earned her first Wimbledon women’s title a year ago when she beat Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

“I felt like Alexandra was more brave in important moments,” Swiatek said Saturday. “In the tiebreak we both had many chances to close the set earlier, and it didn’t go my way.”

Eala, who has trained in Mallorca at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy, gained worldwide support last year on her breakthrough run to the Miami Open semifinals, which included an upset of Swiatek.

She next faces 13th-seeded Jasmine Paolini for a spot in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

2022 champion Rybakina also out

Shortly before Swiatek's exit, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was upset in the third round by Elise Mertens 7-6 (4), 6-1.

At No. 2, Rybakina is the highest seed on the women’s side to be eliminated. Her loss ensures that Aryna Sabalenka — who faces Naomi Osaka in the fourth round on Sunday — will keep her No. 1 ranking after the tournament.

Belgium’s Mertens is the No. 25 seed at Wimbledon, where she’s won two doubles titles. She will next face 21st-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.

Keys, Fritz shine on 4th of July

In another upset, Madison Keys rallied to oust the sixth-seeded Anisimova 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an all-American contest on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

The 26th-seeded Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, was asked how she'll celebrate the U.S. holiday.

“I have no plans,” she told the Centre Court crowd after her victory. “When you're not in the States, it's just kind of another day.”

Keys will next play ninth-seeded Linda Noskova.

Ashlyn Krueger, another American, has come through qualifying to reach the fourth round. She beat Ukraine's Daria Snigur 6-3, 6-2 and will face another Ukrainian — 12th-seeded Marta Kostyuk — for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The only American man to reach the last 16 is Taylor Fritz, who beat Lorenzo Sonego 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on No. 2 Court. The sixth-seeded Fritz next faces Alexander Bublik, who beat American Frances Tiafoe in five sets.

Grigor Dimitrov outlasted Matteo Berrettini in another five-setter to set up a fourth-round match against fellow wild card Arthur Fery — the last British player left in either men's or women's singles.

French Open champion Alexander Zverev, the No. 2 seed, got past American Marcos Giron 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to set up a fourth-round match against 13th-seeded Jiri Lehecka.

Ninth-seeded Flavio Cobolli — the runner-up at Roland Garros — overcame a slow start against Karen Khachanov to win 0-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 and will face No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur in the fourth round.

Cobolli said he felt ill during the first set because he ate “a little bit too close from the match. Just wasn’t fine. I try to vomit in the first set. They give me some pills that helped me a lot.”

Serena and Venus withdraw from doubles

Serena Williams withdrew from her doubles match with sister Venus due to a right knee injury. The 44-year-old Serena was injured during her singles return earlier this week.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said in an Instagram post that she was “heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles.”

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

While the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with rallies, parties and fireworks, the U.S.-born pope traveled to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to pray at a migrant cemetery and celebrate a solemn Mass for the island's residents and newest arrivals. Later on Saturday, he got into the July 4 spirit with a visit to the residence of the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, a rarity for popes who usually don't call on ambassadors. The U.S. Embassy said Burch gave Leo a commemorative baseball, an apple pie and a U.S. World Cup jersey.

Leo confirmed he was rooting for the U.S. team, the Embassy wrote on X, adding that the two discussed “American efforts to pursue peace, religious freedom and the need for moral clarity and courage around the world.”

A treeless strip of rock 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) long, Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the main port of entry into Europe for hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed by boat from Libya or Tunisia, often smuggled by human traffickers.

Leo met with some migrants at the port and then walked alone onto the jagged jetty rocks, the wind whipping his cassock and blowing his zucchetto skullcap off as he looked out to the sea. He then blessed a plaque dedicating the dock to Pope Francis, who visited in 2013, before celebrating Mass on land.

“This is a place where gestures speak louder than words,” Leo said. “But for gestures to be human, they need a heart.”

In making the visit on this particular Saturday, Leo was sending a powerfully symbolic message to the United States and Europe of the Christian obligation to uphold the dignity of every human being, migrants and the most vulnerable especially, while reminding the United States that it was founded by immigrants.

In a letter sent to Americans on the July 4 anniversary, Leo insisted that protecting the unborn and all human life also means “welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning.”

“To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person,” Leo wrote.

A tiny island becomes Ground Zero for European migration

In recent years, Lampedusa has become Ground Zero of Europe’s migration debate as the continent struggles to police its borders while honoring its legal obligations to welcome refugees fleeing conflict, climate change and poverty.

In his homily, Leo thanked the residents of Lampedusa for the “miracle of compassion” they have shown in welcoming migrants and urged Europe to rise to the challenge of the moment and assume its responsibility.

“Indeed, before any intellectual consideration or ideological conviction, the encounter with those who lie before us, stripped of everything, calls us to be close to them,” Leo said, wearing vestments decorated with images of waves.

Preaching from “this far-flung corner of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea,” Leo urged European leaders to address the migration phenomenon in a comprehensive way, integrating immediate relief with a long-term strategies to receive, protect, support and integrate migrants while developing their home countries so no one is forced to migrate.

“Here you have seen not just one, but thousands of human beings fallen into the hands of robbers who have taken everything from them, beat them brutally and walked away, leaving them half-dead,” he said.

Others have died making the voyage, he said, “yet we feel their presence, which challenges us no less than that of those who have landed in need of attention and aid.”

The number of migrants arriving in Italy so far this year is significantly lower than in recent years, with the Interior Ministry reporting 14,464 arrivals as of Friday compared with 30,598 in the same period last year and 26,202 in 2024.

At the same time, the International Organization of Migration has recorded more than 35,000 missing migrants in the Mediterranean since 2014, though the actual number of dead is believed to be far higher given the untold number of “invisible” shipwrecks that are never recorded.

Leo has strongly emphasized the need to uphold the dignity of migrants, especially amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation program in his native Chicago. But he has also directed his message to Europe’s Christian leaders.

Last month, Leo visited another European migration hot spot, in Spain’s Canary Islands, to shame leaders who turn migrants away indifferently while also warning people smugglers they will face God’s wrath for exploiting the desperation of migrants.

Leo honors the dignity of the dead and recalls Francis

After arriving in Lampedusa by plane, Leo paid homage to the dead at the island’s migrant cemetery, laying a wreath of yellow and white flowers on their graves, marked by simple crosses made from the splintered wood of shipwrecked boats.

The gestures send a “strong message” of solidarity, said Tareke Brhane, a migrant from Eritrea and president of the Oct. 3 Committee, a nonprofit founded by relatives of victims of a 2013 shipwreck in Lampedusa that left 368 people dead.

“It is a strong sign for our battle with Italy and with Europe in order to register the deaths, because as of today we still do not have a registry (of those deceased),” he told The Associated Press.

Leo’s visit both honors the dead and “gives a message to the relatives, so many of them still waiting and suffering,” he said.

With his visit, Leo followed in the footsteps of Francis, who made the plight of migrants and refugees a priority of his pontificate. For the Catholic Church, welcoming and accompanying people fleeing hardship is part of the Gospel-mandated call to “welcome the stranger.”

Francis traveled to Lampedusa in July 2013, on his first trip outside Rome after his election. He tossed a wreath into the sea in memory of migrants who had died and denounced the “globalization of indifference” that the world shows migrants.

Salvatore Sortino, the IOM’s head of mission for Italy and Malta, said despite the decrease in arrivals, the number of dead had increased proportionally, “in the sense that the diminishing numbers of arrivals hasn’t resulted in a lower number of deaths at sea.”

“That speaks about the vulnerability that remains,” he said. “So the visit of the pope here, where all this happens, I think is a very important reminder of that element.”

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Winfield reported from Rome.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The festivities began Saturday morning with the Downtown 5K before moving to Houston Street for the annual Independence Day parade.

More than 100 organizations and groups took part, flooding the street with red, white and blue. Paradegoers lined the route to see community groups, military members and local leaders.

San Antonio Fire Chief Valerie Frausto made a grand a appearance up on the ladder truck, waving to the crowd below.

“I expect to see airmen from Lackland marching down the street,” paradegoer Erik Marcov said.

And of course, this wasn’t just any 4th of July.

“Well, hello! 250th anniversary of our beautiful America,” Gloria Valenzuela said. “God bless America. Always and forever.”

After the parade, crowds made their way to Civic Park at Hemisfair for the food and music festival. The event featured 30 food vendors and live country music from bands across Texas.

“I feel like there’s going to be a lot of people coming together just because it’s the big 250,” shared Ally Rider who was attending the parade with family.

That’s what brought Brandon Luke and his family who traveled from Houston for the weekend.

“Back in Houston, they said go to San Antonio and experience something different,” Luke said. “We went to the River Walk, Alamo, and we had a great time.”

Food was also a major draw for festivalgoers, with one attendee praising the turkey legs as “the best” they had ever had. Organizers say there were 30 different food vendor options.

The celebration is set to end with the Stars and Stripes fireworks show, which will include a tribute and moment of silence for those who died in the Hill County floods last year.

The festival at Civic Park is scheduled to wrap up at 10 p.m.

Read also:

• Where to celebrate Fourth of July in San Antonio, surrounding areas
• Know before you go: San Antonio prepares for busy July 4 weekend with fireworks, festivals, Ye concert
• LIST: What’s open, closed on July 3 and the Fourth of July

Why this photo?

As we enter the final rounds of the World Cup, The Associated Press has five photographers covering every match. Four are in different spots around the pitch at field level and one in an overhead position, called the “tribune.” That was me for Friday night’s game between Colombia and Ghana. During halftime an announcement was made for fans to scan a QR code shown on the stadium screens to take part in a light show. Since I also cover the Kansas City Chiefs there, and they do that occasionally, I knew what was coming. The stadium lights would flash on and off with music playing, and fans’ smartphones would also turn on and off.

⁠How I made this photo

I’m normally shooting a telephoto lens at either 400mm or 560mm for action, but have a second camera with a wide-angle lens for overall photos. Once they made that announcement, I grabbed the second camera, changed the settings for less light and waited for the right moment. With action I’m always shooting at over 1/1000 second to stop action, but for this I dropped the shutter speed to 1/80 second and braced the camera on the railing in front of me.

⁠Why it works

It’s rare for the lights to be off in a stadium during a night game, so that, paired with the tens of thousands of smartphone lights, created a scene few people ever see. For most of the light show, though, the stadium lights were just changing in brightness. There were only two brief moments the lights were completely off, and I waited for those. In photography, different is good, so I try to keep that in mind with every assignment I do. And this was very different.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Officers were dispatched on a shooting call just after 3 a.m. in the 1600 block of Cable Ranch Road, which is located near State Highway 151 and Northwest Loop 410.

A 24-year-old woman told police she was struck by shrapnel after a man shot through her door several times. The man, 25, also entered the home and began a physical altercation with her.

Several witnesses successfully forced the suspect out of the home, but authorities said he didn’t stop there.

In its report, SAPD said the man attempted to enter the home again and resumed shooting through the door. During his second round of gunfire, two other individuals were struck by shrapnel, officers said.

The department said its investigation is ongoing.

More recent news coverage on KSAT:

• ‘It doesn’t go away’: BCSO begins investigation into 5th domestic violence-related homicide of year
• Shoplifting suspect stabs security officer at East Side business, SAPD says

SAPD officers were dispatched around 8 p.m. to a local hospital, where the man reported he had been shot while driving north on Interstate 35 near Southwest Loop 410.

The man told police another driver “brake checked” him several times. As he was about to exit the highway, the suspect shot him and fled the scene.

The investigation remains ongoing, according to SAPD.

Read also:

• Motorcyclist killed after crash on Schertz Parkway, Schertz PD says
• Shoplifting suspect stabs security officer at East Side business, SAPD says

The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again. The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks appear to be on hold until it is over.

During the ceremony, Iran's top negotiator warned France and the U.K. over their comments about potentially launching joint patrols in the waterway, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime.

Mourners wept at the sight of Khamenei's coffin alongside those of his family members also killed in the airstrike, with some chanting: “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” Some carried banners and flags. Billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.

“Imam Khamenei was our heart, our father, our everything,” mourner Masoumeh Mohammadi said. “I still can’t believe they martyred him. We will not rest until we avenge his death.”

Coffins on display at Grand Mosalla

An outdoor stage at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah, or congregation hall, at his compound in downtown Tehran. There was a chair like the one he once sat in while giving his sermons, complete with a microphone on a stand and a table next to it. Above it hung an image of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989.

Khomeini's funeral saw chaotic scenes as millions thronged his mourning ceremony and trip to the cemetery. Khamenei's death was only the second time Iran has lost a supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Saturday, volunteers sprayed cooling water on crowds in the summer heat. Men and women congregated separately inside the Grand Mosalla after being checked by metal detectors and body searches. Police with assault rifles stood guard on surrounding streets. Many people stayed outside in the street, lounging under the shade of trees because the city had shut down.

The caskets of his dead family members sat beneath Khamenei's, which had his black turban atop it, identifying him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The dead included the wife of Mojtaba Khamenei, whose possible appearance at the funeral remained unclear. He reportedly was wounded in the attack that killed his father and has not been seen publicly since the war began.

“We attended the funeral to show that we are all committed to defend our country and religion,” said one mourner, Ali Kazemi.

As sunset approached, the streams of people continued. “Authorities advised not to rush to the sites,” said a later visitor, Mohammad Barati. Mourners had also been advised not to stay too long, to allow others to come.

Funeral starts as US marks its 250th anniversary

Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S., to begin the funeral. While authorities did not acknowledge the timing, crowds at the ceremony in Tehran chanted: “Death to America!” The refrain has been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis. They also cried: “Death to Israel!”

“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech at the same time in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. “They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.”

The U.S. president was not forgotten in Tehran. In the crowd in Grand Mosalla, several mourners held a large flag that read: “#KillTrump.”

As the ceremony went on, Iran's chief negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi criticized a joint statement overnight from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron which suggested their militaries stood ready to patrol the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has suggested it wants to charge vessels passing through the strait, upending decades of it being widely considered an international waterway.

“The security of Hormuz lies with the coastal states — the crisis-makers will be held accountable for the consequences of their adventurism,” Gharibabadi wrote on X. “This is a serious warning.”

Khamenei to be buried in Mashhad

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei's place of birth.

Authorities offered no immediate attendance count for the event Saturday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

On Sunday, a prayer for the dead is planned at the Grand Mosalla. On Monday, Khamenei's body and those of his family will be taken through the streets of Tehran, which likely will draw large crowds.

“I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A BCSO spokesperson told KSAT that a man and woman were both found dead of gunshot wounds Friday night in southwest Bexar County.

According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a home in the 15000 block of Escalante Pass, which is located near State Highway 16 and Watson Road. The sheriff said he believes the man and woman were a married couple who lived by themselves at the home.

Upon arrival, Salazar said a woman, who is believed to be an adult child of one of the spouses, told deputies she went to the home to check on them because “she had not heard” from the couple for “at least a day.”

When the adult child went inside the home, investigators said she found their bodies. The 55-year-old woman had at least one gunshot wound to her upper body and appeared to be the victim of a homicide while the 58-year-old man died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Salazar. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office will officially determine their cause and manner of death as well as identifying them.

In a 1-on-1 interview Saturday morning, Salazar told KSAT that one bullet left the residence and entered another nearby home. The sheriff said no additional injuries were reported as a result of that bullet.

Domestic violence homicide trends

“We believe that there is a domestic violence history between the two, unfortunately,” the sheriff said Saturday.

According to Salazar, there was a case of misdemeanor family violence involving the couple, but the case was later “dismissed” due to a “missing witness.” It is unclear who was charged with the misdemeanor.

The sheriff believes Friday night’s incident — BCSO’s fifth domestic violence-related homicide investigation out of 10 homicides so far this year — is the continuation of a disturbing trend in Bexar County.

Last year, BCSO said nine of the 15 homicides the sheriff’s office investigated were related to domestic violence.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind the community that domestic violence is what I believe to be — and what we believe to be at the sheriff’s office here — an escalating crime," Salazar said. “It doesn’t go away.”

The sheriff said anyone in need of domestic violence services can call (210)-335-6000.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence, there is so much help for you. KSAT has a list of resources on its Domestic Violence webpage, which also explains how to identify different types of abuse.

If it’s an emergency, text or call 911. For wrap-around services, including the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter, call Family Violence Prevention Services at (210) 733-8810.

You can also contact the Bexar County Family Justice Center, which also provides wrap-around services at (210) 631-0100.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health or thoughts of suicide, call 988 or text TALK to 741-741.

You can also reach out to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) or the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) at 210-223-7233 (SAFE) or 800-316-9241. You can also text NAMI to 741-741.

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“My heart and soul are with them,” he said in an emotional postgame interview.

Egypt won its debut in the elimination round of the World Cup by beating Australia 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 Friday.

The victory comes in Egypt’s fourth World Cup.

A video of Hassan on social media shows him walking around the pitch holding the flag as people chanted “Free, free Palestine!" The video went viral.

“It was the most significant scene,” Yahia Qalash, former head of Egypt’s Journalists’ Union, said of Hassan’s move. “It was a telling scene in an exceptional moment.”

The fate of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and living amid ruins, remains uncertain after a war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s retaliation has killed a total of 73,066 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The war has sparked pro-Palestinian protests around the world, with some athletes also expressing solidarity.

Earlier this year, Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during celebrations of the Spanish league title. The act caused backlash from Israel's defense minister, who criticized Barcelona’s teenage star and said his action “incites hate.”

Hassan is not known to be religious or connected to any political group. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was adored by the youth, a street footballer who played in the slums.

He said Friday he was dedicating the game to the “good and noble” Egyptian and Palestinian people.

Asked about the Palestinian flag, FIFA said it is permitted to display it at the World Cup. There was no indication of any action being taken against Hassan.

“Flags representing all 211 FIFA Member Associations are permitted at FIFA tournaments, and supporters are welcome to display them in accordance with stadium regulations and the FIFA Stadium Code of Conduct," the governing body told The Associated Press in a statement.

The Palestine Football Association is one of FIFA's member organizations.

In other contexts, FIFA has previously sought to restrict what it sees as political statements on the pitch.

During the Qatar World Cup in 2022, some European teams were prevented from wearing armbands in support of the “One Love” campaign, an international anti-discrimination initiative.

During Iran's matches in this World Cup, some Iranian Americans in Los Angeles sought to display the country's pre-revolutionary flag and block a FIFA ban on that flag. They lost in court, and the ban was upheld.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Officers were dispatched to the business just after 7:45 p.m. in the 2100 block of Southeast Loop 410.

According to a preliminary report, the security officer detained a suspected shoplifter — a 35-year-old woman — at the business. While gathering paperwork, SAPD said the woman attempted to flee the location.

While security began to handcuff the suspect, police said the woman brandished an unspecified weapon and began to stab the security officer in the head.

Authorities said the security officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Officers took the woman into custody while the security transported himself to a local hospital, according to the report.

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Rennae Stubbs, one of Williams' coaches, pin-pointed a moment about an hour into the 44-year-old's defeat to an opponent less than half her age earlier this week at Wimbledon.

“I noticed in the middle of the second set her take a big sort of deep breath and I actually turned around to Venus and said, ‘Oh I think she just relaxed,’” Stubbs said, referring to Serena's older sister.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Stubbs also revealed that she first started coaching Williams again in March and immediately noticed that the 23-time Grand Slam champion could still play.

Williams was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday.

While the result on the court was a loss, the reaction in the locker room from other players and coaches was a resounding victory, according to Stubbs.

“They know what it would be like to be in that position of not playing a match for close to four years, going on Centre Court at Wimbledon, knowing there’s how many millions of people around the world watching this match,” Stubbs said. “There’s 15,000 people in Centre Court. They expect good tennis. They expect you to not embarrass yourself. So all the players know, to a small degree, what it must be like.”

The match set ratings records on ESPN and Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are among the players who have publicly complimented Williams for her performance.

Williams injured her right knee toward the end of the first set against Joint and withdrew from her doubles match with Venus on Saturday.

An Instagram update from Serena included images of four syringes that she said “shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match.” An accompanying video showed her walking with strapping up and down her right leg and what appeared to be one of her daughters holding a cane for her.

“The good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again,” Serena said. “The bad news is that, as hard as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get it ready for doubles.”

However, with the U.S. Open approaching, Serena indicated she could play again somewhere else soon.

“All I can say,” Serena said, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

Right attitude

Serena became known for her emotional outbursts and run-ins with chair umpires and linesjudges toward the end of her career.

So Stubbs was concerned about her on-court behavior during her comeback.

But Williams maintained her composure from start to finish.

“That was sort of like the one sort of thing that I asked, is that she try and — as hard as it was going to be — to control her emotions and her nerves and all that sort of stuff,” Stubbs said. “I don’t think people even remotely can quantify the amount of pressure that was on her to walk out there and do what she did.”

Negative reactions

Stubbs was disappointed, though, to see negative reactions to Williams’ return on social media. She was also criticized for skipping her post-match duties – since the injury was not announced until a day later.

Stubbs herself was also criticized on social media.

“I just don’t understand why people feel the need to tear somebody down,” Stubbs said. “What she’s doing out there is trying to play a sport she loves. That’s what it’s about. Show the kids, be out there, enjoy it and give the people another look at playing. … What is wrong on with a seven-time Wimbledon champion — a 23-time Grand Slam champion — wanting to play another time at Wimbledon? God let her.”

Williams planned to play more

While Williams played two doubles matches before Wimbledon, she hadn’t played singles since the 2022 U.S. Open.

“Ideally would we have loved to have had warm-up matches? Yes,” Stubbs said. “And for anyone to insinuate that she didn’t want to do that is crazy.”

The problem was that Williams wanted to get the feeling of being back on the court first in two doubles tournaments. But after winning in the first round at Queen’s Club with partner Victoria Mboko, the pair had to withdraw when Mboko was injured playing singles.

Then Williams and partner Karolina Muchova lost in the first round at the Berlin Open.

“I would venture to say that if she’d had four or five more doubles matches, she would have even been better because she would’ve had that experience of feeling the big points and hitting the big returns on break point and hitting the serves big,” Stubbs said.

Closed roof

Because the match started late in the day and there were concerns about darkness, the roof over Centre Court was closed for the match.

“She was hitting the ball so well in practice and moving really well and the conditions were very different indoors,” Stubbs said. “They were heavy. Her ball wasn’t shooting through the court like it was outside.”

Despite being away for so long, Williams still hit serves beyond 120 mph and showed off her heavy groundstrokes that landed within inches of the baseline.

The only real issue was her movement.

“When you’re great, you’re great,” Stubbs said. “When you have great timing, you always have great timing. I saw that from the moment I stepped back on court with her. I was like, ‘Well, you never lost that.’

"And then it’s just getting the movement going and getting the body going and all that sort of stuff again and at a certain age you also have to monitor the workload. So what I saw out there didn’t surprise me at all, because I had been seeing it for months: The capacity to hit the ball as well as she’s always hit the ball.”

Gang back together

Stubbs, an Australian who won six Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles and mixed doubles, also coached Williams in her previous farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Now based in New York, Stubbs first went down to Florida to start coaching Williams again in March.

“She was already hitting before that, but that’s when she was like, ‘OK, I need the eyeballs I trust on me,’” Stubbs said.

Serena also brought back her longtime hitting partner, Jarmere Jenkins, who co-coaches her with Stubbs.

“I’ve known Serena since she was a kid,” Stubbs said. “Jarmere knows her very, very well. Derick (Pierson), her fitness guy, is one of her best friends.”

What’s next

While Williams indicated in her injury post that she would play again, her team is still awaiting details.

“She’s not just going to do a one-off,” Stubbs said. “I think she would like to play more but that is 100% her decision. ... I’m sure she’ll re-evaluate and reassess how she wants go forward and then we’ll be there for her either way.”

___

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

Just before 3 a.m. officers responded to a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Schertz Parkway and Wiederstein Road.

Police said the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the motor vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Authorities have yet to identify the motorcyclist. Schertz police said its investigation is ongoing.

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Saturday marked the 18th time Chestnut, 42, won the so-called Mustard Belt in just 21 appearances at the internationally televised Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. He beat out 13 competitors who came from around the country and world, trekking from the Czech Republic, Australia and South Korea.

“It's a dream, it's electric, there's no place better on Earth,” Chestnut said breathlessly in an interview immediately after the showdown, donning a bulky, bejeweled necklace bearing the name of the sports betting company “Polymarket” around his neck. In a video posted on Instagram before the competition, Chestnut called competitive hot dog eating “the most patriotic sport we've got.”

Chestnut handily defeated the second-place winner, Patrick Bertoletti, 41, who ate 50 hot dogs, but fell short of his own 2021 record of 76 wieners and buns — or approximately 7.6 hot dogs per minute.

Defending champion in the women’s division, the 40-year-old Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won the bright pink Mustard Belt for the 12th time, downing 38.75 dogs. In 2024, she ate a record 51 links.

After competing, Sudo joined the crowd to watch her husband — who proposed to her in 2021 immediately after downing 50 boiled eggs in just over 3 minutes to set a world record — compete in the men's event.

Both champions said that the heatwave that scorched New York on Saturday — bringing temperatures in Brooklyn to roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) during the competition — made that much more difficult. On top of that, ESPN announcers said the humidity changed the consistency of the buns.

“I just said I would have to rely on muscle memory, and the crowd really carried me through to another belt today,” Sudo said.

A large crowd braved the heat to watch the event, wearing foam hot dogs on their heads and standing outside the original Nathan’s Famous restaurant that has been in Coney Island, Brooklyn, since 1972. The superfans who stood closest to the stage wore ponchos as protection in case a competitor threw up.

There was briefly some concern earlier this year that Chestnut wouldn't be able to participate in the 2026 competition after he was arrested for allegedly slapping a man in an Indiana bar. He was put on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery, but is allowed to travel outside Indiana. Hot dog contest organizer Major League Eating said the criminal case didn’t affect Chestnut’s eligibility for the competition.

Despite his continued reign, Chestnut told an ESPN interviewer after the game that he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to top his previous record.

“Dang, I got so much room left,” said Chestnut, who announcers referred to as the “Michelangelo of Mastication."

Stars & Stripes on Houston Street began at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with a downtown 5K from Milam Park to Civic Park at Hemisfair.

At 10 a.m., the Independence Day parade will make its way through downtown. Organizers said more than 100 organizations and groups are expected to take part, and the parade is expected to last about an hour and a half. Spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

KSAT livestreamed a portion of Saturday’s parade. Watch it in the above video player.

The parade was featured as part of ABC’s national 250th anniversary coverage.

The music and food festival will begin around the same time as the parade near Civic Park at Hemisfair. More than 30 food vendors are expected, along with a music lineup featuring several country bands.

At 9 p.m., the Stars & Stripes Downtown Spectacular Fireworks Show will begin, bringing a large display over the downtown skyline.

Trish DeBerry, CEO of Centro SA, said the fireworks show will include a tribute to the victims of last year’s flooding tragedy in Kerrville.

“We will take a special moment to remember the victims of the flooding tragedy in Kerrville with some green fireworks and a moment of silence at the beginning,” DeBerry said. “Then we’ll go into the celebration regarding the Fourth of July.”

DeBerry said the event also highlights San Antonio’s history.

“Not only is it the 250th of America, but let us not forget that we are a city that’s more than 300 years old,” she said.

While downtown, visitors can also look for 70 pole banners honoring the nation’s Medal of Honor recipients. Each banner includes a QR code with more information about the honorees.

Stars & Stripes on Houston Street is one of several free Fourth of July celebrations taking place throughout the community.

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Almost daily long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities have created a fuel crisis and heaped political pressure on the Kremlin as its all-out invasion of Ukraine stretches into its fifth year.

Gov. Alexander Beglov said the city’s Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea was hit. He also said that air defenses shot down 72 Ukrainian drones across Russia's second-largest city and the surrounding region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Russia. He said that Ukrainian forces also hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, just off the coast of St. Petersburg.

“The Ukrainian defense forces hit the port oil infrastructure, which earns money for the Russian war, and there were also hits on Kronstadt — an important military target,” he said in a post on Telegram.

St. Petersburg’s Kirovsky district was previously hit in June, ahead of Russia’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, has suffered particularly from heavy strikes, causing local authorities to suspend gasoline sales to civilians. A Ukrainian attack on Saturday killed one person and injured two more, including a 10-year-old child, the Moscow-installed Gov. Sergei Aksyonov said.

Ukrainian attacks bring the war home

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shrugged off Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s energy facilities as “not critical,” and insisted the war will continue until his goals are met.

He has described the attacks on Russian energy as an effort by Ukraine to distract attention from its losses on the battlefield, although analysts say the advance of Russian forces has been stymied in recent months.

On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters directing the war in Ukraine and received a report on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka, after weeks of intense street battles. He hailed it as a key step toward capturing the nearby cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the key remaining strongholds in the so-called “forest belt” of heavily fortified cities in the Donetsk region that remain in Ukraine’s hands.

The capture of Kostyantynivka, a big transport and industrial hub, is of “major strategic importance,” Putin, clad in military fatigues, said in televised comments.

In a briefing Saturday, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said that Ukrainian troops had been pushed back several kilometers (miles) and that fighting was taking place on the outskirts of the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka.

“The city is now under our full control. Units of the Southern Army Group are completing the clearance of city blocks, rooting out small groups and individual Ukrainian fighters who may still be hiding in basements and ruins,” he said.

Zelenskyy denied that Russia took control of the city. “It is just another Russian lie, an attempt to generate some kind of a news story,” he wrote on social media Saturday. “If Kostiantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war. But the fact is, he won’t cross the front line — reality is very different from Putin’s words.”

But the Kremlin quickly dismissed Zelenskyy's offer, with Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda on Saturday evening that Putin would meet the Ukrainian leader in Moscow once Kyiv was ready to make "important, consequential decisions.”

Putin appears to believe his government can keep the fuel crisis from eroding his authority and support for the war he launched more than four years ago. At the very least, the attacks have brought the war home even more poignantly for millions of Russians, shattering Putin’s narrative of the conflict as something that doesn’t affect the lives of ordinary people in his country.

The border city of Belgorod, which Ukrainian drone strikes have also repeatedly targeted, was left almost completely without power on Saturday due to overnight attacks, local media reported.

Meanwhile, eight people were wounded after a Russian attack struck residential buildings in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, including two children, local authorities said on Saturday.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The 44-year-old Serena was injured during her singles return earlier in the week — in a three-set loss.

“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles. Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside (at)venuswilliams once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete,” Serena said in an Instagram post.

The post included images of four syringes that Serena said “shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match.” An accompanying video showed her walking with strapping up and down her right leg and what appeared to be one of her daughters holding a cane for her.

However, with the U.S. Open approaching, Serena indicated she could play again somewhere else soon.

“All I can say,” Serena said, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

The Williams sisters — Venus is 46 — were scheduled to play Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra. It was the only first-round doubles match that wasn't scheduled earlier in the week, having been pushed back to give Serena more time to recover.

Serena was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday.

Venus played in the mixed doubles tournament on Friday together with Kevin Krawietz, losing in straight sets to Tereza Mihalikova and Lloyd Glasspool.

The Williams sisters are six-time champions as partners in women's doubles at Wimbledon.

___

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

The couple did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen, instead having Swift’s younger brother Austin Swift serve as her man of honor with Kelce’s big brother and podcast co-host Jason Kelce his best man, Swift's publicist Tree Paine said in an email.

The bride and groom’s outfits came from Christian Dior Haute Couture and its designer Jonathan Anderson with shoes custom-made by Christian Louboutin. She wore Cartier jewelry.

An almost-royal wedding

The long anticipated union of sports and song brought hype to new heights at a venue made more for historic NBA games and bucket-list concerts. The Kansas City Chiefs' superstar tight end and the music megastar married as fans and spectators gathered outside in blistering heat, eager to be part of the occasion, even though the event was almost entirely hidden.

Actors Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke; models Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss; comic Chris Rock; director Steven Spielberg; singer Camila Cabello and author Jenny Han were among the guests from the world of arts and entertainment. Kelce's coach Andy Reid and Chiefs teammates including running back Kareem Hunt were among the sports figures in the arena, along with retired NFL superstar Tom Brady, Seattle Seahawks receiver and recent Super Bowl champ Cooper Kupp, New York Giants receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and ESPN personalities Joe Buck and Stephen A. Smith.

In a culture obsessed with famous couplings it may have been the apex celebrity wedding, with perhaps only royal unions getting more attention. Holding such a ceremony in a huge, iconic space that sits at the center of the U.S. media universe while keeping all the details secret made for a surreal scene, but it was a mix of hype and hush that is not out of character for Swift.

A shrouded ceremony headed by Happy Gilmore

An Associated Press camera outside the arena showed a long line of black SUVs dropping off wedding-goers in tuxedos and evening gowns, surrounded by New Yorkers in shorts and Swifties amassing for the occasion. Rain briefly cut the heat shortly after the marriage was announced.

There was a seemingly total lack of social media posts from guests once they had entered the arena, with phones apparently banned.

However, on Saturday, hosts of Good Morning America who had been invited to the wedding, confirmed that Nicks performed and described the space as “intimate.”

“As intimate as it could possibly be given it was Madison Square Garden. Really this garden inside the garden, just so beautiful,” said George Stephanopoulos. “It's hard to imagine a place that big and a wedding with such stars could feel so personal and so intimate.”

Robin Roberts added that both Swift and Kelce wrote their own vows.

Weddings have been a constant subject in Swift’s songs since she was a teenager, and her actually walking the aisle for the first time at age 36 added to the drama. It was also the first marriage for the 36-year-old three-time Super Bowl champ Kelce, who could have been one of the jock characters in Swift's early hits.

Sandler, star of “The Wedding Singer” and many other hit comedies, can’t have been high on anyone’s betting list for who would marry the couple, though he’s become an increasingly warm and paternal cultural figure with age. The email announcing the marriage described him as “a friend” of the couple. Kelce was one of the many athletes who appeared in “Happy Gilmore 2,” Sandler's 2025 sequel to one of his first hits, and Sandler appeared last year on the Kelce brothers' “New Heights” podcast.

Welcome to New York — Taylor's version

The Swift-Kelce relationship has thrilled and fascinated millions around the world — particularly the Swifties, the pop star’s enormous and ardent fan base — ever since the pair first started dating in 2023 after he showed up at her Eras Tour concert at the Chiefs stadium.

Happy fans mixed with frazzled tourists outside the arena.

Lori Powers, who lives an hour north of Manhattan and rode the train in to be near the nuptials, said Swift's “music is the soundtrack behind so many amazing moments in my life. Relationships, friends, like my husband and my kids.”

She stood outside the arena before the marriage was announced with her friend Cecily Hall.

“Just being here and witnessing all the energy and the excitement, it’s so much fun,” Hall said. “The combination of sports and music makes perfect sense as to why they’re at Madison Square Garden today.”

___

This story corrects that it was Robin Roberts who said the couple wrote their own vows.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles. AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno and AP Associated Press video journalist Emily Wang Fujiyama contributed from New York.

Many visitors described the park as a place where they come to exercise, spend time with family and relax.

“It’s kind of scary because usually there’s kids out here, too,” resident Alonso Martinez said when he reacted to the photos.

Trail runner Ella McArdle described the images unsettling.

“I think it is disgusting,” McArdle said. “I’m Hispanic myself. I’ve seen it impact the Hispanic community so much in San Antonio. I see it all over everywhere. In the park, it’s crazy.”

Marquetta Valdez owns a run club that meets at Phil Hardberger Park each week. Valdez said she worries the presence of immigration officers could discourage people from joining the group.

“I’m afraid that if I tell them, ‘Hey, ICE is in the area,’ that they’re not going to want to come anymore,” Valdez said.

KSAT asked ICE if it was common for officers to patrol public parks.

ICE said its officers use “reasonable suspicion” and routinely conduct law enforcement operations to protect the public, but the agency did not say whether any arrests were made at the park.

“ICE has authority for lawful arrests under 8 USC 1357,” an ICE spokesperson said. “Law enforcement officers use ‘reasonable suspicion’ to investigate immigration status and probable cause to make arrests consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

Additionally, in its statement to KSAT, ICE denied using “racial profiling” to detain people.

Still, parkgoers said immigration officers walking along Phil Hardberger Park trails is disturbing.

“I truly think it’s devastating,” McArdle said. “I hate to see it here. I really do.”

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According to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Jorge Ibarra, 43, has been charged with multiple felonies after allegedly using a blowtorch to start a fire at his own residence before targeting a neighboring home on Manda Drive.

The attack began when Ibarra damaged the father’s truck before threatening to kill the family and burn down their home, the family said.

“He was a demon,” the father, who asked to not be identified, said. “When I was holding him down, he was laughing and saying, ‘I’m going to kill you and your family. I’m going to burn you.’”

The father said he had considered Ibarra more than just a neighbor.

“To come break my truck and try to burn my children and say all that to me? I don’t know what’s going through his head,” the father said.

Ibarra used a blowtorch to set fire to his own residence before crossing to the neighboring home, investigators said.

BCSO said Ibarra broke a front window and used the torch on it while a mother and her young children were sleeping inside the room.

The mother said her husband prevented Ibarra from entering the home as she and the children hid in a bathroom.

“My husband, with all his strength, wouldn’t let him in,” the mother, who asked to not be identified, said. “My kids were crying and crying. We went to hide in the restroom.”

The family said Ibarra then tried to burn through the front door. When that failed, he moved to the back of the home, threw a cinder block through a window and again attempted to get inside. This led to another struggle between the father and Ibarra.

“I was defending myself,” the father said. “He was trying to kill me.”

The father suffered a serious cut to his arm during the confrontation.

While the struggle continued, a relative arrived to help the family escape, but the mother said her sister was also attacked.

“He grabbed my sister by the hair, knocked her down and he was kicking her,” the mother said.

The father was eventually able to restrain Ibarra until Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and took him into custody.

Jail records indicate Ibarra was charged with multiple felonies:

• Two counts of arson with intent to damage a habitation (first-degree felonies)
• Burglary of a habitation with intent to commit another felony (first-degree felony)
• Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (second-degree felony)

Additionally, Ibarra received two counts of assault causing bodily injury and criminal mischief causing between $750 and $2,500 in damage, which are all considered Class A misdemeanors.

The family said the attack has left lasting emotional scars, especially on their children.

“My son is sick. He hasn’t slept since that day. He asks me, ‘Why?’” the father said. “I tell him, ‘Son, don’t worry. Your dad won’t ever let anything happen to you.’”

The mother said the family had previously welcomed Ibarra into their lives, even inviting him to their children’s birthday parties and family meals.

“Now, I feel this hate for him,” the mother said. “He tried to kill us.”

BCSO has not released a possible motive for the attack.

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Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for ​the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), said in a Facebook post that the town of Anefis was being targeted by the separatists.

Mohamed Cissé, a resident of Gao, told The Associated Press that the army is going door to door searching for attackers who are still in the city.

“For the moment, the calm has returned. But I learned that the attackers are still in a part of the city, so I stay inside the house with the family,” said Ousmane Maiga, another resident.

In a later statement, the Malian army claimed that “the situation is completely under control.” It added that in Sévaré, “20 terrorists on motorcycles and equipped vehicles were neutralized.”

But Rawani Ahmed Bouya, a member of the FLA and head of the National Office of the Azawad diaspora, told the AP that Anefis was under FLA control and that the fighting was almost over. His claim could not independently verified.

In late April, a coordinated attack by the FLA and the regional al-Qaida affiliate JNIM killed the defense minister in his home and took control of several key towns in the north of the country.

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy project director for the International Crisis Group think tank, said that while the latest attacks are “nothing comparable” to those in April, reports of attacks across the border in Burkina Faso as well as across Mali could indicate an attempt to divert the attention of the army to secure more limited gains in northern Mali.

Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said the targeting of Anefis was strategic because any Malian attempt to reverse the territorial gains from April would have been staged in Anefis.

Mali has previously faced insurgencies by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the country’s north. The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.

Along with Mali, neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso have also been battling al-Qaida and IS affiliates.

Following military coups, the juntas in the three countries turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened with a record number of militant attacks. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

—-

Wilson McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, sought to show unity as it voted to extend the terms of Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, who have headed it for four years as co-leaders and ran unopposed Saturday. Weidel was reelected with 81% of the vote, while Chrupalla earned 70%. German parties elect their leaders every two years.

The demonstrations outside the convention in the eastern city of Erfurt reflected how AfD has divided Germany even while becoming the biggest opposition party nationally and the strongest political force in Germany’s formerly communist east.

Saturday's event was able to start on time despite the protests, which party officials hailed their “fundamental, legally guaranteed right to hold party conventions.”

“There are no peaceful seated blockades. There are no democratic roadblocks. Nor are there any gangs of thugs who deserve the harmless label ‘civil society.’ These troublemakers are the last resort of our political rivals,” Chrupalla said.

The weekend convention drew additional controversy by coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of a Nazi Party meeting held nearby that consolidated Adolf Hitler’s power over the fascist movement. Historians and political opponents say the timing carries powerful symbolism, an accusation the AfD rejects.

AfD fights ‘firewall’ as its support rises

AfD achieved second place in the February 2025 national election with 20.8% of the vote, the best showing by a far-right party since World War II. Since then support has risen to first among the nation's political parties.

Despite the growing support, some want to see the party banned and protesters this weekend are likely to underline those calls. But Germany’s supreme court previously has set a very high bar for banning parties.

Although Weidel said recently that “2026 is a year of destiny for AfD,” mainstream parties say they won’t work with AfD in a stance often referred to as a “firewall” against far-right parties.

Police said some 31,000 people attended Saturday's protest rallies, German news agency dpa reported. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with protesters holding signs such as "Stop AfD Nazis” and "For Diversity, Against Nazis.”

Lena Raupach, spokesperson for widersetzen, an anti-fascist alliance whose name translates to “resist,” said the group had hoped to block the convention.

“The AfD pursues fascist policies: It wants mass deportations and terror on the streets. At the same time, however, it doesn’t solve a single real problem," she said. “It pursues policies that benefit the rich, not ordinary citizens. And we at widersetzen want a society in which all people have equal opportunities and equal security. We want a society based on solidarity.”

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, announced last year that it had classified AfD as a proven right-wing extremist group, but suspended the designation after a legal challenge. In February, a Cologne court said the agency can’t use the designation while the court evaluates the party’s lawsuit.

AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and argues the agency is being used as a political instrument by mainstream parties.

Upcoming state election could bring a major win

AfD is capitalizing on the unpopularity of a government that is trying to reform the sluggish economy. The party has become adept at harnessing discontent with issues well beyond its signature theme of curbing migration, which powered its rise in the mid-2010s.

AfD hopes to win 40% or more of the vote in a Sept. 6 state election in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt. That could put the party on course for an absolute majority or in a position where it might try to attract defectors from other parties, paving the way for its first state governor.

“We will win. Maybe we’ll be able to govern alone soon,” Chrupalla said. “That would send the right message to the enemies of democracy out there who wanted to prevent our party convention from taking place.”

The party, which has long called for lifting sanctions against Russia and opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine, also has supported the general approach of U.S. President Donald Trump while criticizing the war in Iran launched by the Trump administration and Israel.

Björn Höcke, one of the party’s regional leaders, repeatedly said in his speech Saturday that AfD wants to make Germany great again, a reference to Trump's MAGA platform, and at least one attendee wore a hat with a “Make Germany Great Again” logo.

___

Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Philipp Reissfelder in Berlin contributed to this report.

His hopes of a second consecutive World Cup title also lived on — and that accomplishment was anything but easy.

Messi’s goal in the 29th minute was the 20th of his World Cup career, extending his record and moving him two ahead of France’s Kylian Mbappé on the all-time list. It was the opener of what became a wild night, with Argentina escaping with a 3-2 win over Cape Verde in extra time against a huge underdog.

Messi was pictured later at his media conference with a large bump on his head after apparently being hit with a knee during a collision with a Cape Verde player.

“It hurts a little but I’m good," he was quoted in comments translated from Spanish about the goose-egg over his right eye. A FIFA post on X showed a definite welt.

Messi — who now has goals in a record eight consecutive World Cup games going back to Argentina's run to the 2022 title — seemed relieved after the match, and lauded Cape Verde’s defense.

“We did good things,” Messi said in his native Spanish, “and we have to correct the bad things.”

Messi has seven goals in this World Cup — one more than Mbappé in the race for the Golden Boot as the top scorer of the tournament — and has scored 12 times during his eight-game World Cup streak. He has been great, and Argentina has needed him to be great.

“For me, it represents a lot to be friends with him,” said Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s teammate with Argentina and Inter Miami. “For me, friendship is one of the most important things that we all have and I consider myself fortunate to be there, to share these moments with him.”

And there has been no shortage of moments.

Messi had the game's first good chance Friday, his all-world left foot sending a shot skidding across the goal mouth but outside of the right post in the 15th minute. After getting taken down, he had a 25-yard free kick three minutes later that was easily gobbled up by Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha.

But the momentum was shifting, and before long, Messi broke through for a 1-0 lead. He timed his run perfectly on a ball played into the box by defender Lisandro Martinez to stay onside, controlled the pass and then lifted a shot over Vozinha's left shoulder from close range for his 124th international goal. Only Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 146, has more.

Messi stretched his arms and pointed to Martinez, saluting the pass, before teammates mobbed him in celebration.

Argentina was a huge favorite — some sportsbooks had the defending champions at minus-3500 to win, meaning bettors would have to wager $3,500 to profit $100 — and the Messi goal probably had some thinking the scoring dam was about to break.

It wasn't.

Cape Verde scored to knot the game at 1-1 and 2-2, and Messi set up the eventual winner with a corner kick that bounced off some heads and into the net midway through the second half of extra time.

“As this team has demonstrated many times, and as I’ve said many times, it competes,” Messi said. “And we competed to the end.”

The Golden Boot race may go down to the end as well, with the four leaders now all safely into the Round of 16.

Messi and Mbappé are far from the only contenders in the Golden Boot race: Norway’s Erling Haaland and England’s Harry Kane each had five goals entering Friday, while four players — France’s Ousmane Dembele, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior and Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr — had four. Sarr is out of the running since Senegal has been eliminated.

Norway, England and France have advanced to the Round of 16; Argentina and Messi, the Inter Miami star who is widely considered the greatest player ever, now join them — barely.

“Our team did everything we could to win the game,” Cape Verde goalie Vozinha said.

Messi has never won the Golden Boot. He finished second with seven goals — one behind Mbappé — while leading Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title, and he tied for third with four goals in 2014.

If there’s a tie atop the goal list when the tournament ends, FIFA will use assists as the first tiebreaker and fewest minutes played as the second tiebreaker. Entering Friday, that meant Mbappé would have had the edge over Messi based on his 2-0 lead in assists.

But for now, Messi leads the scoring race. Most important, he's still in the race for another World Cup title.

“I hope you now realize, there is no easy opponent," Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The two-way superstar was hitless in three at-bats before being lifted as a precaution. On the mound, Ohtani allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out nine and threw a season-high 110 pitches before Los Angeles rallied for a 4-3 victory.

Ohtani said he felt the biceps issue during his at-bat in the sixth, when he flied out to right field.

“It’s the same location that I felt a couple months ago,” he said through a translator. "It went away pretty relatively quickly, so I expect that to happen again.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani would be given Saturday off to recover and receive treatment.

“He's a quick healer and finds a way to get back,” said Roberts, who added that Ohtani's previous biceps issue was "so benign that I didn't hear about it until tonight.”

Ohtani has primarily been starting on the mound every Wednesday, but the team pushed him back to Friday this week to manage his workload.

Asked if that meant Ohtani was unlikely to pitch in the All-Star Game, Roberts said before the game: “I haven't formally said it, but if you just kind of do the math, it would be hard to imagine. But I don’t have to make that decision quite yet.”

Roberts will manage the National League All-Stars in Philadelphia.

He said the possibility of Ohtani skipping his last pitching start before the All-Star break should “be on the table.”

Ohtani is already penciled into the All-Star starting lineup as the NL designated hitter because he was the overall leader with 3,341,257 votes after the first phase of fan balloting.

The right-hander is a strong candidate to be selected to the NL pitching staff as well, but Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez seems most likely to start in his home ballpark. Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski leads the majors with a 1.45 ERA but is on turn to pitch for the Brewers two days before the All-Star Game, which would make him unavailable against the American League.

Ohtani's ERA rose to 1.79 from 1.58 after his start Friday.

The Dodgers wanted Ohtani to get additional rest during a stretch of 13 games in 13 days. If he makes his final scheduled start before the All-Star Game on July 10, that would give his arm only three days of rest prior to the Midsummer Showcase.

“Shohei hasn’t had his best stuff recently and that’s the truth,” Roberts said. “The fastball command hasn’t been what it was earlier in the season, the sweeper hasn’t been the same.”

Ohtani has been bothered by left knee soreness and has a blister on the middle finger of his right hand.

“He feels good, the body feels good,” Roberts said before Friday's game. “The knee feels as good as it’s felt in quite some time, so that’s encouraging.”

___

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

That plan also went by the wayside when Jhon Córdoba appeared to hurt his groin.

Forced into making a rare early move, Colombia coach Néstor Lorenzo sent Luis Suárez onto the field, and he promptly delivered a sharp cross that Jhon Arias flicked into the net, resulting in the only goal on a sweltering night at Arrowhead Stadium and sending Los Cafeteros into the Round of 16 at the World Cup with a 1-0 victory over the Black Stars.

“I think football is a team sport,” Lorenzo said. “Ultimately you do have little groups in certain areas, but you have to have a unit — a whole — and I think our squad has been working on that from the very onset. That was the goal from the very beginning.”

The early goal was a good omen: Colombia has won 11 consecutive World Cup matches when scoring first. Now, it will play Switzerland on Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia, for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“We have won absolutely nothing,” Colombia star Luis Díaz said. “These games are very difficult. Every game we've seen has been tight. The good thing and the positive thing is that we're playing very well, we feel comfortable, we are being a family, we are working as a team, and that will work for what is coming.”

Los Cafeteros thought they had doubled their lead in the 56th minute, when Díaz found the back of the net only to see the offside flag raised, and the fleet-footed Colombia forward had a point-blank shot saved by Lawrence Ati Zigi a few minutes later.

Zigi wound up making seven saves to keep Ghana in the game.

“Sometimes it happens in football,” Ghana defender Jerome Opoku said, “that it doesn’t go your way.”

It was 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 Celsius) with a heat index of 96 when the game kicked off at 8:30 p.m. local time, the late start intentional due to the expected heat of Midwestern summers. The hydration breaks that have been controversial in so many matches suddenly became a blessing as players from both sides fought through dehydration and cramps.

Ghana was one of a record nine teams from Africa to escape the group stage of the World Cup. And while many gave fits to some of the tournament favorites — hello, Cape Verde against Argentina — only Morocco and Egypt were able to reach the Round of 16.

“It's always great to get out of your group,” Opoku said. “Obviously we wanted to go further.”

Colombia had breezed through the group stage, conceding only a single goal in wins over Uzbekistan and Congo and a draw with Portugal. In fact, Los Cafeteros had been so impressive that Spain coach Luis de la Fuente — whose own team is considered among the tournament favorites — tapped them as “a candidate to win the World Cup.”

Their fans certainly believe in them.

The home of the NFL’s Chiefs has three levels of seats with a band of yellow ones sandwiched between red. Yet the entire bowl of the stadium just east of downtown Kansas City was awash in the vibrant yellow of Colombia some 2 hours before kickoff.

Ghana knew it would be an underdog. Yet the team that failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations last year for the first time in nearly two decades had already answered plenty of critics by surviving a difficult group topped by England and Croatia.

The question as it faced Colombia: Could Ghana mount enough offense?

As expected, Los Cafeteros dominated the ball — the Black Stars had possessed it just 36.1% of the time in the group stage, second-least of any team that advanced, and those offensive issues continued against Colombia. Even when Ghana managed to put together an attack, Colombia was there to quickly counter with the speed of Suárez, Díaz and its midfielders.

Ghana wound up taking eight shots against Colombia. None of them were on goal.

“Intense game. Tough game for both teams, I guess, as I expected,” Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said. “Colombia started the game as we expected, full speed, a lot of intensity, passing. We tried to answer and stop them, but unfortunately the goal came too early for us.”

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

“Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty,” he said from Mount Rushmore. “It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11."

While the language was similar to several other speeches Trump has given in recent days, it was notable for being delivered in a national park that commemorates some of America's most prominent presidents. And it swerved from the typically apolitical, unifying speeches past presidents like Gerald Ford or Ronald Reagan have delivered during earlier high-profile Independence Day celebrations.

Indeed, Trump's language evoked the Red Scare of the 1950s, when alleged communists were persecuted and blacklisted from jobs across America, from Washington to Hollywood.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, delivered his own address that cast America as a nation of contradictions “working each day towards the perfection in which it was conceived.”

The president's speech capped an Independence Day eve that was otherwise most notable for a brutal heat wave the gripped much of the eastern portion of the country. Officials have warned those celebrating the holiday to stay hydrated and take air-conditioned breaks as needed.

Philadelphia canceled its Salute to Independence parade Friday. The Great American State Fair in Washington shut down in the early afternoon before reopening at 5 p.m. The Capitol Fourth concert, a mainstay of the holiday in Washington, opened its gates a little later than normal but ultimately moved forward with appearances from Patti LaBelle, Trace Adkins, members of the Artemis II space mission and fireworks over George Washington’s Mount Vernon. An Independence Day parade scheduled for Saturday in Washington was canceled.

Looking for a place to cool off

By early afternoon Friday in Washington, hundreds of people were roaming the grounds of the National Mall, home to The Great American State Fair. They snapped photos of the flyovers and tried to cool off inside tents that offered $9 lemonades and $23 turkey legs. Many were dressed in patriotic colors, their faces glistening with sweat.

Glenn Brooks, who was pardoned by Trump for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said he was “thankful to be participating in this grand event.”

The activity culminates in the main event Saturday, when fireworks will erupt in communities across the U.S., along with backyard cookouts and block parties. Trump will deliver another speech at the National Mall in Washington before what is being billed as a historically massive fireworks show.

As the rest of the country struggled under stifling heat, the Pacific Northwest enjoyed temperatures in the 60s with even a few light showers.

World Cup soccer fans in Seattle were staying cool Friday as they got psyched up for Monday’s big game between the U.S. and Belgium. In the nearby suburb of Issaquah, Megan Kurowski, 31, brought her two dogs to the dog park so they could get some exercise before she went to work.

Kurowski said she was feeling positive about America’s 250th anniversary and was planning a possible paddleboard to watch the fireworks.

“Everyone’s just, from what it seems, been pretty excited about celebrating 250 years,” she said.

The holiday is unfolding at a unique time in the U.S. The anniversary has served as an opportunity for the country to reflect on its history while also reminding it of the political polarization of the moment.

On a holiday of unity, there is an undercurrent of division

In New York, Mamdani, a Democrat, did not mention Trump by name, but parts of his speech appeared aimed at the president’s divisive rhetoric.

“For generation after generation, we have been told that when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best,” Mamdani said in an apparent reference to a common criticism from Trump. “Those ideals upon which our nation was built — they are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them."

Freedom 250, an organization aligned with the White House, has come to rival America250, a bipartisan group founded by Congress a decade ago. Freedom 250 has organized much of the activity in Washington, including the Great American State Fair. America250 is behind the ball drops unfolding in many cities, including New York, and will host a concert in Los Angeles on Saturday.

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults feel “proud” about the country’s 250th anniversary, according to an April survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly 3 in 10 said “excited” describes their emotions.

Ahead of the holiday, auto technician Joe Fuqua-Bejarano in Topeka, Kansas, sized up “what makes us awesome” as a people. It is clearly not the politics, in his view, but rather resilience.

“We’ve just all got to find unity somewhere, whether that’s in laughter or perseverance, and keep everybody cool,” he said from the fireworks stand where he is doing a booming business as a side hustle.

Christina Zhou, a 25-year-old research assistant from Cambridge, Massachusetts, said she would aim to “think about just things that are happening locally.”

“It feels a little bit more like within our own personal control," she said.

Jerry Chin of Newcastle, Washington, said he wasn’t aware that the U.S. was celebrating its 250th anniversary and planned to stay low-key around the holiday. He and his wife generally skip the fireworks and instead stay home with their fearful dogs to keep them calm.

“America’s a great place, but there are some concerns,” he said. Chin, 55, and his wife worry about healthcare and issues around staying healthy, but they also stress about politics.

“We’re Democrats, so kind of given up hope,” he said. “Just feel that it is the way it is. I don’t know if there could be change.”

At the National Archives in Washington, visitors made their way through the Rotunda to look at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- and to escape the heat outside.

Michael Dresdner, 60, traveled from West Orange, New Jersey, with his wife, Cindi, 57, and about two dozen other people to be part of the America 250 celebrations. He said their group of travelers included people on both sides of the political aisle -- and that is what gave him hope for the future of American democracy.

“We are all here, and we all love America,” he said.

___

Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Anthony Izaguirre in New York, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Michael Casey in Cambridge, Mass., and Calvin Woodward, Didi Tang, Gary Fields and Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.

Hossam Abdelmaguid scored the deciding goal in a shootout, and Egypt won its debut in the elimination round of the World Cup by beating Australia 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 Friday.

Australia goalkeeper Mathew Ryan didn't stop any of Egypt's four shots after replacing starter Patrick Beach late in extra time.

The victory comes in Egypt's fourth World Cup, the first one with an expanded field of 48. Australia is now 0-3 in the knockout round.

Egypt will next face defending champion Argentina, which beat Cape Verde 3-2 in extra time Friday night, in the round of 16 on Tuesday in Atlanta.

“Me feeling today is that it's incredible,” said Salah, the 34-year-old former Liverpool player who is one behind national team coach Hossam Hassan's Egyptian record of 69 international goals. “I always like seeing the boys happy and enjoying the moment. Nothing can match that. So today was one of the best days of my life.”

Harry Souttar opened the shootout by missing high for Australia, and 18-year-old Lucas Herrington hit the crossbar with the fourth attempt to set up Abdelmaguid’s clincher for the Pharaohs.

The 25-year-old Abdelmaguid, who doesn't have an international goal in 15 appearances, went low left as Ryan dived to the defender's right, setting off a raucous celebration among 70,244 fans at the sold-out home of the Dallas Cowboys, plenty of them wearing Egyptian red.

Egypt didn't even have a victory in the World Cup before beating New Zealand 3-1 in the group stage less than two weeks ago.

“I was only thinking about the Egyptian fans,” Hassan said through an interpreter. “During the entire time and during the penalty shootout, I was just praying, ‘God, please make the Egyptian people happy.’ Even before the penalty shootout, to be honest.”

Egypt’s other shootout scorers were Mahmoud Saber, Ramy Rabia and Salah, who played every minute of regulation and extra time despite a hamstring injury sustained in the team's group finale.

Jackson Irvine and Awer Mabil scored in the shootout for Australia.

“When I went to the players and talked to them, I wanted to take some pressure off,” Hassan said. “Do not look at the pressure. Just let everything out, don’t think about anything. Think about your penalty kick. Don’t even think about the goalkeeper. Just think about your kick.”

Emam Ashour gave Egypt the lead in regulation by scoring in the 13th minute with a header that beat Beach just inside the near post. Australia evened the match in the 55th when Egypt defender Mohamed Hany became the first player to score two own-goals in the same World Cup.

The own-goal came when Aiden O’Neill took a free kick from left of the penalty area and Hany headed the ball past goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir for a spot in World Cup infamy. His other own-goal came in a 1-1 draw with Belgium in the group stage.

Less than 10 minutes earlier, Hany was down near the same spot after colliding with Connor Metcalfe on the Australia midfielder’s header attempt. Medical personnel tended to Hany with a stretcher waiting nearby, but he was helped up and stayed on after what appeared to be a concussion check.

Australia’s only scoring in World Cup knockout rounds has been two own-goals. The Socceroos lost to Italy 1-0 in 2006 and lost to Argentina 2-1 four years ago in Qatar. The goal against Argentina was an own-goal.

“It hurts when you get that close,” Australia coach Tony Popovic said. “Unfortunately, we bow out in a penalty shootout, so it’s difficult to take right now.”

Omar Marmoush had a great chance to give Egypt a two-goal lead in the opening seconds of the second half, but he sent a shot wide.

The late goalkeeper switch to the 34-year-old Ryan, for his 105th international appearance, came despite several strong saves from the 22-year-old Beach, who was playing in only his sixth game for the Socceroos.

Beach made a sprawling save on a header from Rabia in the waning moments of regulation, and seconds later had a much easier stop on Salah’s shot.

Egypt had one more chance before the end of regulation, but Haissem Hassan was turned away by Souttar, who deflected the shot with his knee.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

• TEMPS GRADUALLY GETTING HOTTER: Upper-90s possible next week
• 4TH OF JULY: Quiet, but hot
• RAIN: A stray shower is possible, Sunday & Monday looking less-promising

FORECAST

HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Whether your celebrating in San Antonio or hitting the road today, you’ll find hot and quiet weather across Texas. A stray shower is not impossible around our areas, but the odds are very low. It’ll be hot & humid, with seasonable July 4th weather.

This will also be the case for Saturday evening as San Antonio celebrates with fireworks. For those who will be using their own fireworks (outside of city limits), know that while we have had good rainfall this year, grasses are already beginning to dry out. Grass fires can still spread easily.

SUNDAY & MONDAY

While we still will keep an eye on any storm activity to our north, the odds for rain over this period are dropping. The setup doesn’t look as good as it once did. Look for only stray to isolated activity.

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“It really is the heartbeat of the community. And when we lost it in the flood, we learned that it’s not really something of convenience; it’s a necessity and something the community truly does depend on,” owner John Dunn said.

The iconic Hunt Store was built at its current location in 1946 and updated in 1973.

“Everybody identifies with the iconic stone and timber walls,” Dunn said.

KSAT crews visited the Hunt Store many times after the flood and have been in contact with the people involved in rebuilding it ever since.

John and his wife, Vikki Dunn, owned the store for years. They sold it in 2024 and just recently bought it again to lead the rebuild.

While they pay the bills, John and Vikki don’t call themselves owners, as strictly stipulated by several people who ran the store before them.

“You can pay all the money on it, but you’re not the owner. You’re only the steward, and you’re going to manage it, and you’re going to make it better for the next generation.” John and Vikki smiled.

The idea is that it has always truly belonged to the community, and evidence of that became even clearer after the flood.

“We still had our group that comes every day and has a couple of beers and a glass of wine. They came! I don’t think they missed a day once we got some temporary tents set up here,” Vikki said.

Phase one of recovery involves a smaller building to the side of the Hunt Store.

The building was formerly real estate offices, but is now called the Mini Hunt Store. It was the building that sustained the least amount of damage in the flood.

“The food and beverage are what the community is asking for most right now, and so we want to support that,” John said. “Hunt always needs music. I mean that is kind of the fiber that brings us all together.”

The back of the Mini Store will be a pavilion and a stage.

Phase two is restoring the old Hunt Store, including famous pieces that survived. That includes pieces like the iconic fireplace where people have gathered daily for years.

The fireplace was one of the few structures in the massive building that survived the floodwaters.

“With the force of water that came through here, it’s almost miraculous, really,” Vikki said. “I mean, also look at the front doors. Those doors have been there for decades, and they survived.”

Phase three will be the full rebuild.

“We will be adding the fuel system, convenience store, restaurant, café, and that will be in the 2026- 2027 timeframe,” John said.

John said there are limits to what businesses can receive in the form of grant funding, but he hopes the fuel and food aspect will provide extra cash since they are essential to the community.

As the one-year mark hits for the flood, recovery takes on an even stronger meaning.

“I certainly see the progress we made. At the same time, I know there are people who are still hurting and still suffering,” John said.

It’s for those neighbors; they’ll keep pushing forward.

Watch the entire One Year after Hill Country Flood special in the media player below:

Read more of KSAT’s Hill Country Floods coverage:

• Photo album lost in Hill Country floods reunited with owner after it appeared on national television
• River Inn rebuild continues one year after deadly Hill Country floods
• Hunt flood survivor who lost home, neighbors on July 4 says she is taking her time with recovery

Criders Rodeo and Dancehall celebrated 100 years last year before it was overcome by floodwaters on July 4, 2025.

Historically, the seasonal business opens annually on Memorial Day. The owners weren’t sure they’d be able to hit the mark this year. However, with help and determination, the owners accomplished their goal.

“My friend came, and she was sitting there thinking like, ‘Man, my kids almost missed it, like it was almost gone. My kids almost never got to run in the arena after a calf or get on a mutton bust.’ So it was one of those moments. There’s no way that we couldn’t open,” said Megan Bruinsma, whose family owns Criders.

Bruinsma is still grieving what’s been lost, but she is truly honing the power of togetherness, tradition and love.

KSAT visited Criders in February to check in, and there was still a significant amount of work to do for the owners to open in just three months.

“We were literally down here until 11 p.m. every night,” Bruinsma said.

Bruinsma explained the magic in the simplicity of the business.

“Criders is simple. As long as you have drinks, a band and a place for people to sit and dance, and a couple of contestants in the arena, that’s all people really care about,” Bruinsma said.

As she walked around the dance hall section of the property, she said, “Here are all our tables, which we’re finishing out; some already have their nameplates on, donated and in memory of people.”

Each table has metal dedication plaques built into the side with the names of beloved people killed in the floods.

Bruinsma herself lost family members in the flood, including 8-year-old Camp Mystic attendee Renee Smajstrla, lovingly referred to as “NayNay.”

NayNay was known as the biggest Criders fan of all time.

“That girl, I can’t tell you how many nights had to be dragged out of here kicking and screaming because she was not leaving Criders,” Bruinsma said, laughing with tears in her eyes.

Bruinsma pointed below the sink in the brand-new ladies’ bathroom, where a metal sign now says, “Dancin’ For Nay Nay.”

Intricate signs of remembrance are all over the place at the dancehall.

“All of the wood in here is all from the Cyprus that got washed down,” Bruinsma said, pointing to the bathroom and stage walls. “All of this wood is from the flood.”

Preservation was a key goal throughout the property.

“The café is pretty much back,” Bruinsma said, opening the door to the café, bar, and pool hall.

“Obviously, all our tables got swept away. But it pretty much looks the same.” Bruinsma said.

The space is already being filled with new memories. There’s a catfish dinner at 6 p.m. every Friday, as well as rodeo activities and dancing at 8 p.m.

Soon, Bruinsma will start working to restore the wedding venue down below the dance hall that was wiped away in the flood. Bruinsma has not been able to touch that area yet, but she knows when she’s ready the help will be there.

“I think it goes back to like just our community and how like everybody wraps their arms around us,” Bruinsma said through tears.

The thought is emotional because Criders isn’t just a place. It’s a feeling, a living memory that keeps growing with time, and one that no amount of water could ever truly wash away.

Bruinsma is seeing the silver lining of how the flood has transformed the whole community.

"I think people are taking more time to actually see each other, and when we are together, it’s not like a quick high-five," she said. “People are more intentional now. Our community was already pretty tight-knit, but I just feel like it just brought it closer, and it added to it."

While the flood will never leave Bruinsma and her community, she is finding ways to not “get stuck in it” and instead remember everyone and move forward.

“So into the next hundred years we go!” Bruinsma said, smiling.

Watch the entire One Year after Hill Country Flood special in the media player below:

Read more of KSAT’s Hill Country Floods coverage:

• Song written after 1932 floods found after being swept away in Hill Country floods
• Photo album lost in Hill Country floods reunited with owner after it appeared on national television
• River Inn rebuild continues one year after deadly Hill Country floods

This is not meant to be an all-encompassing, up to the minute report on the very latest on the flood, but a snapshot of how people and businesses across Kerr County have recovered in the last 12 months.

KSAT reporters, Dillon Collier, Daniela Ibarra, Courtney Friedman and Patty Santos have stories with people that we connected with in aftermath of the tragedy, and report on how they are doing as they recover, rebuild, and in some cases, reopen. And Boerne firefighters who responded to the call for help recall their harrowing day, saving lives in the fast moving flood waters.

Ernie Zuniga took a tour of Kerr County with Kerr County Lead founder and publisher Louis Amestoy and talks about the recovery efforts. And a report on the work to clean-up and restore the Guadalupe River.

The July 4th flood special airs at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 3rd on KSAT 12 and will stream on KSAT Plus and KSAT.com live and on-demand.

See more of KSAT’s Hill Country Floods coverage.

At 8 a.m., the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department will hold a memorial ceremony near the installed memorial cross.

A separate memorial service is scheduled be held at 10 a.m. also at a newly installed memorial cross at Flat Rock Park.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to travel to Kerrville and deliver remarks at a remembrance ceremony.

The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at the Cailloux Theater Auditorium. Abbott will be joined by Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. and other local officials and community members.

Independence Day events

Several other events are planned across Kerr County on the Fourth of July.

Kerrville’s Fourth on the River kicks off the holiday with a cornhole tournament at 10 a.m. Fireworks are expected to go off at 9:45 p.m.

“A Tribute Written in the Light,” drone show will be held at 9 p.m. at Louise Hays Park in Kerrville, honoring first responders and celebrating America’s 250th birthday.

Read also:

• Fireworks Field Guide: How to keep your family, pets safe this Fourth of July
• America250: Descendants of Revolutionary War supporters keep South Texas history alive

He got that — and so much more.

Cape Verde didn’t win a match at the World Cup, and somehow, that didn’t seem to matter. The African team's debut on this stage was unforgettable, thanks largely to the 40-year-old goalkeeper who nearly engineered a soccer story that would have been counted among the greatest upsets in sports history.

Cape Verde’s magical ride ended Friday in the Round of 32, with the Blue Sharks falling to Lionel Messi and defending World Cup champion Argentina — as most expected. Final score: Champions 3, Cinderellas 2, in extra time — as probably very few expected.

“We have dignified Cape Verde as a national team in most parts of the world,” Vozinha said in Portuguese. “Today, we fought on an equal footing against Argentina.”

Fight, the Blue Sharks did. But the journey still ended. There was a scoreless draw against Spain to open the tournament, with Vozinha leading the way, which led to the captivating tale surrounding the global collaborative effort it took to get his mother to the U.S. to watch matches in the group stage. There were two more dramatic draws that were good enough for Cape Verde to reach the knockout round.

It took a goal from Messi, then a corner kick from the legend midway through the second half of extra time that set up what became the game-winning tally, to save mighty Argentina. The match lasted more than 2½ hours in real time after the David-vs.-Goliath showdown started. Goliath was pushed to the brink, with Vozinha standing tall against the team that entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the world — and the player regarded by many as the best ever — time and again.

“He's a quality, quality goalkeeper,” said Cape Verde defender Pico Lopes, who was recruited to the team with a LinkedIn message — another made-for-Hollywood story for this squad. “Probably hasn't gotten the recognition he deserves before this. ... He's a legend in Cape Verdean football.”

There were no fewer than four elite saves by Vozinha against Messi alone in the final 60 minutes:

— A point-blank stop in the 63rd minute after Messi tried to power a right-footed shot past the keeper, who came off his line to cut down the angle and absorbed the shot with his body. “Not many people stop Lionel Messi from three or four yards out,” Lopes said.

— A free kick from Messi in the 73rd seemed destined to curl into the right side of the net; Vozinha got just enough of an outstretched gloved hand on that one to knock it away to preserve what was then a 1-1 score.

— Messi went low with a free kick in stoppage time; Vozinha managed to see the ball through a wall of bodies and dropped to his knees to make a save.

— Late in the first 15-minute extra time period, Messi collected a deflected ball at the top of the penalty area and fired. Vozinha dove to his left, punching that one aside as well.

He did all he could. Everyone in his country's colors did. It was almost enough.

“Argentina is a world champion and they have one of the best players in the world, so that in itself speaks of the challenge it was for our team to overcome them,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said. “Above that, there’s the fact that we’re here for the first time. ... We want to evolve so that we can have more opportunities to face the so-called big dogs of the tournament.”

Cape Verde, the smallest nation in terms of land area to make the World Cup, with a population about 1% the size of Argentina's, will get $11 million from FIFA for making it this far in the tournament.

Of course, the Blue Sharks got a lot more than money. They became known on soccer's biggest stage, with fans from around the world reaching out during the World Cup run to say they had earned their support.

“Nobody has to ask where Cape Verde is now,” Lopes said. “They know where we are.”

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

A thrilling, unforgettable World Cup match with underdog Cape Verde was over — and the defending champions survived after being pushed to the brink.

Cape Verde equalized in regulation and again in extra time, but the Blue Sharks could not respond to Argentina's third goal, and La Albiceleste advanced to the Round of 16 with a 3-2 victory on Friday.

Even in defeat, the performance by Cape Verde — a tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa — will stand as one of the most remarkable stories of this, or any, World Cup.

“I have to give credit to our opponents,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “The truth is, when people say there’s no such thing as an easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) proved they’re a great team.”

The go-ahead score for Argentina was credited as an own-goal after Cristian Romero's header deflected off Cape Verde's Diney Borges in the 111th minute. Messi scored early in regulation, his record-extending 20th career World Cup goal. Lisandro Martinez scored in the 92nd to put Argentina ahead 2-1.

Sidny Lopes Cabral and Deroy Duarte scored for Cape Verde — both equalizers that stunned the pro-Argentina crowd in South Florida. Cabral's goal — a curling, right-footed strike past goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the 103rd minute — made an already wild game even more incredible, tying it at 2-all and raising the possibility of Messi facing standout Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha in a penalty shootout.

Argentina pushed back in front eight minutes later, held on from there and advanced to face Egypt — which beat Australia in a shootout earlier Friday — in Atlanta on Tuesday.

“As this team has demonstrated many times, and as I’ve said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spanish. “And we competed to the end.”

Cape Verde’s memorable World Cup debut had been a stunning run that few outside the country of 525,000 could have predicted. Behind the stellar play of the 40-year-old Vozinha, Cape Verde became the smallest country to reach the knockout round, securing surprising draws against former champions Spain and Uruguay and another against Saudi Arabia.

Vozinha had 10 saves against Argentina, including five against Messi.

“We dignify what our country is. We drew twice against the world champions, we took it to extra time,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said. “More than anything, it’s being proud of our players who were dignified in the World Cup. We showed our identity.”

Messi added another brilliant goal to his resume, sneaking behind the Cape Verde defense on a well-timed run as Martinez lofted a pass toward him, taking a quick touch and hammering a finish into the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.

The Argentina captain has seven goals in this tournament — one more France’s Kylian Mbappé in the Golden Boot race as the top scorer in this year’s World Cup — and extended his World cup record, moving two goals ahead of Mbappé on the career list. He has 12 goals during his record eight-match scoring streak.

Messi had the game's first chance that he sent skidding across the goal mouth but outside of the right post in the 15th minute. After getting taken down, he had a 25-yard free kick three minutes later that was easily gobbled up by Vozinha, who came up with a marvelous save nearly every time his team needed one.

“We came so close, we pushed them right to the end,” Cape Verde defender Pico Lopes said. “But in the end, it wasn’t to be. Disappointed ... but I think we showed great character today, a great quality to get back into the game twice. They’re the world champions for a reason.”

Bubista and players remained on the pitch well after the final whistle. Some sat with their heads nestled in their chests. Other shared tearful embraces before waving to their small crowd of supporters, reality sinking in at the end of a ride that almost no one outside of their fearless island could have predicted.

“We showed that we may be a small country,” Bubista said, “but we can play against some of the best teams in the world.”

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

“I’m a little more rested then I was the last time I saw you,” Matthews told KSAT. “I think I was going on two, three hours of sleep in days.”

One of those he rescued was a man from a toppled cabin next door.

“He’s now in an apartment in Kerrville. I helped him move some stuff,” Matthews said. “They’re really special people, and so, sometimes — even in the travesty of all the disaster — you build relationships,” Matthews said.

Matthews has been the person to go out of his way to help others. He is a former camp counselor and teacher at Tivy High School in Kerrville.

His rental management company, Stay Hill Country, allows him to interact with people visiting the Guadalupe River every day at properties like Casa Blanca and River Oaks Lodge.

Last July, he rented a cabin to KSAT’s Courtney Friedman and her family, who left Casa Blanca the day before the tragedy. Days after the flood, Matthews invited KSAT back to survey the damage.

In June, Matthews was proud to show off the work he and the property owners have done over the past year.

His goal was to reopen by spring break, which is exactly what happened.

“People are excited to be back,” Matthews said. “They’re so supportive, and I continue to get calls through the year like, ‘Hey, you going to be ready?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, we’re ready now.’”

Matthews said they’re booked at about 75% of what they normally would have during the summertime, which is way higher than they expected.

Big repairs had to be made at Casa Blanca’s main house, which is one of nine houses on the property.

Next door, at the River Oaks Lodge property, a lot of work had to be done, as well.

“The balcony is a good reference point,” Matthews said as he pointed to the second floor of the building. “The water had reached all the way up to that top. And then the cars that were out here were completely underwater.”

According to Matthews, the basement that had flooded to the ceiling is as good as new after volunteers came in to help treat the entire building’s walls.

Most of Matthews’ focus has been so geared toward rebuilding and the people lost in the flood that he admitted he forgot to check on himself.

“I was having some issues with heart rates and it occurred to me that a lot of it, I think, is that our nervous systems are wrecked,” Matthews said. “Every time the phone would ring, even a few months ago, I would hold my breath. And since I’ve kind of reset on that, I’ve just noticed a big difference.”

Matthews has been able to encourage other struggling flood survivors, who want to be able to celebrate the wins this coming July 4.

“It’s the human condition. I mean, we need the time to grieve, we need a time of honoring, but we move forward,” Matthews said. “That’s what we humans do, right?”

Matthews hopes anyone wanting to visit the Guadalupe River and support the Hill Country communities will book a trip this summer.

Watch the entire One Year after Hill Country Flood special in the media player below:

Read more of KSAT’s Hill Country Floods coverage:

• River Inn rebuild continues one year after deadly Hill Country floods
• Hunt flood survivor who lost home, neighbors on July 4 says she is taking her time with recovery

Around 8 p.m. officers responded to crash located on the Interstate 10 West offramp and Northwest Loop 410 near Crossroads Boulevard.

The woman failed to stay in a single lane and crashed into a center barrier, an SAPD preliminary report said. When she redirected her vehicle after the crash, the woman was stuck by a Toyota.

A 4-year-old child was inside of the vehicle at the time of the crash and sustained seriously bodily injury, according to SAPD.

The woman was found to be intoxicated, according to police, and was arrested for intoxication assault and injury to a child.

The conditions of the child and woman are unclear.

Read also:

• Illegal parties take over North Side homes under development, local builder urges for police action
• BCSO: Man accused of using blowtorch, knife and cinder block to attack neighbors; set own home afire

The acts of clemency come as Trump has issued a slew of pardons in his second term, particularly for allies, public figures and those seen as politically aligned.

His use of the presidency’s sweeping ability to unilaterally grant pardons and commute sentences is among the ways the Republican’s return to office has featured an expansive use of executive power.

Trump earlier on Friday announced some of the pardons on social media, without identifying any of the recipients by name.

“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.

“I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!” he said.

In a list provided Friday evening by the White House, Trump pardoned 11 people, including nine who faced charges related to violations of the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions monitoring systems on vehicles or selling devices that enabled emissions systems to be bypassed.

The pardons come after Trump on Monday signed a memo telling the Environmental Protection Agency that Americans can fix their own vehicles as they see fit. As he signed the memo, Trump referenced a diesel mechanic he pardoned last year who disabled emissions monitoring systems.

The memo also addressed aftermarket auto parts and would supersede the ability of the California Air Resources Board to evaluate parts that affect vehicle emissions.

The White House, in releasing the list of those pardoned, described Trump having “relieved consumers from these regulatory burdens.”

Beyond the emissions-related pardons, Trump on Friday also issued a pardon for Adam Kidan, a former business partner of Abramoff.

Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy related to the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats, and in 2006 he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

The case was part of a broader investigation of the early 2000s lobbying scandal involving Abramoff, Capitol Hill, the Interior Department and members of President George W. Bush’s administration.

After leaving prison in 2009, Kidan began working at a staffing agency, went on to found a staffing business, Chartwell Staffing Solutions, and now serves as president of Empire Workforce Solutions, the White House said.

In March, the newspaper Newsday reported that Kidan was among the hosts of a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate.

A message sent to Kidan’s business seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday evening.

Trump on Friday also pardoned ranch owner Jack Harvard, citing an “upstanding record” post-conviction and praising him for allowing the U.S. military and NATO troops to train on his land free of charge.

The White House did not immediately release additional details about Harvard, including his conviction.

While fireworks are illegal within most city limits, including the City of San Antonio, there are very few restrictions on the use of fireworks in unincorporated Bexar County.

No matter where you are, fireworks may not be lit within 600 feet of a church, hospital or school. Fireworks may also not be launched from within 100 feet of a gas station or fireworks stand.

The Bexar County Fire Marshal’s Office encourages residents to always read and follow label instructions, as well as have a bucket of water or hose nearby to douse the fireworks after use before putting them in the trash.

“A lot of times people will want to pick those up, be good neighbors, pick them up, put them in the trash can,” Chief Investigator David Brewer said. “Well, you can almost guarantee about an hour or two hours after, we’ve got a house fire.”

If the firework does not work, the fire marshal’s office said you should not relight it. Attempting to relight a “dud” firework can injure someone’s face or hand.

Officials recommend lighting one firework at a time, never in someone’s hand, and that they only be handled by adults. Fireworks should never be pointed at another person or animal.

If you are unsure or feel unsafe, there are several events to view fireworks in San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country being held by professionals.

Pets don’t want to party

When planning your Independence Day celebrations, they should not include pets.

San Antonio Animal Care Services said pets do not like loud noises, and encourages pet owners to leave them in a safe, quiet area.

“They’d rather just hang out someplace quiet, someplace safe, maybe with a new toy or treat, someplace where they could get away from all of the chaos,” ACS spokesperson Lisa Norwood said, “and you can enjoy your party without worrying about them.”

Do not leave your pet unattended outside, even if the yard is fenced in. ACS said pets can overreact when they are scared and may cause them to act out or become entangled.

The car is also unsafe for pets, ACS said, where temperatures can soar above 120 degrees in minutes.

For those looking to adopt a pet, ACS is offering $0 adoptions Friday and Sunday. The shelter will be closed Saturday.

Read also:

• Fireworks stands see strong sales as families prepare to celebrate America’s 250th birthday
• America250: Descendants of Revolutionary War supporters keep South Texas history alive

FIFA had been looking at the possibility of starting the round of 16 game at the Azteca Stadium earlier than the scheduled 6 p.m. local time (8 p.m. EDT), a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

But a Mexican federation official told the AP that after deliberation FIFA decided the match would remain unchanged.

That person also spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Among the reasons for exploring the change was because of possible disruption caused by flooding.

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre criticized the proposed change earlier Friday.

“It’s a kick in the gut; now we must change everything. It’s not that all the work goes down the drain — though it’s close — because you’re having to scrap six hours of scheduled planning. I don’t like it at all,” Aguirre told Radio Formula. “Obviously, we’ll abide by what FIFA says, but neither my players nor I are happy about it.”

Rescheduling the match also could have affected England’s preparations. The Three Lions are scheduled to arrive late Friday and will hold their Saturday training session at the grounds of UNAM Pumas in the southern part of the capital, leaving them with significantly less time to acclimate to Mexico City’s high elevation.

The Azteca Stadium sits at more than 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level. For elite athletes to perform at their peak at high altitude, a period of adaption is required to reduce fatigue caused by lower atmospheric pressure and reduced oxygen availability, experts say. Sports scientists generally recommend an extended acclimation period of at least two weeks, or the “fly-in, fly-out” method of arriving as close to game time as possible before acute symptoms set in.

England coach Thomas Tuchel has already spoken about the difficulties his team faces in Mexico City.

“My understanding is that we cannot adapt to the altitude. That is just a huge advantage that Mexico will have,” Tuchel said this week. “It just takes too much time.”

The game will be Mexico City's fifth and final match of this year's World Cup.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Her precious photo albums were swept away, and her friend saw them on ABC News coverage of the flood. KSAT stepped in to help Harte get the albums back.

Since then, she has found more treasures in the rubble.

“We found my mother’s wedding ring, so I wear that now,” Harte said, looking down at the ring on her hand.

Her parent’s home next door was gutted, but it was salvageable.

Harte invited KSAT back to her property.

Concrete was being poured on the porch of the house, and a metal carport was being built.

Harte was open about the slow burn of what recovery truly feels like.

Harte told KSAT that it feels “wonderful” for the rebuild to begin but said she “wasn’t ready until two weeks ago.”

“There’s something in the brain and the heart and the soul. Everything has to just get through it,” Harte said. “I think the hardest part right now is I’m still having a hard time, but everybody thinks I’m OK. And so, I have to take a lot of breaks and go and rest.”

Walking around the property, she pointed out all the beauty that has popped up where devastation once was.

“Look at all these wildflowers. See where my house was? Look what’s taken over,” Harte said. “You can’t even tell there was a house there.”

Part of Harte’s mission is now river conservation. She is on the Kerr Rebuild Long Term Recovery Group and is one of the only landowners.

Harte’s land is being studied to see how fast Mother Nature is recovering. Texas Parks and Wildlife has planted certain trees and vegetation and has checked back every couple weeks to record any progress.

“Now it’s about, ‘How do you heal a river? How do you heal property? How do you help people feel better about themselves?’” Harte said.

The growth she sees every day along the river propels her heart towards recovery.

“You can feel the sadness and you can feel the destruction, but you also can feel the joy and chlorophyll and things that make us feel good and water moving,” Harte said.

Like water now slowly flowing down the Guadalupe, Harte is gradually moving forward, as well.

“It’s a start,” Harte smiled. “Come back in six months!”

Watch the entire One Year after Hill Country Flood special in the media player below:

Read more of KSAT’s Hill Country Floods coverage:

• Song written after 1932 floods found after being swept away in Hill Country floods
• Photo album lost in Hill Country floods reunited with owner after it appeared on national television
• River Inn rebuild continues one year after deadly Hill Country floods

The July 4, 2025, floods left much of the property heavily damaged, destroyed first-floor units and left massive boulders and debris in the section of the river that runs along the property.

One year later, general manager Scott Towery said he is looking toward the future while reflecting on the extraordinary events of that tragic morning.

“We should start construction around August, early September,” Towery said.

Recent progress includes a weekslong dredging project completed by the Texas Department of Emergency Management. The work removed debris and massive rocks deposited by the flood.

Some of the boulders left behind were as “big as a truck,” Towery said.

A daring escape as floodwaters surged

On the morning of the floods, people staying at the resort were forced to flee to higher ground as water poured into their rooms.

Towery, his wife Connie and one of the unit owners went door to door to wake everyone up.

Many people were able to drive out of the parking lot and into a nearby neighborhood to wait out the storm.

Dozens of others, however, were blocked from the neighborhood by rising waters and stayed in vehicles parked on State Highway 39.

As floodwaters continued to climb, bedsheets were tied together and used as makeshift rescue ropes to help people reach safety.

The improvised lifelines were used to hoist as many as 50 guests onto the roof of a building near the front of the property called The Mill House.

14 hours a day for 60 days straight

When the floodwaters receded, they left behind widespread destruction on the property.

The cleanup effort that followed was unlike anything Towery had ever experienced.

Asked whether he ever considered walking away from the resort altogether, Towery did not hesitate in his response.

“Oh yeah,” Towery said. “Right off the bat, I’m like, ‘I’m out of here.’” Instead, he decided to stay.

Towery spent 60 consecutive days working 14-hour days as he helped coordinate recovery efforts and begin the arduous rebuilding process.

“That 60 days right there changed everything,” Towery said. “You really didn’t have time to think. You just did.”

A long road ahead

While rebuilding continues, the River Inn still has a long way to go before it can resume normal operations.

Inside some units, exposed studs serve as a reminder that reconstruction remains in its early stages.

Towery credits the Hunt Preservation Society with helping connect the resort to resources and people who have played a key role in the recovery efforts.

Even with recent progress, Towery estimates it could be as late as 2028 before rental reservations can resume.

In a typical year, approximately 55 of the resort’s 60 units are available for guests to book.

A year later, the River Inn’s recovery stands as both a reminder of the devastation caused by the flood and a testament to the people who refused to give up after it.

Watch the entire One Year after Hill Country Flood special in the media player below:

Read more of KSAT’s Hill Country Floods coverage:

• Hill Country couple hailed as heroes after waking up people staying at Hunt’s River Inn

Records show the following suspects all remain in custody on multiple charges at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center:

• Amir Notario, 17
• Omar Timothy John Saenz, 18
• Damian Zertuche, 18

‘You’re talking s---?’

San Antonio police officers were dispatched just after 3:30 p.m. on May 18 at a Circle K convenience store in the 9800 block of Potranco Road, near Stevens High School.

A Northside Independent School District spokesperson told KSAT at the time that a Stevens High School student was the victim of the off-campus assault.

According to a police report obtained by KSAT, the 18-year-old student was on his way back to campus when Notario, Saenz and Zertuche — who are former Stevens High School students — confronted him.

“What’s up? You’re talking s---?” Notario told the student, according to the report.

The student told police he saw one of the three suspects “pull a gun from his waistband and display it.”

“Give me everything you got,” Notario told the victim.

“I don’t have anything on me,” the student told Notario, according to SAPD.

The student told investigators one of the suspects then pistol-whipped him in the face. At some point, police said the suspects stopped the alleged assault and walked away from the student “for some unknown reason.”

According to the report, the victim gathered himself and began walking back to campus. Moments later, a friend of the victim saw him, helped him talk to school staff and call SAPD.

Investigators saw the victim’s nose was swollen “a little,” had a tissue inside a nostril due to “bleeding” and had a swollen lip following the alleged attack.

SAPD, with the assistance of Northside ISD police officers and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), tracked down Notario, Saenz and Zertuche at a nearby apartment complex and took them into custody.

According to Bexar County court records, separate grand juries indicted Notario and Saenz Tuesday on aggravated robbery (first-degree felony) and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (second-degree felony) charges in connection with the May 18 incident.

Suspects’ possible connection to similar crime

A police report and arrest warrant obtained by KSAT show Notario, Saenz and Zertuche may have been involved with a separate aggravated robbery case on May 4 at the same convenience store.

In the initial police report, SAPD said a 17-year-old Stevens High School student went off campus during his lunch break and walked to the Circle K convenience store in the 9800 block of Potranco Road to get snacks.

At approximately 12:45 p.m., the 17-year-old student was approached by the three suspects. The victim told investigators that he used to consider Zertuche a “close friend.”

According to the student, Zertuche “had a firearm in his right hand” and was “pointing it towards the ground.”

“I’ma need your bag,” Zertuche allegedly told the victim. “Give me everything.”

“Just leave me alone,” the victim told Zertuche, the report states.

According to the warrant, Saenz struck the student in the face with a pistol. The victim told police that Zertuche and Saenz began going through his backpack. The student said Zertuche and Saenz “stole his gold chain, ring, sunglasses, phone charger and wallet” while Notario served as the suspects’ eyes and ears.

When people approached the store, Notario notified Saenz and Zertuche. All three then fled the scene on foot, investigators said.

The student went back to school before heading home and reporting the incident to police, the warrant states.

Court records show Notario, Saenz and Zertuche were each charged with aggravated robbery and engaging in organized criminal activity. Both charges are considered first-degree felonies.

One suspect’s alleged connection to multiple mall robberies

Zertuche was also indicted Tuesday on an aggravated robbery charge, Bexar County court records show. However, the indictment came on an unrelated incident — one of two separate aggravated robberies he was connected to one day before his May 18 arrest.

According to an SAPD affidavit that detailed one alleged May 17 robbery, Zertuche approached a 17-year-old boy shopping at North Star Mall and “forcefully removed” a necklace the victim wore. Officers said Zertuche also “assaulted” the 17-year-old, brandished a firearm and later fled the scene.

Records show a Bexar County grand jury indicted Zertuche in connection with the North Star Mall robbery charge.

In the second May 17 incident, San Antonio police said its officers were dispatched just after 4:30 p.m. to Ingram Park Mall on a robbery in progress call. The victim, a 16-year-old boy, told officers that a male — later identified as Zertuche — “snatched chains” from around his neck and “pointed a gun at him,” according to an arrest warrant obtained by KSAT.

The victim called SAPD after Zertuche fled on foot, police said.

After his arrest in connection with the May 18 robbery, documents show Zertuche confessed to committing the North Star Mall robbery to investigators. On May 19, the North Star Mall victim identified Zertuche to police in a photo lineup.

Zertuche was later identified as the suspect connected to the Ingram Park Mall incident by the victim and a witness on May 20, records indicate. To date, Zertuche has not been indicted in connection with the Ingram Park Mall robbery, records show.

Court records and a Bexar County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson confirmed Thursday to KSAT that Zertuche has also not been indicted on the May 18 aggravated robbery charge.

Zertuche’s combined bond for all five felony charges (four counts of aggravated robbery and one count of engaging in organized criminal activity) was set at $625,000.

During a July 1 hearing, Zertuche’s defense team asked a Bexar County judge to reduce his six-figure bond amount. Court documents show the defense’s request was denied.

In the courtroom

All of Notario and Saenz’s cases have been assigned to Judge Kristina Escalona in Bexar County’s 186th Criminal District Court. Zertuche’s five charges will be heard before Judge Frank Castro in Bexar County’s 399th Criminal District Court.

As of Friday, Notario is the lone suspect who is expected to appear in a courtroom later this month. Records show he has a hearing tentatively scheduled for July 20.

More related coverage of this story on KSAT:

• Northside ISD student assaulted off campus; 3 suspects arrested, SAPD says

The Aspen Acres fire is one of about 40 uncontained large blazes burning mostly in the West, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places.

Fire personnel were scooping water from the Pueblo Reservoir to fight the Aspen Acres fire, which had expanded to about 115 square miles (297 square kilometers) by Friday afternoon with zero containment.

All of Colorado City, an unincorporated community of about 2,200, was ordered evacuated as well as the towns of Beulah, Rye and San Isabel, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office.

About 50 National Guard soldiers were being sent in Friday to help with staffing checkpoints on roads in Custer and Pueblo counties.

Guard members would also help State Park Rangers as they bring on additional boats to keep boaters clear of water-scooping operations.

Fire crews on the western side of the Rocky Mountains had contained about 65% of the Snyder Fire on the Colorado/Utah border, where three members of a helitack team were killed and two others injured last weekend when they were overcome by flames.

The Cottonwood fire in southwestern Utah had grown to about 147 square miles (380 square kilometers) by Friday while the Babylon fire in the southeast corner of the state was up to 133 square miles (344 square kilometers).

At the TNT Fireworks stand off Foster Road, owners said more people have been stopping by to buy fireworks this season.

“I think especially here people and their patriotism, they are just so loyal to America,” Anna Currier, who runs the TNT Fireworks stand, said. “They want that celebration and nostalgia feeling.”

Currier said sales have been positive, helped by the fact that the area is not under a burn ban and families are looking for a big way to celebrate the holiday.

For shoppers who are not sure what to buy, 10-year-old Kristiana Currier has some recommendations.

“If you are buying something loud, I would recommend you get American Scream,” Kristiana said. “But if you want a show I would start with the Perfect Show. And if you want something bigger, I would go to Big Deluxe.”

Kristiana said her personal favorites are the colorful fireworks.

“I love lots of color,” Kristiana said. “For the Fourth of July, I would like to see red, white and blue.”

She said that is what fireworks are all about.

“That’s the whole point of the fireworks, to be fun for the kids,” Kristiana said.

Anna Currier said fireworks are a way for families to come together and celebrate.

“You know when you see fireworks you are celebrating something and it’s a joyous experience,” Currier said. “It’s just like the moment stops, the kids are quiet, it’s just happy.”

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Balogun was sent off Wednesday for stepping on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemovic.

Before practice at Husky Soccer Stadium, Balogun said a yellow card for the illegal tackle would have been fairer.

“There’s nowhere else to put your leg. It’s going to be unavoidable,” Balogun said. “So, I’ve seen many different opinions and takes. But, for me personally, I think a yellow card would have been fair. It’s something that’s happened, so we have to move forward and I have to accept it.”

Balogun has to serve an automatic one-game suspension and will miss Monday’s Round of 16 game against Belgium. There is no appeal process for a red-card suspension unless FIFA assesses a penalty of more than one game, which was not the case with Balogun. He will be eligible to return for the quarterfinals should the Americans advance.

Balogun has three goals in the tournament, including one to give the U.S. the lead against Bosnia. He has matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament in 1930.

The 25-year-old striker celebrated his goal against Bosnia with the “Silencer” move used by the NBA’s LeBron James, which the league’s career scoring leader also celebrated on social media. Balogun, who became the first U.S. player to score two goals in a World Cup match since 1930, said he has experienced a “roller coaster” of emotions as of late.

“Been upset, I’ve been happy. It’s been surreal, to be honest,” Balogun said. “But for me, I think it was just important to stay calm. I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion. There’s still lots of people who are inspiring little kids, boys and girls who are watching. We have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust.”

It's not yet clear who U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino will select to replace Balogun in the starting lineup. Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright are the most likely candidates.

When Christian Pulisic sat out the 2-0 win against Australia in group play because of a calf injury, Pepi started in his place.

“When you miss a player like Balo, things change a little bit, but we’ve been flexible,” teammate Tyler Adams said. “Guys have shown that they’re ready to play. If it’s Pepi, if it’s Haji, we go a different direction. It should be an exciting opportunity for whoever has to step up.”

Belgium is aware of the Americans' offensive capabilities outside of Balogun. Pulisic has 33 goals in 89 international appearances, fifth most in U.S. history. Five players other than Balogun have scored for the U.S. in the tournament.

“They have a lot of danger in the team,” Belgium defender Maxim De Cuyper said. “Lot of quality. I don’t want to say too much, which qualities are the best. But, I think they grew a lot in this tournament. You see they are in good flow. They play at home, I think it’s very dangerous for us. So, we will be prepared.”

To be without Balogun for one of the most significant matches in U.S. history is still a significant blow. A victory on home soil would secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the World Cup for only the second time for the Americans. The first was in 2002.

“I love seeing how engaged the country is in our journey and what they’re doing,” Balogun said. “So, my role is just to continue supporting everybody, to keep morale high. And, I’m sure for the game against Belgium we can really create a great atmosphere to win.”

Injury notes

Midfielder Cristian Roldan trained on his own again as he continues to rehab a quad injury. Defender Mark McKenzie trained in full after dealing with a foot injury that sidelined him for the Bosnia match.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.

The couple are "literally the king and queen of America,” said Kristen Donohue, who stopped by the area surrounding Madison Square Garden Thursday with a fellow Swiftie co-worker on their lunch break.

A law enforcement official briefed on the security plans confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday that Swift and Kelce will have their wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday night with a smaller rehearsal dinner planned for Thursday night.

The couple themselves have been mum on the wedding details. Neither has confirmed the festivities will happen on the bustling and hot weekend that coincides with World Cup matches and Fourth of July celebrations. A representative for Swift has not responded to multiple inquiries, including on Thursday.

About 100 guests began arriving at the famed venue at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday — when temperatures were still near the triple digits. The event was for a “pre party celebration,” according to a copy of a city permit obtained by The AP. Heavy security was in place as black sport utility vehicles drove into a large tent to drop off passengers, who then walked through a tented area into the arena.

Several fans stopped by in passing or even made trips to midtown Manhattan expressly to scope out the scene hours before those expected arrivals.

Crews have been seen unloading equipment from trucks this week — much of it covered or obscured — and barricades have been placed near the perimeter of the arena. The aesthetic details of what will happen beyond the loading docks have been shrouded in mystery.

Madison Square Garden sits next to New York Penn Station, one of the nation’s busiest transportation hubs, so it is naturally a lively area on any day. But Thursday afternoon, people lingered longer than usual as they passed through, and there was an increased police presence in the area.

Rachel Latchford and Linda Solano, nurses in a hospital in central Pennsylvania, made the trip to New York to see a Broadway show this weekend, but they said they had to go “see what all the buzz is about," Latchford said. “We’re going to the wedding, baby,” Solano joked on a FaceTime call with a friend.

Latchford acknowledged the heavy police presence, but she said she felt “very protected” and added that “there's been police all over the city this week with Fourth of July.”

A large tent was erected Thursday on 31st Street outside of an entrance to the arena. Tarps were hung to cover the walkway, so the couple and their guests will presumably be blocked from view as they enter and exit. In one spot where glass windows offered a peak inside, pink curtains were hung around 5 p.m., completely obscuring any of the exclusive happenings indoors.

By 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, 31st Street was completely closed off to pedestrians between 7th and 8th avenues. Some disappointed fans lingered near the barricades and boundaries police had set up and were enforcing. They were still hoping to see anything from their limited vantage point.

While many there earlier on Thursday were keeping their eyes peeled for any decor, florals or anything that could give them a sense of what and who might be inside the arena this weekend, much of the motivation to be there for fans was purely out of excitement for Swift herself.

“She's just so important in everyone's life,” said Alyssa Heinen, who was outside the arena Thursday afternoon. “We grew up with Taylor Swift, and just seeing her now find love — I feel like it's inspiring to so many women. It's so nice to see her so happy.”

“When they started dating, it was super exciting and cute and adorable,” said Brittany McCusker, who was with her colleague Donohue on their scouting mission. “It’s really amazing that they don’t have to broadcast anything, they can have it super private. I really respect that, but it’s a bummer that we don’t get to see it too.”

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Associated Press journalist Ted Shaffrey contributed.

State television showed people rallying at night in various Iranian cities, chanting slogans in support of the country's theocracy and against America and Israel.

The government expects to see millions flood the streets of the capital beginning Saturday in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

That could provide a boost for Iran's government, particularly as it tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war, and as concern still lingers that Israel could attack yet again.

Despite that, a powerful general who leads Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard emerged publicly for the first time in months for the funeral. Other top government officials will also likely will be on hand alongside foreign dignitaries in a show of strength by Iran.

“As long as these people, who are chosen (by God), are on the field, we will definitely continue the same ‘no to humiliation’ policy that was founded by the Islamic Republic,” said Mohammad Hossein Rezaei, a volunteer preparing for the funeral Friday.

“We will continue our policy of pursuing independence, and decisions will be made inside the country, and the people will decide their own fate,” he said.

Caskets displayed in Tehran

Khamenei's flag-draped coffin sat at Tehran's Grand Mosalla alongside family members killed in the Israeli airstrike that came in the first moments of the war on Feb. 28.

The dead being honored include a son-in-law, his eldest daughter, a 14-month-old granddaughter and the wife of Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous leader who remains in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the attack.

Religious leaders and foreign dignitaries walked up to Khamenei’s casket as a military band played or a man sang prayers. Iran's Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian, key leaders in the country's civilian government, all paid their respects.

Video published by Iranian state media showed an earlier mourning ceremony Thursday night for Khamenei. The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing.

Later, state media showed images of Khamenei’s casket draped by a red flag with white calligraphy reading “Ya Hussein,” a Shiite expression in remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. It had been flying over the Imam Hussein golden-domed shrine in Karbala, Iraq. The flag also traditionally symbolizes both the spilled blood of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance.

Top general appears for first time in months

Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting Thursday about the funeral of Khamenei, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran's theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday night near the supreme leader's former home in downtown Tehran.

“They must know that the pure blood of our martyred imam will mark another turning point in the victories of beloved Islam across the global arena,” Vahidi told state television in comments aired Friday. “They will take to their graves the wish to see this nation surrender. This nation will rise higher day by day through this pure blood.”

Vahidi has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible permanent end to the war with the United States, experts say. He had not been seen publicly since Feb. 8, weeks before the Iran war began. Israel killed top leaders in Iran’s military and government during the war, and has threatened the life of the new supreme leader as well. Vahidi is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with the younger Khamenei.

It remains unclear whether Khamenei will appear at his father's funeral. His father appeared in 1989 at Khomeini's funeral, weeping visibly, as he began his journey to lead Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.

Israel's repeated threats to kill Khamenei drew a warning from Iran's joint military command Thursday, which told Israel and the U.S. “to avoid any miscalculation" over the coming days.

Funeral to go on for days

Beginning Saturday, Iran will hold the dayslong funeral for Khamenei and his body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei.

In Tehran, images of the late Khamenei's fist could be seen in banners and in a giant statue in Enghelab Square, framed by what appeared to be ballistic missiles flying through the air. In his first message to the nation, read by a state television anchor, Mojtaba Khamenei said he saw his father’s body after his death with raised, clenched fist.

The banners read in Arabic, English and Farsi: “We must rise.”

“This fist is the clenched fist of all us Muslims,” taxi driver Jafar Javadi said. “The leader’s fist is a sign all our fists are clenched and they (the enemies) will be destroyed with these fists, God willing. We will continue chanting death to America and death to Israel with the same clenched fist.”

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

A day after Rodríguez angrily defended the competence of her government's relief effort at her first news conference since the June 24 disaster, her main rival, exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, issued her own appeal.

Machado on Friday argued that the government's quake response exposed its critical weaknesses and that she should return to Venezuela to help "the transition process, especially after the tragedy.”

"My presence stabilizes the situation; it is part of the organizing forces that the country needs at a time when the total absence of the state has become evident," Machado said, referring to widespread criticism of the government’s earthquake response as slow and disorganized. “The country needs figures it can trust.” She spoke to reporters from Panama.

The quakes have killed 2,645 people and injured over 12,500 others, according tallies released Friday by the government. Machado's opposition movement has set up an online database to locate the missing — a list of 36,000 people as of Friday. The party has mobilized volunteers to collect donations in Venezuela and solicited aid from the country's vast diaspora.

Machado was barred from running in a 2024 presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory. Vote tallies that the opposition collected from voting machines used in the election showed that the candidate Machado endorsed, Edmundo González, beat Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The US praises Rodríguez, blocks Machado

When the earthquakes hit, Machado saw an opening to return home for the first time after fleeing in December to accept a Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Ever since the United States captured Maduro in a brazen military operation in January, Machado has been seeking a comeback and calling for a democratic transition.

But the Trump administration has thrown its support behind Rodríguez since Maduro's ouster, praising her business-friendly reforms of the country’s lucrative oil sector.

Two senior U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose private diplomatic discussions, told The Associated Press that the Trump administration has grown frustrated with Machado and dissuaded her from returning to Venezuela in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

One official said that Machado had sought assistance from Washington for ferrying her to Venezuela from the Caribbean island of Curaçao and also from Panama.

The second official said the U.S. suspected she wanted to return to lead protests against Rodríguez and push for political change at a time when the focus should be on quake recovery. This official added that the Trump administration could not prevent Machado's return but was not in a position to facilitate it.

Earthquake fallout becomes political

Upon learning of Machado’s plans, Rodríguez shut down commercial air traffic into Caracas, the U.S. official said. Those canceled flights were set to bring hundreds of relief workers to assist with earthquake recovery efforts, the official said.

Seemingly concerned that anger over the earthquake response could jeopardize her leadership, Rodríguez on Thursday blamed any criticism of the government on what she called “narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories."

She claimed that rescue crews deployed immediately with adequate equipment to disaster zones — contrary to complaints by residents that they were left alone to search for their loved ones without official teams or heavy machinery for the first 48 hours.

“Those propaganda operations, driven by partisan political interests, are despicable,” she said. “We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately.”

Rodríguez went on to say that thousands of civil and military rescue workers as well as 11 international field hospitals had been deployed to quake-affected areas, adding that the government had approved the creation of a fund to receive donations for reconstruction.

On Friday, state-run media broadcast her visiting Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard pried from a collapsed basement after surviving nearly eight days under the rubble, in his hospital bed. His dramatic rescue Thursday served as a rare bright spot in the days since the earthquakes.

Unclear what happens when mandate expires

Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president — which was Rodríguez’s former role under Maduro — for up to 90 days, after which they can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.

On Friday, that 180-day interim period expired. There was no immediate comment from authorities on what, if anything, they would do in response to the expiration of Rodríguez’s mandate.

The National Assembly, controlled by Rodríguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.

A humanitarian crisis brews

International organizations and governments, including the U.S., have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency relief aid to stave off a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe in Venezuela. With infrastructure and sewer systems damaged, aid workers are scrambling to prevent the spread of disease through contaminated water.

But nine days after the quakes, the scale of human suffering is still coming into focus.

“We know that there are still dead bodies under the collapsed buildings, and it's difficult to give a number on this, but several thousands for sure,” said Andreas Spaett, the Venezuela country coordinator for international aid group Doctors Without Borders. “I do believe this is one of the major natural catastrophes in the history of humanity.”

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

“We saw a lot of bodies that had not yet been identified,” López said.

The rush is on across La Guaira, the state on Venezuela’s northern coast hardest hit by the powerful back-to-back June 24 earthquakes, to identify loved ones before it’s too late. With at least 2,295 people killed, Venezuela is overwhelmed with bodies that officials are struggling to collect, identify and preserve for loved ones to claim. Thousands are still missing.

José Antonio Toledo, López's 25-year-old son-in-law, was found under the building where he was working as a security guard when the quakes struck. Crews took his body to a local hospital, where staff turned them away because there was no space. The body was sent to another facility and eventually transferred to an open parking lot.

A forensic doctor helped the family find him days later, on Saturday. But once they identified his body, they didn’t know what to do with it because they couldn’t afford the $450 that a funeral home was charging.

At almost midnight on Saturday, López got word that the mayor’s office was offering them a free space at a local cemetery, but they had to move quickly to not lose the spot. An hour later, López and her daughter trudged up a hill leading to the cemetery and buried Toledo.

“He was an exemplary person, a boy who liked helping people,” López said.

They saved him from a mass grave that many fear is coming as they search for the bodies of their loved ones.

The number of bodies found is expected to soar

Forensic technician Joel Mirabal has worked for seven days straight since the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck.

The 45-year-old estimates that in 60% to 70% of cases, there’s a relative or neighbor available to identify a body when he comes to pick it up. Even so, it’s a struggle, he said, with many relying on tattoos, scars or familiar clothing.

“They don’t look even 10% like what they were in real life,” he said of the victims.

If a body cannot be identified, it goes to forensic specialists working at La Guaira seaport. Private companies have donated large cooling containers to help preserve the bodies, but the number of dead keeps growing.

“Obviously, mass graves will have to be created,” Mirabal said. “The collapse is massive, and the bodies are buried under many layers of debris.”

Mirabal said he and other forensic technicians anticipate spending up to three months collecting bodies.

They drive around the affected areas every day, led by rescue crews and civilians who have recovered or spotted bodies.

“Many of the rescues are carried out by the people,” he said of the thousands of ordinary Venezuelans who have pitched in for the recovery effort.

A dog trainer by profession who once helped the government locate drugs and missing people, Mirabal finds solace in the 12 dogs waiting for him at home, not counting the puppies. One of his favorites is Mila, a young black Dutch Shepherd who lay by his side on Thursday as he rested.

“It’s not easy at all to witness the suffering and tragedy of your fellow human beings,” he said.

Venezuelans wait in line to try to identify loved ones

Over the weekend, crews took dozens of bodies recovered from flattened buildings to a government-run health care facility in the city of La Guaira. They were left on a sweltering parking lot until families identified them, with funeral home workers estimating that more than 200 bodies were kept there at one point.

On Thursday, those who lost loved ones waited outside La Guaira seaport to identify bodies that authorities continue to pick up across the coastal state. Cars, including trucks and vans from funeral homes, formed a line outside a makeshift morgue.

Among those waiting was Robert Rodríguez. He sat on a concrete block, crestfallen, his legs dangling, waiting for his daughter to identify the body of his son-in-law. Rafael Alvarado died trapped inside a grocery store where he worked at the deli counter.

“He was her best friend,” Rodríguez said, referring to the couple as tears soaked his blue face mask.

Rodríguez said the family found Alvarado in the rubble on Wednesday, his body freed and transported to the port on Thursday.

“I saw his shoes and knew it was him,” Rodríguez said, adding that he warned his daughter. “I told her, ‘Prepare yourself.’”

He said the family plans to cremate Alvarado and scatter his ashes on Isla de Margarita, the Venezuelan island that was his home.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.