A bag-snatcher who stole a designer handbag without knowing it contained a Faberg egg and watch worth up to $3 million was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in prison.

Enzo Conticello lifted the Givenchy bag from its owner outside a pub in Londons Soho nightlife district in November 2024.

The pricey bag cost about 1,600 pounds, but its contents were worth considerably more: Alongside a laptop, keys, bank card and makeup were a Faberg egg and watch. They belonged to the victims employer, the Craft Irish Whiskey Company, and had been used for a work event earlier that day.

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Prosecutor Julian Winship said Conticello, 29, was looking for easy cash and handed over the bag, with the egg inside, to buy drugs. He was linked to the theft after trying to use the victim's stolen bank card in a shop.

Conticello, also known as Hakin Boudjenoune, pleaded guilty in February to theft and fraud. His lawyer, Katie Porter-Windley, said it was a moment of opportunity which he took, and he is genuinely remorseful for his behavior.

At Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Kate Livesay sentenced Conticello to 27 months in prison.

The Metropolitan Police force said it is still hunting the egg, described as green and gold and about 4 inches high, and the accompanying watch, rose gold with a brown leather strap.

They are part of a Faberg set, also containing whiskey, cigars and a humidor, other examples of which have been sold for between $2 and $3 million.

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Winship said prosecutors accepted that it would be fruitless to try to recover the value of the stolen items from Conticello, who is not a person of means.

Founded in Russia in the 19th century, luxury brand Faberg is famed for its ornate bejeweled eggs, which have sold at auction for as much as $30 million.

In a potential boost to Middle East ceasefire efforts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he authorized direct negotiations as soon as possible with Lebanon aimed at disarming Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors.

There was no immediate response from Lebanese authorities, but the announcement appeared to bolster the tentative ceasefire in the Iran war that had staggered under the weight of Israels bombardment of Beirut, Tehrans continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over whether planned peace talks can find common ground.

Netanyahu's announcement came amid disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and a day after Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes that resulted in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began on Feb. 28.

Iran and the U.S. which both declared victory after the ceasefire announcement appeared to apply pressure. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran suggested forces have mined the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil that Tehran has closed. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, warned that U.S. forces would hit Iran harder than before if it did not fulfill the agreement.

Questions also remained over what will happen to Irans stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the strait, and what happens to Irans ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Despite the fragile and disputed nature of the ceasefire, it appeared to have halted weeks of missile and drone attacks by Iran on its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel, with no new launches reported Thursday. There were no reports of strikes by the U.S. or Israel targeting Iran.

Israeli had vowed to continue striking Hezbollah in Lebanon

Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned Thursday that continued Israeli attacks on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon would bring explicit costs and STRONG responses in a social media post.

Qalibaf has been discussed as a possible negotiator who could meet U.S. Vice President JD Vance this weekend in Islamabad. The White House has said Vance would lead the delegation for talks starting Saturday.

Iran had said Israel's ongoing attacks on Hezbollah were violating the ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu and Trump have said it was not.

Hours before opening the way for talks with Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Hezbollah with force, precision and determination.

Lebanons health ministry said at least 203 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded Wednesday in Israeli strikes in central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon that Israel said targeted Hezbollah, which joined the war in support of Tehran.

Israel said Thursday it killed an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, Ali Yusuf Harshi. Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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A New York-based think tank warned that the ceasefire hovers on the verge of collapse following Israel's strikes Wednesday.

Lebanons state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike overnight killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Oil prices remain high amid uncertainty over the strait

Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the countrys paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war a message that may be intended to pressure the United States.

The chart, released by the ISNA news agency and Tasnim, showed a large circle marked danger zone in Farsi over the route ships take through the strait, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas once passed.

Only a trickle of ships have transited since the war began after several were attacked, and Iran threatened to hit any that it deemed connected to the U.S. or Israel. Ships appeared to continue to avoid the strait even after the ceasefire.

The chart suggested that ships travel through waters closer to Irans mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war. It was dated from Feb. 28 until April 9, and it was unclear if the Guard had cleared any mines since then.

Irans deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told the BBC that his country will allow ships to pass through the strait in accordance with international norms and international law once the United States ends its aggression in the Middle East and Israel stops attacking Lebanon.

The head of the United Arab Emirates major oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, said some 230 ships loaded with oil were waiting to get through the strait and must be allowed "to navigate this corridor without condition.

The straits de facto closure has caused oil prices to skyrocket affecting the cost of gasoline, food and other basics far beyond the Middle East. Oil prices fell Wednesday on news of the ceasefire but climbed again as uncertainty over the deal grew.

The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $98 Thursday, up about 35% since the war began.

Points to address in talks include whether Iran will be allowed to formalize a system of charging ships to use the strait. That would upend decades of free transit through what has been treated as an international waterway.

The fate of Irans enriched uranium remains a question

The fate of Irans missile and nuclear programs which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war also remained unclear. The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehrans stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, buried in last year's U.S. and Israeli strikes, though Iran did not confirm that. In one version of the ceasefire deal that Iran published, it said it would be allowed to continue enrichment.

The chief of Irans nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, said Thursday that protecting Tehrans right to enrich uranium is necessary for any ceasefire talks.

Trump warned that U.S. warships and troops will remain around Iran until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.

The Masters got started beneath whispy white clouds and a bright blue spring sky Thursday when Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson once again struck the ceremonial tee shots down the first fairway at Augusta National.

Well, mostly down the first fairway.

After the 90-year-old Player hit his shot down the middle, and celebrated with a big leg kick, the 86-year-old Nicklaus stepped up. His son, Jackie, placed his ball on the tee, and the Golden Bear offered a tongue-in-cheek warning to the patrons lining the tee box Oh, boy, watch out, Nicklaus said, and I don't mean that facetiously and proceeded to hit a low hook right at them.

I said, Spread out on both sides because I dont want to kill anybody,' he relayed afterward. If it'd been a little closer I might have.

The ball cleared the heads of the patrons down the left side by a couple of feet.

Last up was the 76-year-old Watson, who used the tee Nicklaus had left stuck in the ground. May I use your tee, Watson asked? It's why I left it, the six-time Masters champion replied, and Watson proceeded to strike his drive right down the middle.

With that, the 90th edition of the Masters was underway.

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The honorary starter has been a tradition at Augusta National since 1963, when Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod hit their opening shots of the tournament. The idea had come to club founder Bobby Jones years earlier, and over time, it has become a treasured part of the Masters mystique, with 11 dignitaries and past champions having served in the role.

Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead were the longest-serving, performing the duty throughout most of the 1980s and '90s, while Arnold Palmer was joined by Nicklaus and Player for many years. When the King died in 2016, it left just Nicklaus and Player in a twosome, so Watson was asked to join them, and the trio continues to this day.

When I first played the Masters as an amateur in 1970, I teed off early in the morning, playing with Doug Ford. I went to the honorary starters, and it was very special, Watson said. I remember seeing Gene Sarazen tee off. Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack and Gary. It's something very special. I thought it was just part of the aura of the tournament, and I wanted to witness it.

How much longer Player, Nicklaus and Watson take part is a big question surrounding the Masters these days.

So is who might take on the role next.

I was a little worried. I had carpal tunnel surgery about five, six weeks ago, and I was worried about being able to hold onto the golf club and hurt somebody," Nicklaus said. Im fortunate that I got it over somebodys head. I didnt hit it very well, but I got it over their heads and didnt hurt anybody. As long as I can still hit the golf ball.

Nicklaus said he doesn't really play anymore. He did once all of last year, and once more this past February.

But its such a nice ceremony, and its a real honor to be invited, he said. I hope to be able to do it as long as I can not kill anybody.

A key measure of inflation stayed high in February, before the war in Iran spiked gas prices, a sign that everyday costs were elevated even before the conflict began.

An inflation gauge monitored by the Federal Reserve rose 0.4% in February from January, up slightly from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 2.8%, the same as January. Thursday's data was delayed by a backlog of economic reports created by the six-week government shutdown last fall.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation also rose 0.4% in February from January, and it was 3% higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is slightly below January's reading of 3.1%.

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Still, the monthly increases are at a pace that if continued for a whole year, would easily top the Fed's 2% inflation target.

Consumer inflation was firming even prior to the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and it is primed to jump sharply higher in March, Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, wrote in a client note. Even if a long-lasting deal to end the war is reached and the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, it would take months for oil, gasoline, diesel and other commodity supplies to snap back to prewar levels and thus for prices to settle back to preconflict levels.

Thursday's report is largely a warm-up for the more important inflation data to be released Friday, when the government will publish the higher-profile consumer price index for March. The Friday report will be the first to reflect the impact of the gas price spike from the Iran war. Economists forecast it will show a big increase of 0.9% just in March from February, and a 3.4% gain from a year earlier. The annual figure would be a big increase from 2.4% in February.

The large jump in inflation in March will heighten concerns at the Fed that prices are moving further away from their inflation target and make it much less likely the central bank will cut rates anytime soon. At their most recent meeting last month, some Fed officials supported opening the door to the potential for rate hikes if inflation didn't show signs of improving.

RELATED STORY | Beyond gas: Price hikes American consumers are experiencing from the Iran war

Thursday's report from the Commerce Department also showed that Americans' incomes slipped 0.1% in February, the first decline since October, while spending after adjusting for inflation barely increased.

Higher inflation is sapping Americans' purchasing power. Spending rose a solid 0.5% in February from the previous month before adjusting for higher prices. Bostjancic expects consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, will rise a modest 1.2% at an annual rate in the first three months of this year, below the 1.9% reached in last year's fourth quarter.

The economy may still grow a decent 2% in the first quarter, Bostjancic said, driven by investments in artificial intelligence and a bounceback in government spending after last year's shutdown. The government said Thursday growth was just 0.5% at the end of last year.

An American who was arrested in the Bahamas after his wife vanished while the couple was traveling in a motorboat near the archipelago denies any wrongdoing, his attorney said Thursday.

Brian Hooker "categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing" and has been cooperating with authorities, lawyer Terrel Butler said in the statement. Butler said Hooker could not provide further comments while investigations are continuing.

Authorities said the husband, a 59-year-old man whom they did not identify, was arrested in Abaco on Wednesday and is being questioned. Police and Butler did not provide further details, including whether or not he was charged.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told The Associated Press that they have opened a criminal investigation into the case.

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Officials have said Lynette Hooker, 55, was traveling in an 8-foot motorboat from Hope Town to Elbow Cay on Saturday night, and that her husband, Brian Hooker, told authorities she fell overboard with the boat keys, causing the engine to turn off.

Authorities said Brian Hooker then paddled to shore and alerted someone about her disappearance early Sunday.

"Strong currents subsequently carried her away, and he lost sight of her," police said in a statement issued Saturday.

Lynette Hooker's mother, Darlene Hamlett, told The Associated Press late Wednesday that she was "glad to hear" about the arrest, but declined further comment, saying she was seeking more information.

Earlier on Wednesday, she said she wanted to hear more from her son-in-law about how her daughter disappeared. The couple had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan. Online records gave Brian Hooker's age as 58, and the reason for the discrepancy wasn't immediately clear.

"I'm going to be interested in what he says, because I haven't heard from him in almost two days," Hamlett said while on a six-hour drive back home from the Bahamian Consulate in Miami, where she secured a passport so she can fly to the Caribbean nation soon.

"Our family grew up on water and so Lynette her whole life has been near lakes, on boats, sailing and swimming," Hamlett said. "It would be a miracle if (she's rescued), but I'm still counting on one."

Lynette Hooker's daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that it is unlikely her mother would "just fall" off the boat, saying she was an experienced sailor. The couple had been sailing for years and documented their voyages on social media under the moniker, "The Sailing Hookers."

Aylesworth also told NBC that the couple's relationship was volatile, and that they have a "history of not getting along, especially when they drink."

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She told WXYZ-TV she doubted her mother survived and was able to tread water that long, but hoped to find her to get closure.

Butler's statement said that Brian Hooker's denial of wrongdoing includes in particular "the allegations recently made by Karli Aylesworth."

On Wednesday morning, Brian Hooker wrote on Facebook that he is "heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas."

"Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart," he wrote. "We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus."

The U.S. Coast Guard has also joined the investigation and interviewed Aylesworth on Wednesday, according to her attorney, Ron Marienfeld.

"We are pleased to see it is being investigated, and hopefully more answers will come to give the family some closure," Marienfeld said via email.

Bahamian police said search operations and investigative efforts remain active.

President Donald Trump repeated his complaint about NATO after a closed-door meeting with the alliance's Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday for discussions that had been expected to be aimed at soothing Trumps anger with the military alliance over the Iran war.

Ahead of the private meeting, Trump had suggested the U.S. may consider leaving the trans-Atlantic alliance after NATO member countries ignored his call to help as Iran effectively shut the the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping waterway, and sent gas prices soaring.

Afterward, he issued an all-caps comment on social media suggesting he remained aggrieved. NATO WASNT THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WONT BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN, Trump said in his post. The White House did not immediately offer any further updates.

The Republican president has had a warm relationship with Rutte in the past, and the meeting came after the U.S. and Iran late Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the strait. The nascent ceasefire was struck after Trump said he would strike Iran's power plants and bridges, threatening that a whole civilization will die tonight."

Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump had discussed leaving NATO. I think its something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary-General Rutte, Leavitt said.

Congress in 2023 passed a law that prevents any U.S. president from pulling out of NATO without its approval. Trump has been a longtime critic of NATO and in his first term had suggested he had the authority on his own to leave the alliance, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet Union.

RELATED STORY | NATOs future at stake in TrumpRutte meeting amid oil shortage

The crux of the commitment its 32 member countries make is a mutual defense agreement in which an attack on one is considered an attack on them all. The only time it has been activated was in 2001, to support the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Despite that, Trump has complained during his war of choice with Iran that NATO has shown it will not be there for the U.S. On Wednesday, he also seemed to be angry about NATO's stance on Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark. Trump had pressed for U.S. control over Greenland earlier this year before backing off after talks with Rutte.

REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!! Trump posted Wednesday.

There is a law barring a president from pulling out of NATO

It's unclear if the Trump administration would challenge the law barring a president from pulling out of NATO. When the law passed, it was championed by Trump's current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who at the time was a senator from Florida.

Rubio met separately with Rutte on Wednesday morning at the State Department ahead of the White House talks. In a statement, the State Department said Rubio and Rutte had discussed the war with Iran, along with U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and increasing coordination and burden shifting with NATO allies.

Ahead of Trump's meeting, Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, issued a statement Tuesday night in support of the alliance, noting, Following the September 11th attacks, NATO allies sent their young servicemembers to fight and die alongside Americas own in Afghanistan and Iraq. McConnell, who sits on a committee overseeing defense spending, urged Trump to be clear and consistent and said its not in Americas interest to spend more time nursing grudges with allies who share our interests than deterring adversaries who threaten us.

The alliance was already rattled over the past year as Trump returned to power and reduced U.S. military support for Ukraine in the war against Russia and threatened to seize Greenland from ally Denmark.

But Trump's badgering of NATO intensified after the Iran war began at the end of February, with the president insisting that securing the Strait of Hormuz was not America's job but the responsibility of countries that depend on the flow of oil through it.

Go to the strait and just take it, Trump said last week.

Trump was also angered as NATO allies Spain and France forbade or restricted use of their airspace or joint military facilities for the U.S. in the Iran war. They and other nations, however, agreed to help with an international coalition to open the Strait of Hormuz when the conflict ends.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been a particular source of Trump's frustration, was set to travel Wednesday to the Gulf to support the ceasefire. The U.K. has been working on developing a post-conflict security plan for the strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the worlds oil passes.

Trump has previously threatened to leave NATO and often said that he would abandon allies who dont spend enough on their military budgets. Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in his recent memoir, said he feared that Trump might walk away from the alliance in 2018, during his first term as president.

Oil prices plunged below $95 per barrel, and stock markets surged worldwide Wednesday after President Donald Trump pulled back from his threat to destroy Iran.

The S&P 500 leaped 2.5% after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than 90 minutes before a deadline Trump had set for it to open the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1,325 points, or 2.8%, and the Nasdaq composite soared 2.8% following even bigger gains in European and Asian stock markets.

To be sure, stock prices are still below where they were before the war. And oil prices are still higher because of the threat of a resumption to the war. The ceasefire already looks precarious, and dueling reports from Iran state media and the White House disagreed Wednesday on whether Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz again.

RELATED STORY | Iran reportedly closes Strait of Hormuz as ceasefire agreement remains in peril

Such uncertainty caused some of the euphoria that fueled financial markets in the morning to fade as Wednesdays trading progressed, and financial markets have been prone to sharp and sudden reversals since the war began.

There is a reason to be optimistic, but it is still too early to tell, because, as you know, after all, it is Trump, said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at MONEX.

So far in the war, Trump has set several deadlines for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, a main thoroughfare for oil to reach customers worldwide from the Persian Gulf, and has threatened big repercussions if Iran doesnt, only to delay them.

Its similar to a year ago, when Trump threatened stiff tariffs on imports from other countries on Liberation Day. After a couple delays, his administration eventually negotiated lower tariffs with many countries, though still higher than from before his second term. That led some investors to allege Trump always chickens out, or TACO, if financial markets show enough pain.

Is it just kicking of the can down the road, moving the goalposts, TACO Tuesday, or whatever metaphor wed like, to only to have tempers flare and bombs drop again? Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management, asked about the two-week ceasefire with Iran. Who knows? But its good enough for now to elicit a positive response from the markets.

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil plunged 16.4% to settle at $94.41 after almost dropping to $91 earlier in the morning.

Brent crude, the international standard, tumbled 13.3% to $94.75 per barrel. It had briefly topped $119 when worries about the war with Iran were at their highest, but its still above its roughly $70 price from before the war.

RELATED STORY | Beyond gas: Price hikes American consumers are experiencing from the Iran war

The next moves for oil prices will depend on how many oil tankers can start exiting the Strait of Hormuz and how easy their passage is. Despite claims from the White House on Wednesday about an uptick in ships transiting the strait, independent analysts say they have seen no change in traffic through it.

Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks international shipping, said all ships transiting the strait must still coordinate safe passage with Iranian authorities, who are requiring hefty tolls of up to $1 a barrel for outbound oil, paid in cryptocurrency. The largest supertankers carry up to 3 million barrels of crude.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed reports from Iranian state media that the strait remained closed in response to continued bombing in Lebanon by the Israeli military. She said those reports are contrary to information being provided to Trump.

In Asia, where countries are more reliant on oil from the Middle East, South Koreas Kospi stock index surged 6.9%. Japans Nikkei 225 leaped 5.4%, and Hong Kongs Hang Seng jumped 3.1%.

European stock indexes rose nearly as much. Germanys DAX returned 5.1%, and Frances CAC 40 rallied 4.5%.

On Wall Street, companies with big fuel bills rallied to trim some of the sharp losses taken on worries about oil prices staying high.

United Airlines soared 7.9% and cut into its loss for the year, which came into the day at 20.1%. Cruise ship operator Carnival climbed 11.2%.

Delta Air Lines rose 3.7% after it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Ed Bastian said demand for flights remains strong, and its making moves to make up for higher fuel bills. Delta on Tuesday became the latest airline to raise its fees for checking bags.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 165.96 points to 6,782.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,325.46 to 47,909.92, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 617.15 to 22,635.00.

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In the bond market, Treasury yields dropped as hopes built that easing oil prices could let the Federal Reserve resume its cuts to interest rates later this year.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.29% from 4.33% late Tuesday. Lower Treasury yields give a boost to prices for stocks, bonds and all kinds of other investments. They should also ease some of the recent rise in rates for mortgages and other loans taken out by U.S. households and businesses.

When oil prices were screaming higher because of the war, some traders were betting on the possibility that the Fed would have to raise interest rates to keep a lid on inflation. Now, theyre seeing a nearly 25% chance that the Fed could resume its cuts to rates in 2026, according to data from CME Group.

Republican Clay Fuller will try to close the deal with Georgia voters on Tuesday to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, while Democrat Shawn Harris seeks an upset.

Harris led a first round of voting on March 10 with 37% in the district that stretches across 10 counties from suburban Atlanta to Tennessee. While Fuller came in second in the 17-candidate all-party special election with 35%, the Republican candidates combined won nearly 60% of the vote. The 14th District is rated as the most Republican-leaning district in Georgia by the Cook Political Report.

President Donald Trump in February endorsed Fuller, a district attorney who prosecuted crimes in four counties, to succeed Greene in Georgias 14th Congressional District. Greene, once among Trumps most ardent supporters, resigned in January after falling out with the president.

Fuller has backed Trump to the hilt, finding no issue on which he disagreed with the president when asked in a March 23 debate.

We need an America First fighter to stand strong for northwest Georgia," Fuller said March 23. He was a White House fellow in the first Trump administration and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard.

Trump reiterated his support for Fuller on Monday night.

"I am asking all Republicans, America First Patriots, and MAGA Warriors, to please GET OUT AND VOTE for a fantastic Candidate, Clay Fuller, who has my Complete and Total Endorsement!" the president wrote on social media.

RELATED STORY | Trump-backed Fuller and Democrat Harris move to Georgia runoff to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene

Harris, a cattle farmer and retired general who lost to Greene in 2024, has contrasted himself with Greenes bomb-throwing style. He said he's a dirt-road Democrat" with common sense, and practical-minded Republicans should vote for him because he will focus on the district's interest.

He has sold his soul to Donald Trump," Harris said of Fuller on March 23. "The reality of it is he cannot fight for you because he cannot go against the president.

The winner will serve out the remaining months of Greenes term. A Republican win would bolster the partys slim majority in the House, where Republicans control 217 seats to Democrats 214, with one independent.

But if the winner wants to remain in Congress beyond January, he will have to run again. Republicans seeking a full two-year term are set for a May 19 party primary, and possibly a June 16 party runoff, before advancing to the general election in November. Harris is the only Democrat running, meaning he faces no primary election.

Greene was one of the most well-known members of Congress until she left in January. She remained loyal to Trump after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, promoting Trumps falsehoods about a stolen election. When Trump ran again in 2024, she toured the country with him and spoke at his rallies while wearing a red Make America Great Again hat.

But Greene began clashing with Trump last year after he and other Republicans pushed back against her running for U.S. Senate or governor. Greene criticized Trumps foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. The president eventually had enough, saying he would support a primary challenge against her. Greene announced a week later that she would resign.

A decade after he first took a knee during the national anthem, Colin Kaepernick will be publishing his life story.

The activist and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has completed The Perilous Fight, to come out Sept. 15 through the Hachette Book Group imprint Legacy Lit. His memoir will come out almost exactly 10 years after he knelt before a preseason game, a protest against police violence and racial inequality that was emulated by some players and criticized by politicians, team owners and fans, some of whom booed him and burned his jersey.

Kaepernick, who has not played in the NFL since 2016, said in a statement that he wanted to offer context for what led to his taking a knee. Before that, he had remained seated during the anthem.

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People saw the moment. But they didnt see the years that made it possible: the questions about who I was; the injustices I could no longer ignore; the voices of those who came before me that I carried into that stadium, Kaepernick said in a statement released Tuesday. That journey, from a Black kid navigating an identity the world didnt always make space for, to an athlete who realized the game was bigger than football, shaped everything. When I took a knee, it wasnt a sudden act.

Legacy Lit is calling the book equal parts memoir and manifesto, tracing the off-the-field battles that turned a single act of protest into a movement that changed American sports and culture forever. Kaepernick is narrating the audio edition, produced and to be sold exclusively by Audible.

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Kaepernick, 38, played six years for the 49ers and helped lead them to an appearance in the Super Bowl in 2013. Baltimore won the game 34-31.

Kaepernick has spoken out often on social issues, launched his own publishing imprint and co-written the picture story We Are Free, You & Me and the graphic novel Change the Game.

The explosion of a fuel truck at the base of a bridge over the Panama Canal has left one person dead and prompted Panamanian authorities to close the span while firefighters investigate the accident and engineers assess the damage.

The blast on Panamas Bridge of the Americas took place about 4 p.m. on Monday, and security camera footage captured a massive fireball rising toward the top of the bridge that connects Panamas capital with an airport and numerous suburbs to the west. Several cars were on the bridge during the explosion but their drivers were not hurt by the flames.

Authorities said that one fuel truck worker died in the explosion. Two firefighters were injured as they extinguished the flames.

We have no confirmation of any other people injured, said Vctor Ral lvarez, director of Panamas Fire Department. He added that the investigation is in its early stages and that the cause of the explosion has not yet been determined.

Engineers warned the fire may have affected the integrity of the decades-old bridge, a key link between Panama City and the west of the country.

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Panamas Public Works Ministry posted a video on social media Tuesday showing engineers surveying the site for structural damage. Meanwhile, Panamas President Jos Ral Mulino took to X to warn that the closing of the bridge would cause disruption and said We hope to return to normal as soon as possible.

The Bridge of the Americas is a structure that is over 60 years old. Due to the effects of the fire, if the metal structure was subjected to excessively high temperatures, it may have sustained damage, said Edwin Lewis, an engineer at the ministry.

Specialized teams were conducting evaluations of concrete and metal components. Officials said the bridge would remain closed until its safety can be confirmed.

American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad streetcorner last week, has been released, an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday.

Kittleson was freed in the afternoon, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He did not share her current whereabouts but said that prior to her release, she had been held in Baghdad.

The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement earlier in the day it had decided to free Kittleson, who was abducted on March 31.

The group said its decision came in appreciation of the patriotic stances of the outgoing prime minister," Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, without giving more details. It added that this initiative will not be repeated in the future.

The statement added a condition that Kittleson must leave the country immediately upon her release.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kataib Hezbollah had not previously acknowledged that it was the one responsible for Kittlesons abduction, although both U.S. and Iraqi officials had pointed fingers at the group.

Two officials within the militia, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told the AP that in exchange for freeing Kittleson, several members of the group who had previously been detained by Iraqi authorities would be released.

PREVIOUS REPORTING | Journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in Iraq. An Iran-aligned militia is demanding ransom

Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist, had lived abroad for years before the kidnapping, using Rome as her base for a time and building a respected journalism career across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria. Like many freelancers, she often worked on a shoestring budget and without the protections afforded by large news organizations to staff.

She had entered Iraq again shortly before her abduction. U.S. officials have said that they warned her multiple times of threats against her, but that she did not want to leave.

Iraqi officials have said that two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed while being pursued near the town of al-Haswa in Babil province, southwest of Baghdad. The journalist was then transferred to a second car that fled the scene.

Three Iraqi officials said earlier Tuesday that attempts to negotiate her release had run into obstacles.

The two Iraqi security officials and one official from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework political bloc spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the sensitive case publicly.

One of the security officials said that an official with the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-backed militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, had been tasked with communicating with the abductors to secure Kittlesons release but had run into difficulties in communicating with the Kataib Hezbollah leadership.

The primary challenge is that the leaders of the Kataib militia specifically, the commanders of the battalions are nowhere to be found. No one knows their whereabouts, and the process of establishing contact with them is extremely complex, they said. These leaders have gone underground, maintaining no active lines of communication, out of fear of being targeted.

The political official said a message had been sent to the Kataib leadership to determine their demands in exchange for releasing the kidnapped journalist. Iraqi authorities were willing to release six Kataib Hezbollah members who are currently detained, most of them in connection with attacks on a U.S. base in Syria, they said.

Kataib Hezbollah has previously been accused of kidnapping foreigners.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton graduate student with Israeli and Russian citizenship, disappeared in Baghdad in 2023. After she was freed and handed over to U.S. authorities in September 2025, she said that she had been held by Kataib Hezbollah.

The group never officially claimed responsibility for kidnapping her.

Iran-backed militias in Iraq have also launched regular attacks on U.S. facilities in the country since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

PREVIOUS REPORTING | Journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in Iraq. An Iran-aligned militia is demanding ransom

Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz that had been repeatedly watered down in hopes those two countries would abstain.

The vote 11 in favor, two against and two abstentions took place just hours before an 8 p.m. Eastern deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran to open the strategic waterway or face attacks on its power plants and bridges. One-fifth of the worlds oil typically passes through the strait, and Irans stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.

Its doubtful the resolution, even if it had been adopted, would have impacted the war, now in its fifth week, because it was been significantly weakened to try to get Russia and China to abstain rather than veto it.

RELATED STORY | Dozens of nations are searching for a diplomatic solution to the Hormuz blockade

The initial Bahrain proposal would have authorized countries to use all necessary means U.N. wording that would include military action to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it.

After Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries on the 15-member Security Council, expressed opposition to approving the use of force, the resolution was revised to eliminate all references to offensive action. It would have authorized only all defensive means necessary. A vote had been expected on Saturday.

But instead the resolution was further weakened to eliminate any reference to Security Council authorization which is an order for action and limit its provisions to the Strait of Hormuz. Previous drafts had included adjacent waters.

The resolution vetoed Tuesday "strongly encourages states interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate with the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz.

This should include escorting merchant and commercial vessels, and deterring attempts to close, obstruct or interfere with international navigation through the strait, it says.

The resolution also demanded that Iran immediately halt attacks on merchant and commercial vessels and stop impeding their freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian infrastructure.

In response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks beginning on Feb. 28, Iran has targeted hotels, airports, residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in more than 10 countries, including the Islamic Republic's Gulf neighbors, some of the worlds major exporters of oil and natural gas.

Iran's blockade in the strait is seen by Gulf nations as an existential threat. Bahrain, a Gulf nation that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet and is the Security Councils Arab representative and its president this month, has been pressing for U.N. action.

At the same time, Trump on Monday demanded again that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz after heaping praise on the U.S. military for the daring rescue of two crewmen of a fighter jet shot down in Iran. The Republican president warned Iran that the "entire country can be taken out in one night, and that might be tomorrow night.

RELATED STORY | Trump warns a whole civilization will die tonight as Iran deadline looms

He repeated the warning on Tuesday, saying a whole civilization will die tonight if Tehran does not meet his deadline to agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and Chinas U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong have blamed the U.S. and Israel for starting the war and sparking an expanding global crisis. They told the Security Council last week that the most urgent priority now is to end military operations immediately.

In response to Irans strikes against its Gulf neighbors, the Security Council adopted a Bahrain-sponsored resolution on March 11 condemning the egregious attacks and calling for Tehran to immediately halt its strikes.

That resolution, adopted by a vote of 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining, also condemned Irans actions in the Strait of Hormuz as a threat to international peace and security and called for an immediate end to all actions blocking shipping.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant is trying to halt his wife's deportation after she was detained inside a Louisiana military base where the couple was planning to live together just days after their wedding.

The effort to remove the soldier's wife, who was born in Honduras and remained in a federal immigration detention center Monday, has drawn backlash from military family advocates who called the detention demoralizing in a time of war and warned that deporting spouses could undermine recruitment.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank said he brought his wife, Annie Ramos, 22, to his base in Fort Polk, Louisiana, last Thursday so that she could begin the process to receive military benefits and take steps toward a green card. The couple married in March.

Federal immigration agents detained Ramos as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda, which legal experts say has dispensed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's practice of leniency toward families of military members.

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"I never imagined that trying to do the right thing would lead to her being taken away from me," said Blank, 23, in a statement to The Associated Press. "What was supposed to be the happiest week of our lives has turned into one of the hardest."

Ramos' detention was first reported by The New York Times.

Ramos entered the U.S. in 2005, when she was younger than 2 years old. That same year, her family failed to appear for an immigration hearing, leading a judge to issue a final order of removal, according to DHS.

"She has no legal status to be in this country," DHS said in an emailed statement. "This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law."

In 2020, Ramos applied to receive Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, but her husband says her application has remained "in limbo" amid legal fights to end the Obama-era program.

Last April, DHS eliminated a 2022 policy that considered military service of an immediate family member to be a "significant mitigating factor" in deciding whether or not to pursue immigration enforcement. The administration's new policy states that "military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws."

Prior to the Trump administration's mass deportation push, DHS generally allowed the spouses of active-duty military members to gain legal status through policies like parole in place and deferred action that military recruiters promote, according to Margaret Stock, a military immigration law expert.

Ramos' case would have been easy to resolve in the past, Stock said, but instead DHS now appears to be focusing on detaining members of military families whenever the opportunity arises including when, like Ramos, they are attempting to apply for legal status.

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"It doesn't make any sense they're going to get arrested for following the law? That's stupid," Stock said. "It's bad for morale, it disrupts the soldiers' readiness."

In September, more than 60 members of Congress wrote to DHS and the U.S. Department of Defense warning that arrests of military personnel and veteran's family members was "betraying its promises to service members who play a key role in protecting U.S. national security."

The Pentagon declined to comment.

Lydiah Owiti-Otienoh, who runs an advocacy group called the Foreign-Born Military Spouse Network, said she's anecdotally seen an increase in cases where the lives of military families have been upended by tightening immigration restrictions. She believes the federal government is undermining its own interests by attempting to deport military spouses.

"It just sends a really bad message we don't care about you, about your spouses, anything you are doing," Owiti-Otienoh said. "If military families are not stable, national security is not stable."

Blank's mother, Jen Rickling, told the AP in a statement that her daughter-in-law, a Sunday school teacher and biochemistry major, had been everything she hoped for someone who "loves my son with her whole heart."

"We absolutely adore her," Rickling said. "I believe in this country. And I believe we can do better than this for Annie, for other military families, and for the values we hold dear."

Blank says he had been eager to start building a life and with Ramos on the base while he served his country.

"I want my wife home," Blank said. "And I will not stop fighting until she is back where she belongs, by my side."

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been barred from entering the U.K., where he was scheduled to perform at the Wireless Festival in July.

It came after government officials condemned Ye's history of antisemitic remarks.

The festival's organizers confirmed the ban and said the entire three-day festival was being canceled as a result.

Ye's travel authorization had been blocked on the grounds that the performer's presence in the U.K. would not be "conducive to the public good," the BBC said, citing the Home Office.

RELATED STORY | Two detained following shooting of Migos rapper Offset

Ye had been expected to perform in front of around 150,000 revelers July 10-12 at the open-air festival in London's Finsbury Park.

Earlier, a senior member of the British government said Ye should "absolutely not" play at the festival. Ye had responded to the controversy by offering to meet members of the U.K.'s Jewish community and show he has changed since provoking outrage with antisemitic statements.

Festival organizers had been under mounting pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel the gigs by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Last year, Ye released a song called "Heil Hitler" and advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. The 48-year-old apologized in January with a letter, published as a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into "a four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life."

Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo pulled out of the festival since Ye was announced as the headliner, and Starmer called the booking "deeply concerning."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Kanye West was booked as a festival headliner. Brands are now pulling their sponsorship

In a statement Tuesday, Ye, who changed his name in 2021, said he "would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the U.K. in person, to listen.

"I know words aren't enough I'll have to show change through my actions," he said. "If you're open, I'm here."

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet with the musician if he pulled out of the festival.

"The Jewish community will want to see a genuine remorse and change before believing that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is on the main stage at the Wireless Festival," Rosenberg said.

Organizer Festival Republic had stood by Ye. In a statement issued Monday, managing director Melvin Benn urged people to offer the performer "forgiveness and hope."

"We are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions," the statement said.

U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting dismissed the organizers' statement as "absurd" and said Ye should "absolutely not" perform at Wireless.

A representative for Ye didn't reply to a request for comment.

The rapper Offset was shot Monday and is stable, according to a spokesperson for the Migos rapper, but his exact condition is unknown.

He is being treated at a hospital and being closely monitored, the spokesperson said in a statement.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Kanye West was booked as a festival headliner. Brands are now pulling their sponsorship

Offset was formerly married to Cardi B, with whom he has three children.

The Seminole Police Department said a person sustained injuries that were not life-threatening Monday evening at a valet area outside of the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. The police department did not identify the victim.

Two people were detained by police and officials are investigating the incident, according to a statement from the police department.

The site is secure and there is no threat to the public, according to the police department. Operations continue as normal.

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Offset's cousin Takeoff, another member of Migos, was shot dead in 2022.

The trio, with its rapid-fire triplet flow, became known as one of the most popular hip-hop groups of all time. It broke out with the 2013 hit Versace and later earned Grammy nominations for best rap album with 2018s Culture," while a track off it nabbed a nod for best rap performance.

Offset and Cardi B were secretly wed in September 2017 in Atlanta. In 2024, Cardi B announced that she filed for divorce.

Michigan's Roddy Gayle Jr. snagged a final rebound, then flung the ball to the other end of the court, effectively ending UConn's frantic bid for a miracle.

The horn sounded, and Morez Johnson Jr. came over to share a celebratory scream and hearty hug from one transfer to another as the Wolverines began running toward midcourt to celebrate a national championship.

Maybe a school really can build an ideal college basketball roster amid the topsy-turvy chaos of the transfer portal, paying players and top-to-bottom overhauls.

Michigan proved it Monday night, rolling out an all-transfer starting lineup that was too big, too strong and too capable of countering anything that UConn could muster even on a night when the 3-point shot wasn't falling and All-American Yaxel Lendeborg was hobbled by ankle and knee injuries.

The Wolverines still had enough to hold off the Huskies 69-63 and claim the program's first title in 37 years.

And they showed how second-year Dusty May assembled a resilient roster by diving all the way into the portal.

RELATED STORY | Trump's executive order reshapes college athletics amid the NIL era

Man, this whole year, we were a team that played together, Lendeborg said as he stood amid the confetti on the court at Lucas Oil Stadium. We didn't have a best player, like I said before. We have a guy that steps up big-time in these games.

We have players that make plays when they need to make them. And we just played a full all-around team basketball game today. We did it.

It didn't matter that the Wolverines shot just 38% while making 2 of 15 3-pointers stunning numbers for a team that entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 8 nationally in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency (126.6 points per 100 possessions).

It didn't matter that they were outrebounded and gave up an incredible 22 offensive boards.

Nor that Lendeborg carried an awkward gait as he grinded his way through a 4-for-13 shooting effort in 36 minutes after twisting his left ankle and spraining a knee ligament in Saturday's win over Arizona in the Final Four.

Not the way these guys complemented each other on the sport's biggest stage.

Point guard Elliot Cadeau, in his first season after two up-and-down years at North Carolina, had 19 points and was named the Final Four's most outstanding player. Johnson, in his first year from Illinois, had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The 7-foot-3 Aday Mara, in his first year from UCLA, helped hold UConn big man Tarris Reed Jr. who had been a March Madness force to just 4-of-12 shooting.

Nobody cared about stats the whole season. Nobody cared about nothing but winning, Cadeau said.

Four of Michigan's five starters were in their first year after transferring: Cadeau, Johnson, Mara and Lendeborg (UAB).

The fifth starter, Nimari Burnett, was practically a Michigan lifer by comparison; he was in his third season with the Wolverines, after starting his career at Texas Tech then spending two years at Alabama. A similar story followed Gayle, a reserve who had spent two years at rival Ohio State before these last two years in Ann Arbor.

That left only two players in Michigan's eight-man rotation who would qualify as homegrown talent: freshman Trey McKinney and fifth-year graduate Will Tschetter.

It's an approach that tailored to the current era of the sport, with players transferring freely between campuses and cleared to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), along with schools able to pay athletes directly with the arrival of revenue sharing.

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Purists have complained that the revolving door of players makes it harder for fans to get behind their schools than it was when most players spent multiple seasons in the same uniform. Transfers even featured prominently in an executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump seeking to reform college sports.

May shrugged off the critics on Sunday, noting, I think we are all better in certain situations than others.

Athletic director Warde Manuel offered a similar defense on the court Monday night after the program claimed its first national title since the Glen Rice-led Wolverines cut down the nets in Seattle in 1989.

A lot of teams around the country benefited from transfers, Manuel said. You can't just say, Well, Michigan had the most transfers. Dusty put this team together the way he did.

And it worked to perfection.

By the end, Mara was jumping around with a few teammates after they had watched the One Shining Moment music montage of tournament highlights, with someone picking up a handful of confetti and tossing it into the air to flutter around them.

It's important to get the right people on the bus, assistant coach Justin Joyner said. It's important to get unselfish guys that are about winning, that are about the group. We had that with the best of our players. Yaxel Lendeborg's one of the most unselfish superstars you'll ever be around.

So when you have that from the top, it permeates through your locker room, it permeates through your group. And eventually you can become a unit that's about winning.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency says Tehran has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and wants a permanent end to the war.

The report comes shortly before U.S. President Donald Trumps deadline for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and bridges attacked.

The news agency said Iran had conveyed its response to the U.S. through Pakistan.

RELATED STORY | With hours to go, Trump warns Iran: Open Hormuz or face all hell

We wont merely accept a ceasefire, Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press on Monday. We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we wont be attacked again.

On the Strait of Hormuz, Ferdousi Pour said Iranian and Omani officials were working on a mechanism for administering the shipping chokepoint.

Irans attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime, have sent global energy prices soaring.

RELATED STORY | Here's how the war in Iran is set to make summer travel more expensive

Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to $109 in early Monday spot trading, about 50% higher than when the war started, then wavered. U.S. stocks were mostly holding steady.

Under pressure at home as consumers worry, Trump has warned Iran that if no deal is reached to reopen the strait, the U.S. would hit power plants and other infrastructure and set the country back to the stone ages.

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, he threatened Sunday.

Trump has given multiple deadlines to Iran and they could expire Monday night Washington time though he also posted: Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time! without elaborating.

Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni over the movie "It Ends With Us" were dismissed Thursday by a federal judge who left intact three claims, including retaliation, that will let a jury hear many of the allegations anyway.

The written ruling by Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan came after Lively, who starred in and produced the film, sued her co-star and director in December 2024. A trial is scheduled for May 18.

Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios had countersued Lively and her husband, "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. The judge dismissed Baldoni's claims last June.

In his ruling, Liman determined that Lively was an independent contractor rather than an employee. On that basis, he said she was not entitled to bring sexual harassment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That law prohibits employment discrimination on various grounds, including gender.

RELATED STORY | Blake Lively accuses 'It Ends With Us' director Justin Baldoni of harassment and smear campaign

As to retaliation, the judge said some evidence might enable a jury to conclude that Baldoni's production company planned not only to damage Lively's reputation but to destroy her career amid fear she'd file a discrimination claim. Lively alleges a smear campaign has been "devastating for her reputation and career," the judge noted.

In an analysis of the sexual harassment claims, the judge said Lively's claims had to be viewed in the context of the movie they were working on.

"Lively claims that during filming, Baldoni leaned in and gestured as if he was intending to kiss her, and that he kissed her forehead, rubbed his face and mouth against her neck, put his thumb to her mouth and flicked her lower lip, caressed her, and leaned into her neck, saying 'it smells good,'" the judge wrote.

He said there was no question that the conduct would support a hostile work environment claim if it happened on a factory floor or in an executive suite.

However, the judge noted, Baldoni was "acting in the scene" and his "conduct was not so far beyond what might reasonably be expected to take place between two characters during a slow dancing scene such that an inference of hostile treatment on the basis of sex would arise. At least in isolation, the conduct was directed to Lively's character rather than to Lively herself."

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Liman added: "Creative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment."

Despite those findings, the judge said some sexual harassment claims may be put to a jury to support two retaliation claims that survived the ruling, including one against It Ends With Us Movie LLC and Wayfarer Studios, and a third claim that was left intact alleging breach of a contract rider agreement against It Ends With Us Movie LLC.

The judge noted that Baldoni once said "pretty hot" after asking Lively to remove her jacket, exposing a lace bra underneath, and that when he was warned that it was inappropriate and distracting to make such comment, he allegedly rolled his eyes and responded: "Sorry, I missed the sexual harassment training."

Liman also cited a scene in which Baldoni pushed for Lively to perform a birth scene naked, and then the scene was filmed over several hours without the set being closed to nonessential personnel.

In a statement, Lively attorney Sigrid McCawley wrote that Lively "looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it become easier to detect and fight."

She added: "This case has always been and will remain focused on the devasting retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively's reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial."

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni, said the defendants in the case were "very good people who have not engaged in this sexual harassment as alleged."

"It is gratifying to see that the courts ruling confirms what the legal team believed from day one," Freedman said in an email to The Associated Press.

"It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August 2024, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the TV series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including "The Town" and "The Shallows."

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy "Jane the Virgin," directed the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" and wrote "Man Enough," a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.

President Donald Trump is asking Congress to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion, the largest such request in decades and the latest signal of the president's emphasis on U.S. military investments over domestic programs.

The 2027 plans for the Pentagon were confirmed in a White House outline of Trump's 2027 budget proposal released Friday. The White House summary says Trump's proposal would reduce nondefense spending by 10% by shifting some responsibilities to state and local governments.

Even before the U.S.-led war against Iran, the Republican president had indicated he wanted to bolster defense spending to modernize the military for 21st-century threats. Separately, the Pentagon last month proposed $200 billion for the war effort and to backfill munitions and supplies.

Trump, speaking ahead of an address to the nation this week about the Iran war, signaled the military is his priority, setting up a clash ahead in Congress.

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Were fighting wars. We cant take care of day care, Trump said at a private White House event Wednesday.

Its not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare all these individual things, he said. They can do it on a state basis. You cant do it on a federal.

The president's annual budget, more broadly, is considered a reflection of the administration's values and does not carry the force of law. The massive document typically highlights an administrations priorities, but Congress, which handles federal spending issues, is free to reject it and often does.

With the nation running nearly $2 trillion annual deficits and the debt swelling past $39 trillion, the federal balance sheets have long been operating in the red.

About two-thirds of the nation's estimated $7 trillion in annual spending covers the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs, as well as Social Security income, which are essentially growing along with an aging population on autopilot.

The rest of the annual budget has typically been more evenly split between defense and domestic accounts, nearly $1 trillion each, which is where much of the debate in Congress takes place.

The GOP's big tax breaks bill that Trump signed into law last year boosted his priorities beyond the budget process with at least $150 billion for the Pentagon over the next several years, and $170 billion for Trumps immigration and deportation operations at the Department of Homeland Security.

This years White House document, prepared by Budget Director Russ Vought, is intended to provide a road map from the president to Congress as lawmakers build their own budgets and annual appropriations bills to keep the government funded. Vought spoke to House GOP lawmakers on a private call Thursday.

Congress still fighting over 2026 spending

The president's budget arrives as the House and Senate remain tangled over current-year spending and stalemated over DHS funding, with Democrats demanding changes to Trumps immigration enforcement regime that Republicans are unwilling to accept.

Trump announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to pay all DHS workers who have gone without paychecks during the record-long partial government shutdown that has reached 49 days. The Republican leadership in Congress reached an agreement this week on a path forward to fund the department, but lawmakers are away on spring break and have not yet voted on any new legislation.

Last year, in the president's first budget since returning to the White House, Trump sought to fulfill his promise to vastly reduce the size and scope of the federal government, reflecting the efforts of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

As DOGE slashed through federal offices and Vought sought to claw back funds, Congress did not always agree.

RELATED STORY | In national address, Trump says Iran war could wrap in weeks

For example, Trump sought a roughly one-fifth decrease in non-defense spending for the current budget year ending Sept. 30, but Congress kept such spending relatively flat.

Some of the programs that Trump tried to eliminate entirely, such as assisting families with their energy costs, got a slight uptick in funding. Others got flat funding, such as the Community Development Block Grants that states and local communities use to fund an array of projects intended mostly to help low-income communities through new parks, sewer systems and affordable housing.

Lawmakers have also focused on ensuring the administration spends federal dollars as directed by Congress. This years spending bills contained what Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, described as hundreds upon hundreds of specific funding levels and directives that the administration is required to follow.