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Russia hammers Kyiv in largest missile and drone barrage since war began

Waves of drone and missile attacks targeted Kyiv overnight into Friday in the largest aerial assault since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, officials said, amid a renewed Russian push to capture more of its neighbor's land.

The barrage injured at least 23 people and inflicted severe damage across multiple districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught. Blasts lit up the night sky and echoed across the city as air raid sirens wailed. The blue lights of emergency vehicles reflected off high-rise buildings, and debris blocked city streets.

It was a harsh, sleepless night, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities. Less than a week ago Russia launched what was then the largest aerial assault of the war. That strategy has coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure.

RELATED STORY | Operation Spider Web: How Ukraine rewrote the rules of drone warfare

Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine during the night, the countrys air force said. The majority were Shahed drones, but Russia also launched 11 missiles in the attack.

Alya Shahlai, a 23-year-old Kyiv wedding photographer, said her home was destroyed in the attack.

We were all in the (basement) shelter because it was so loud, staying home would have been suicidal, she told The Associated Press. We went down 10 minutes before and then there was a loud explosion and the lights went out in the shelter, people were panicking.

Trump not happy with Russia's attacks

The attack on Kyiv began the same day a phone call took place between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy called the timing of the strikes a deliberate signal that Moscow has no intention of ending the war.

Trump said he would call Zelenskyy on Friday. U.S.-led international peace efforts have been fruitless so far. Recent direct peace talks have led only to sporadic exchanges of prisoners of war, wounded troops and the bodies of fallen soldiers. No date has been set for further negotiations.

RELATED STORY | US halting shipment of certain air defense weapons and other munitions to Ukraine

Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry said another prisoner swap took place Friday, though neither side said how many soldiers were involved. Zelenskyy said most of the Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022. The Ukrainian soldiers were classified as wounded and seriously ill.

When asked if he made any progress during his call with Putin on a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, Trump said: No, I didnt make any progress with him today at all.

Im very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin because I dont think hes there. I dont think hes looking to stop (the fighting), and thats too bad, Trump said.

According to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the root causes of the conflict.

Russia will not back down from these goals, Ushakov told reporters after the call.

Russias army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called out Russian disinformation efforts.

Pentagon halts deliveries of air defense missiles

The U.S. has paused some shipments of military aid to Ukraine, including crucial air defense missiles. Ukraines main European backers are considering how they can help pick up the slack. Zelenskyy says plans are afoot to build up Ukraine's domestic arms industry, but scaling up will take time.

The Ukrainian response needs to be speedy as Russia escalates its aerial attacks. Russia launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine in June, a new monthly record, according to official data collated by The Associated Press. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said earlier this week that Russia also launched more than 330 missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, at Ukrainian towns and cities that month.

Throughout the night, AP journalists in Kyiv heard the constant buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun fire as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault.

Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media platform X. One of the worst so far.

Ukraines Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described families running into metro stations, basements, underground parking garages, mass destruction in the heart of our capital.

What Kyiv endured last night, cannot be called anything but a deliberate act of terror, she wrote on X.

Kyiv was the primary target of the countrywide attack. At least 14 people were hospitalized, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Zelenskyy called the Kyiv attack cynical. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry claimed its forces targeted factories producing drones and other military equipment in Kyiv.

Russia strikes 5 Ukrainian regions

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed.

Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites.

In addition to the capital, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions also sustained damage, Zelenskyy said.

Emergency services reported damage in at least five of Kyiv's 10 districts.

What's in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' that is set to become law

Republicans muscled President Donald Trump's tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP's self-imposed deadline of July 4th.

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.

RELATED STORY | Trump scores legislative win as Congress passes his 'big, beautiful bill'

Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. It passed the final version 218-214.

Here's the latest on what's in the bill.

Tax cuts are the priority

Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.

The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill, solidifying the tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.

It would temporarily add new tax deductions on tip, overtime and auto loans. There's also a $6,000 deduction for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year, a nod to his pledge to end taxes on Social Security benefits.

It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. Millions of families at lower income levels would not get the full credit.

A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years.

There are scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research. Proponents say this will boost economic growth.

The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version.

Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome

The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.

Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year.

To help pay for it, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections.

For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security.

How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs

To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back on Medicaid and food assistance for people below the poverty line .

Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.

The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the programs work requirements.

There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services.

More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

Republicans are looking to have states pick up some of the cost for SNAP benefits. Currently, the federal government funds all benefit costs. Under the bill, states beginning in 2028 will be required to contribute a set percentage of those costs if their payment error rate exceeds 6%. Payment errors include both underpayments and overpayments.

But the Senate bill temporarily delays the start date of that cost-sharing for states with the highest SNAP error rates. Alaska has the highest error rate in the nation at nearly 25%, according to Department of Agriculture data. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had fought for the exception. She was a decisive vote in getting the bill through the Senate.

A death sentence for clean energy?

Republicans are proposing to dramatically roll back tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind. The tax breaks were a central component of President Joe Biden's 2022 landmark bill focused on addressing climate change and lowering health care costs.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden went so far as to call the GOP provisions a death sentence for Americas wind and solar industries and an inevitable hike in utility bills.

A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on Sept. 30 of this year, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law.

Meanwhile, a tax credit for the production of critical materials will be expanded to include metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

Trump savings accounts and so, so much more

A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities.

The bill creates a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trumps long-sought National Garden of American Heroes.

There's a new excise tax on university endowments and a new tax on remittances, or transfers of money that people in the U.S. send abroad. The tax is equal to 1% of the transfer.

A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated.

One provision bars for one year Medicaid payments to family planning providers that provide abortions, namely Planned Parenthood.

Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing.

Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for the exploration of Mars, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee.

Additionally, a provision would increase the nation's debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills.

Last-minute changes

The Senate overwhelmingly revolted against a proposal meant to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence. Republican governors across the country asked for the moratorium to be removed and the Senate voted to do so with a resounding 99-1 vote.

A provision was thrown in at the final hours that will provide $10 billion annually to rural hospitals for five years, or $50 billion in total. The Senate bill had originally provided $25 billion for the program, but that number was upped to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that reduced Medicaid provider taxes would hurt rural hospitals.

The amended bill also stripped out a new tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain percentage of components from China.

What's the final cost?

Altogether, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.

Or not, depending on how one does the math.

Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already current policy. Republican senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach.

Under the alternative Senate GOP view, the bill would reduce deficits by almost half a trillion dollars over the coming decade, the CBO said.

Democrats say this is magic math that obscures the true costs of the tax breaks. Some nonpartisan groups worried about the country's fiscal trajectory are siding with Democrats in that regard. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Senate Republicans were employing an accounting gimmick that would make Enron executives blush.

Nissan recalls over 480,000 vehicles in the US and Canada due to engine failure risk

Nissan is recalling more than 480,000 of its vehicles across the U.S. and Canada due to potential manufacturing defects that could cause engine failure.

The recall covers certain Nissan Rogues between 2021-2024 model years and 2019-2020 Altimas as well as a number of 2019-2022 Infiniti QX50s and 2022 Infiniti QX55s sold under the automaker's luxury brand, according to Nissan and documents published by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week.

The vehicles impacted carry specific "VC-Turbo" engines that may have manufacturing defects in their bearings, the NHTSA's recall report notes. This may cause engine damage and possibly lead to engine failure while driving, the regulator warns increasing crash risks.

RELATED STORY | Ford recalls more than 200,000 vehicles over malfunctioning rearview camera

Engine bearing failures "are not typically instantaneous and tend to progress over time," the NHTSA's recall report notes. That means effected drivers may see multiple warning signs to look out for including abnormal noises or malfunction indicator lights.

In the U.S., 443,899 vehicles are covered in this recall, per NHTSA documents. And in Canada, 37,837 are affected, a Nissan spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday.

As a remedy, the NHSTA's recall report notes, Nissan and Infiniti dealers will inspect the engine pan of these-now recalled cars and repair or replace the engine if necessary. The recall covers vehicles with either 3-cylinder 1.5L or 4-cylinder 2.0L VC-Turbo engines. Potential repairs which will be performed free of charge will depend on the engine and whether or not debris is detected during the inspection.

In an emailed statement, Nissan said it initiated this recall as part of its "ongoing commitment to customer safety." And in late August, the company added, notification letters will be mailed out to affected owners "with instructions to bring their vehicle to a Nissan dealer or INFINITI retailer for inspection and repair if necessary."

In the meantime, drivers can also confirm if their specific vehicle is included in this recall and find more information using the NHTSA site or Nissan's recall lookup.

Michael Madsen, 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Kill Bill' star, dies at 66

Michael Madsen, whose menacing characters in "Reservoir Dogs" and "Kill Bill" made him a standout in Quentin Tarantino's films, has died. He was 66.

Madsen was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, on Thursday morning and pronounced dead, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Watch Commander Christopher Jauregui said. He is believed to have died of natural causes, and authorities do not suspect any foul play was involved. Madsen's manager, Ron Smith, said cardiac arrest was the apparent cause.

Madsen's career spanned more than 300 credits stretching back to the early 1980s, many in low-budget films. But his most memorable screen moment may have been the sadistic torture of a captured police officer while dancing to Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You" as Mr. Blonde in 1992's "Reservoir Dogs."

He would become a Tarantino regular, appearing in the "Kill Bill" films and "The Hateful Eight."

"In the last two years Michael Madsen has been doing some incredible work with independent film including upcoming feature films 'Resurrection Road,' 'Concessions and 'Cookbook for Southern Housewives,' and was really looking forward to this next chapter in his life," his managers Smith and Susan Ferris and publicist Liz Rodriguez said in a statement. They added that he "was one of Hollywood's most iconic actors, who will be missed by many."

During a handprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in November 2020, Madsen reflected on his first visit to Hollywood in the early 1980s.

"I got out and I walked around and I looked and I wondered if there were someday some way that that was going to be a part of me. And I didn't know because I didn't know what I was going to do at that point with myself," he said. "I could have been a bricklayer. I could have been an architect. I could have been a garbage man. I could have been nothing. But I got lucky. I got lucky as an actor."

First immigration detainees arrive at 'Alligator Alcatraz' center in Florida

The first group of immigrants has arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press.

"People are there," Press Secretary Jae Williams said, though he didn't immediately provide further details on the number of detainees or when they arrived.

"Next stop: back to where they came from," Uthmeier said on the X social media platform on Wednesday. He's been credited as the architect behind the Everglades proposal.

RELATED STORY | President Trump tours newly opened migrant detention center 'Alligator Alcatraz'

"Stood up in record time under @GovRonDeSantis ' leadership & in coordination with @DHSgov & @ICEgov, Florida is proud to help facilitate @realDonaldTrump 's mission to enforce immigration law," the account for the Florida Division of Emergency Management posted to the social media site X on Thursday. Requests for additional information from the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and FDEM, which is building the site, were not returned early Thursday afternoon.

The facility, at an airport used for training, will have an initial capacity of about 3,000 detainees, DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days and features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel.

Immigrants who are arrested by Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government's 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to an official in President Donald Trump's administration. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.

The facility is expected to be expanded in 500-bed increments until it has an estimated 5,000 beds by early July.

A group of Florida Democratic state lawmakers headed to the facility Thursday to conduct "an official legislative site visit," citing concerns about conditions for detainees and the awarding of millions of dollars in state contracts for the construction.

"As lawmakers, we have both the legal right and moral responsibility to inspect this site, demand answers, and expose this abuse before it becomes the national blueprint," the legislators said in a joint statement ahead of the visit.

Federal agencies signaled their opposition Thursday to a lawsuit brought by environmental groups seeking to halt operations at the detention center. Though Trump applauded the center during an official tour earlier this week, the filing on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security seemed to try to distance his administration from the facility, and said no federal money to date has been spent on it.

"DHS has not implemented, authorized, directed, or funded Florida's temporary detention center. Florida is constructing and operating the facility using state funds on state lands under state emergency authority and a preexisting general delegation of federal authority to implement immigration functions," the U.S. filing says.

Human rights advocates and Native American tribes have also protested against the center, contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred.

It's also located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening. State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph (154 and 177 kph), and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred.

According to images shared with the AP, overnight Wednesday, workers put up new signs labeled "Alligator Alcatraz" along the sole highway leading to the site and outside the entrance of the airfield that has been known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. State officials seized the county-owned land where the facility is located using emergency powers authorized by an executive order issued by the governor.

DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent and naming it after the notorious federal prison of Alcatraz, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It's another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.

State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and "guarded" by alligators wearing hats labeled "ICE" for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name.

FDA official restricted COVID vaccine approvals against advice of agency staff

The governments top vaccine official working under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently restricted the approval of two COVID-19 vaccines, disregarding recommendations from government scientists, according to federal documents released Wednesday.

The new memos from the Food and Drug Administration show how the agencys vaccine chief, Dr. Vinay Prasad, personally intervened to place restrictions on COVID shots from vaccine makers Novavax and Moderna.

Both vaccines were approved by the FDA in May after months of analysis by rank-and-file FDA reviewers.

But internal correspondence shows Prasad disagreed with staffers who planned to approve the shots for everyone 12 and older, similar to previous COVID vaccines. The scientists had concluded the benefit from the vaccines and the risk of COVID-19 outweighed the risk of possible side effects, which are rare.

Instead Prasad decided the shots should be limited to those who face special risks from the virus seniors or children and adults with underlying medical issues.

RELATED STORY | RFK Jr.'s new vaccine panel alarms pediatricians with inquiries into long-settled questions

Prasad explained that the COVID vaccine benefits must be reconsidered in light of falling rates of death and hospitalization and the possibility for vaccine side effects. Its the latest in a series of vaccine restrictions imposed by officials working under Kennedy, who has long questioned the benefits of vaccines.

Even rare vaccination related harms both known and unknown now have higher chance of outweighing potential benefits Prasad wrote in a five-page memo explaining his decision.

COVID-19 remains a public health threat, resulting in 32,000 to 51,000 U.S. deaths and more than 250,000 hospitalizations since last fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most at risk for hospitalization are seniors and children under 2 especially infants under 6 months.

Top FDA leaders are typically not involved in the review of individual products. Officials like Prasad can overrule staffers, but such cases are rare and often controversial.

News of the FDA documents was first reported by the New York Times.

Prasad was hired to lead the FDAs vaccine center in May, after the previous director, Dr. Peter Marks, was forced to resign over disagreements with Kennedy. An academic researcher specializing in cancer therapies, Prasad came to prominence during the pandemic for criticizing public health measures, including the FDAs approval of COVID boosters for healthy adults and children.

Since arriving at the agency he has worked with FDA Commissioner Mark Makary on new guidelines that will limit approvals of future COVID boosters to higher-risk Americans, mainly seniors and those with medical conditions like asthma and obesity.

RELATED STORY | Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic

Those limits match the terms FDA recently approved for Novavaxs shot, Nuvaxovid and Modernas mNexspike. Novavaxs vaccine is the only protein-based coronavirus vaccine available in the U.S. Modernas vaccine is an updated, lower-dose version of its existing mRNA-based vaccine.

The review team for the Novavax vaccine pointed to data from a study in 30,000 adults, concluding that the risk-benefit assessment for this vaccine technology remains favorable.

FDA staff reached a similar conclusion for the Moderna vaccine, deeming it similar in safety and effectiveness to the companys original shot.

Last week, the FDA finalized new warning labeling about the risk of myocarditis, a rare form of heart inflammation, on shots from Moderna and Pfizer, the other maker of an mRNA-based shot for COVID.

In his override memo, reversing FDA staffs decision on the Moderna shot, Prasad pointed to the ongoing risk of myocarditis and questions about its frequency. The agency ordered Moderna to conduct further studies of the risk as a condition for the approving its updated shot.

A spokesman for the administration said Prasad has raised serious concerns about the issue.

We will not ignore these risks and will ensure that the gold standard of science is used for any decisions, said Andrew Nixon, in an emailed statement.

Outside researchers have noted that cases of the heart condition tend to resolve quickly and are less severe than those associated with COVID infection itself, which can also cause myocarditis.

Abrego Garcia says he was subjected to psychological torture in El Salvador jail

Kilmar Abrego Garcia said he suffered severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation and psychological torture in the notorious El Salvador prison the Trump administration had deported him to in March, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

He said he was kicked and hit so often after arrival that by the following day, he had visible bruises and lumps all over his body. He said he and 20 others were forced to kneel all night long and guards hit anyone who fell.

Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported and became a flashpoint in President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown. The new details of Abrego Garcias incarceration in El Salvador were added to a lawsuit against the Trump administration that Abrego Garcias wife filed in Maryland federal court after he was deported.

The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in Maryland to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it is now moot because the government returned him to the United States as ordered by the court.

A U.S. immigration judge in 2019 had barred Abrego Garcia from being deported back to his native El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs who had terrorized him and his family. The Trump administration deported him there despite the judges 2019 order and later described it as an administrative error. Trump and other officials have since doubled down on claims Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang.

On March 15, Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador and sent to the countrys mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

In the new court documents, Abrego Garcia said detainees at CECOT were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.

He said prison officials told him repeatedly that they would transfer him to cells with people who were gang members who would tear him apart. Abrego Garcia said he saw others in nearby cells violently harm each other and heard screams from people throughout the night.

His condition deteriorated and he lost more than 30 pounds in his first two weeks there, he said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador in April. The senator said Abrego Garcia reported hed been moved from the mega-prison to a detention center with better conditions.

RELATED STORY | Justice Department says it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on smuggling charges

The Trump administration continued to face mounting pressure and a Supreme Court order to return him to the United States. When the U.S. government brought back Abrego Garcia last month, it was to face federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time of Abrego Garcias return that this is what American justice looks like. But Abrego Garcias attorneys called the charges preposterous and an attempt to justify his mistaken expulsion.

A federal judge in Tennessee has ruled that Abrego Garcia is eligible for release -- under certain conditions -- as he awaits trial on the criminal charges in Tennessee. But she has kept him in jail for now at the request of his own attorneys over fears that he would be deported again upon release.

Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press last month that the department intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before it moves to deport him again.

Separately, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn told a federal judge in Maryland last month that the U.S. government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country that isnt El Salvador. Guynn said there was no timeline for the deportation plans. But Abrego Garcias attorneys cited Guynns comments as a reason to fear he would be deported immediately.

Supreme Court will take up a new case about which school sports teams transgender students can join

The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a case over state restrictions on which school sports teams transgender students can join.

Just two weeks after upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the justices said they will review lower court rulings in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia.

The nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in girls' sports teams has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.

RELATED STORY | UPenn to ban transgender athletes, feds say, ending civil rights case focused on swimmer Lia Thomas

More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some policies have been blocked in court.

At the federal level, the Trump administration has filed lawsuits and launched investigations over state and school policies that have allowed transgender athletes to compete freely. This week, the University of Pennsylvania modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes "disadvantaged" by her participation on the women's swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.

Republican President Donald Trump also has acted aggressively in other areas involving transgender people, including removing transgender troops from military service. In May, the Supreme Court allowed the ouster of transgender service members to proceed, reversing lower courts that had blocked it.

The new case will be argued in the fall.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT |Β NCAA changes transgender sports participation policy following Trump executive order

West Virginia is appealing a lower-court ruling that found the ban violates the rights of Becky Pepper-Jackson, who has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade. Pepper-Jackson sued the state when she was in middle school because she wanted to compete on the cross country and track teams.

This past school year, Pepper-Jackson qualified for the West Virginia girls high school state track meet, finishing third in the discus throw and eighth in the shot put in the Class AAA division.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Pepper-Jackson in two areas, under the Constitution's equal protection clause and the landmark federal law known as Title IX that forbids sex discrimination in education.

Idaho in 2020 became the first state in the nation to ban transgender women and girls from playing on women's sports teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the women's rights group Legal Voice sued Idaho on behalf of Lindsay Hecox, who hoped to run for Boise State University.

The state asked for Supreme Court review after lower courts blocked the state's ban while the lawsuit continues.

The justices did not act on a third case from Arizona that raises the same issue.

US employers added a surprising 147,000 jobs last month despite uncertainty over economic policy

U.S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June as the American labor market continues to show surprising resilience despite uncertainty over President Donald Trump's economic policies. The unemployment rate ticked down 4.1% from 4.2% in May, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Hiring rose modestly from a revised 144,000 in May and beat economists' expectations of fewer than 118,000 new jobs and a rise in the unemployment rate

The U.S. job market has cooled considerably from red-hot days of 2021-2023 when the economy bounced back with unexpected strength from COVID-19 lockdowns and companies were desperate for workers. So far this year, employers have added an average of 130,000 jobs a month, down from 168,000 in 2024 and an average of 400,000 from 2021 through 2023.

But the June numbers were surprisingly strong. State governments added 47,000 workers and healthcare companies 39,000. But manufacturers shed 7,000 jobs.

Labor Department revisions added 16,000 jobs to April and June payrolls. The number of unemployed people fell by 222,000.

Average hourly wages rose 0.2% from May and 3.7% from a year earlier, inching close to the 3.5% year-over-year number considered consistent with the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target.

Hiring decelerated after the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023. But the economy did not collapse, defying widespread predictions that the higher borrowing costs would cause a recession. Companies kept hiring, just at a more modest pace.

Employers are now contending with fallout from Trump's policies, especially his aggressive use of import taxes tariffs.

Mainstream economists say that tariffs raise prices for businesses and consumers alike and make the economy less efficient by reducing competition. They also invite retaliatory tariffs from other countries, hurting U.S. exporters.

The erratic way that Trump has rolled out his tariffs announcing and then suspending them, then coming up with new ones has left businesses bewildered.

Manufacturers responding to a survey released this week by the Institute for Supply Management complained that they and their customers were reluctant to make decisions until they understood where Trump's tariffs would end up. "That whiplash has to stop and it has to stay stopped," said Susan Spence, chair of the ISM's manufacturing survey committee.

Liverpool's Diogo Jota and his brother killed in a car crash

Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother were killed in a car accident in Spain when the Lamborghini they were in veered off a road and burst into flames, police said Thursday.

The Spanish Civil Guard confirmed to The Associated Press that the 28-year-old Jota and his 25-year-old brother, Andr Silva, were found dead near the northwestern city of Zamora.

The accident occurred past midnight local time. Police said they were investigating the causes and the bodies were undergoing forensic analysis.

Jota and Silva, both Portuguese soccer players, were the only ones in the car, according to police.

It was not immediately clear who was driving but police have been looking into the possibility that the accident happened as a result of a blown tire while the car tried to overtake another vehicle.

The brothers were driving eastward along an isolated stretch of highway, about an hour west of Zamora, when the accident took place.

The car was incinerated, and they died inside, Spanish government official ngel Blanco said.

Spanish media have published video images of the crashs aftermath. They show tire marks veering off the road toward damaged guardrails, while the burnt-up car can be seen several meters away.

Firefighters were called in as flames from the crash spread into nearby vegetation, authorities said.

Jotas death comes weeks after he married Rute Cardoso and in a social media post wrote, Yes to forever. They had three children, the youngest born last year.

Jota also played for Portugals national team and helped it win the Nations League last month.

Silva played with Portuguese club Penafiel in the lower divisions.

Liverpool said the club was devastated by the tragic passing.

Liverpool FC will be making no further comment at this time and request the privacy of Diogo and Andres family, friends, teammates and club staff is respected as they try to come to terms with an unimaginable loss. We will continue to provide them with our full support.

Jota joined Liverpool from Wolves in 2020 and won three major trophies with the Merseyside club including the Premier League title last season.

The Portuguese soccer federation released a statement lamenting the deaths. Federation president Pedro Proena said Portuguese soccer was completely devastated.

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More than a fantastic player, with almost 50 appearances for the national team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all his colleagues and opponents. He had a contagious joy and was a reference in his community, Proena said in the statement.

The Portuguese federation said it has requested a minute of silence before Thursday's match between Portugal and Spain at the Women's European Championship being played in Switzerland.

We lost two champions, Proena said. "Their deaths represent an irreparable loss for Portuguese soccer and we will all do our best to honor their legacy daily.

Portugals Prime Minister Lus Montenegro commented on the unexpected and tragic deaths. He said Jota was an athlete who greatly honored Portugals name.

I extend my deepest condolences to their family, he said. It is a sad day for soccer and for national and international sports.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer talked about the devastating news.

I am sure I speak for everyone in saying our first thoughts are going to be with his family and his friends in particular, he said. "There are millions of Liverpool fans but also football fans and non-fans who will also be shocked by this. It is devastating and really important we bear in mind just how difficult a period this will be for his friends and for his family.

Reaction also started pouring in from across the world, including from non-soccer players such as NBA star Lebron James a minority owner at Liverpool and tennis legend Rafael Nadal.

It doesn't make any sense, Jota's Portugal teammate Cristiano Ronaldo said. Just now we were together in the national team, just now you had gotten married. My condolences to your family, to your wife and to your children. I wish them all the strength in the world. I know that you will always be with them. Rest in peace, Diogo and Andr. We will all miss you.

Former club Porto and former teammates lamented the deaths and sent condolences, as did other clubs, federations and leagues.

The Premier League said it was shocked and devastated.

Our sincerest condolences go to Diogos family, friends, Liverpool FC, and all their supporters at this heartbreaking time, it said. Football has lost a champion who will be forever missed. We will continue to support our friends and colleagues at the club.

UEFA said its thoughts were with relatives, friends and teammates affected by this heartbreaking loss. It said a moment of silence will be observed at Euro 2025 matches on Thursday and Friday.

Trump says Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urges Hamas to accept deal

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.

Trump announced the development as he prepares to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House on Monday. The U.S. leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war in Gaza.

My Representatives had a long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza. Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War, Trump wrote, saying the Qataris and Egyptians would deliver the final proposal.

I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE, he said.

Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer was in Washington on Tuesday for talks with senior administration officials to discuss a potential Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters. Dermer was expected to meet with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

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The development came as over 150 international charities and humanitarian groups called Tuesday for disbanding a controversial Israeli- and U.S.-backed system to distribute aid in Gaza because of chaos and deadly violence against Palestinians seeking food at its sites.

The joint statement by groups including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International followed the killings of at least 10 Palestinians who were seeking desperately needed food, witnesses and health officials said. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 37 in southern Gazas Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital.

Tents, tents they are hitting with two missiles? asked Um Seif Abu Leda, whose son was killed in the strikes. Mourners threw flowers on the body bags.

Before Trump's announcement, Israels defense minister, Israel Katz, had warned that his country would respond forcefully to the firing of a missile the military said originated from Yemen. Sirens sounded across parts of Israel, alerting residents to the attack and the launch of two projectiles from Gaza. All were intercepted by Israeli defense systems.

The missile launch marked the first attack by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels since the end of the 12-day war initiated by Israel with Iran. Katz said Yemen could face the same fate as Tehran.

Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, vowed on social media that Yemen will not stop its support for Gaza ... unless the aggression stops and the siege on Gaza is lifted.

Speaking to his Cabinet, Netanyahu did not elaborate on plans for his visit to Washington next week, except to say he will discuss a trade deal. Iran is also expected to be a main topic of discussion in Washington after Trump brokered a ceasefire between it and Israel.

UPenn to ban transgender athletes, feds say, ending civil rights case focused on swimmer Lia Thomas

The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender women from its womens sports teams to resolve a federal civil rights case that found the school violated the rights of female athletes.

The U.S. Education Department announced the voluntary agreement Tuesday. The case focused on Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title.

Its part of the Trump administrations broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls and womens sports.

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Under the agreement, Penn agreed to restore all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who lost out to Thomas, the Education Department said. Penn also agreed to send a personalized apology letter to each of those swimmers.

It wasnt immediately clear whether Thomas would be stripped of her awards and honors at Penn.

The university must also announce that it will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs and it must adopt biology-based definitions of male and female, the department said.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon called it a victory for women and girls.

The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IXs proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law, McMahon said in a statement.

The Education Department opened its investigation in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education. Such findings have almost always been resolved through voluntary agreements. If Penn had fought the finding, the department could have moved to refer the case to the Justice Department or pursued a separate process to cut the schools federal funding.

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In February, the Education Department asked the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations, or NFSHSA, to restore titles, awards and records it says have been misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.

The most obvious target at the college level was in womens swimming, where Thomas won the national title in the 500-yard freestyle in 2022.

The NCAA has updated its record books when recruiting and other violations have stripped titles from certain schools, but the organization, like the NFSHSA, has not responded to the federal government's request. Determining which events had a transgender athlete participating years later would be challenging.

The man accused of killing 2 Idaho firefighters had once aspired to be one

A 20-year-old mans life appeared to have begun to unravel in the months before authorities say he fatally shot two firefighters and severely wounded a third as they responded to a wildfire near Coeur dAlene, Idaho.

Wess Roley was living out of his vehicle and his former roommate, T.J. Franks Jr., said he shaved off his long hair and started to "kind of go downhill. The two lived together for about six months in Sandpoint, Idaho, until Roley moved out in January, Franks said Monday.

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Roley, who authorities say took his own life after Sunday's shootings, is suspected of killing two battalion chiefs whose firefighting careers in Idaho spanned nearly half a century combined. The deaths of Frank Harwood, 42, with Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, and John Morrison, 52, with the Coeur dAlene Fire Department, have left their colleagues reeling, resulting in their departments adding law enforcement to every call, no matter how routine.

I dont know that were ever going to be able to guarantee peoples peace of mind, at least for a while after an incident like this, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said. But we are taking every measure we can to ensure safety of our responders.

Roley had set a fire using flint at Canfield Mountain, a popular recreation area, according to authorities. The firefighters who rushed to the scene found themselves under fire and took cover behind fire trucks.

There was an interaction with the firefighters, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said. It has something to do with his vehicle being parked where it was.

Two helicopters converged on the area, armed with snipers ready to take out the suspect if needed, while the FBI used his cellphone data to track him and the sheriff ordered residents to shelter in place. They eventually found Roley's body in the mountains, his firearm beside him. He had killed himself, the sheriff said.

Roley had once aspired to be a firefighter and had only a handful of minor contacts with area police, Norris said. A motive was still unknown, he said.

He had ties to California and Arizona and was living in Idaho for the better part of 2024, although it was unclear why he was there, Norris said.

When Roley was living with Franks, his apartment cameras caught Roley throwing gang signs at them, which worried Franks to the point that he called police.

The landlord also called Franks one morning because neighbors reported that Roleys vehicle had been left running for about 12 hours. Franks said Roley was asleep in his room and said he forgot about the vehicle.

Hours after Sunday's shooting, people gathered along Interstate 90 holding American flags to pay their respects as the two fallen firefighters bodies were taken to the medical examiners office in Spokane, Washington, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) from Coeur dAlene.

On Tuesday, a procession of police and fire vehicles accompanied a hearse as onlookers along a quiet street held flags and in some cases saluted as the vehicles got underway. People dotted an overpass, where a fire truck bearing a large U.S. flag stood, as the procession passed on the interstate below.

Gov. Brad Little ordered U.S. and Idaho state flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the firefighters until the day after their memorial service.

All our public safety officers, especially our firefighters, bravely confront danger on a daily basis but we have never seen a heinous act of violence like this on our firefighters before, he said in a statement.

Harwood, one of the victims of the shooting, had been with the county fire department for 17 years, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said during a news conference Monday. Harwood was married and had two children, and he also was a veteran of the Army National Guard.

Morrison, who was also killed, started his career with the Coeur dAlene Fire Department in 1996 and had also worked as a paramedic.

Coeur dAlene Fire Department Fire Engineer David Tysdal, 47, sustained gunshot wounds and was in critical condition. Authorities said he had two successful surgeries.

We still are in shock and are struggling to understand why someone would target unarmed, selfless public servants, Coeur dAlene Mayor Woody McEvers said.

By Monday afternoon, the fire was reasonably contained, and responders had stopped significant forward progress," Way said. The Idaho Department of Lands said it had burned about 26 acres.

Lululemon accuses Costco of selling 'dupes' in new lawsuit

Lululemon has filed a lawsuit against Costco that accuses the wholesale club operator of selling lower-priced duplicates of some of its popular athleisure clothing.

Lululemon Athletica claims in its lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that Costco has unlawfully traded on its reputation, goodwill and sweat equity by selling unauthorized and unlicensed apparel that uses knockoff, infringing versions of its patents.

Lululemon alleges that Costco is known to use manufacturers of popular branded products for its private label Kirkland brand, but that the company and the manufacturers don't tell consumers of the connection between them for many of the Kirkland-branded products. Because of this, Lululemon claims this leads at least some shoppers to believe that Kirkland-branded products are made by the authentic supplier of the original products. Lululemon claims Costco doesn't try to dispel the ambiguity.

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As an innovation-led company that invests significantly in the research, development, and design of our products, we take the responsibility of protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights very seriously and pursue the appropriate legal action when necessary," a Lululemon company spokesperson said in a statement.

Some of the products Lululemon says Costco is making duplicates of include its popular Scuba hoodies, Define jackets, and ABC pants.

Lululemon claims one of the duplicates that Costco sells is the Hi-Tec Men's Scuba Full Zip, with the lawsuit showing a screenshot image of Costco's website showing the item priced at $19.97. Lululemon sells several men's jackets that cost more than $100 each.

Costco, based in Issaquah, Washington, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Lululemon is requesting a jury trial and wants Costco to stop selling the products that it considers to be duplicates. It is also seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages.

Lulemon was in a similar legal dispute with Peloton in 2021. Two years later the companies announced a five-year partnership that included Lululemon becoming the primary athletic apparel partner to Peloton.

Zohran Mamdani wins New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, defeating ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Zohran Mamdani has won New York Citys Democratic mayoral primary, a new vote count confirmed Tuesday, cementing his stunning upset of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and sending him to the general election.

The Associated Press called the race after the results of the citys ranked choice voting tabulation were released and showed Mamdani beating Cuomo by 12 percentage points.

Mamdanis win had been widely expected since he took a commanding lead after the polls closed a week ago, falling just short of the 50% of the vote needed to avoid another count under the citys ranked choice voting model. The system allows voters other preferences to be counted if their top candidate falls out of the running.

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Mamdani, who declared victory the night of the June 24 primary, will face a general election field that includes incumbent Mayor Eric Adams as well as independent candidate Jim Walden and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Cuomo conceded defeat on the night of the June 24 primary but is contemplating whether to run in the general election on an independent ballot line.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist and member of the state Assembly, was virtually unknown when he launched his candidacy centered on a bold slate of populist ideas. But he built an energetic campaign that ran circles around Cuomo as the older, more moderate Democrat tried to come back from the sexual harassment scandal that led to his resignation four years ago.

The results, even before they were finalized, sent a shockwave through the political world.

Mamdanis campaign, which was focused on lowering the cost of living, claims it has found a new blueprint for Democrats who have at times appeared rudderless during President Donald Trump's climb back to power.

The Democratic establishment has approached Mamdani with caution. Many of its big players applauded his campaign but don't seem ready to throw their full support behind the young progressive, whose past criticisms of law enforcement, use of the word genocide to describe the Israeli governments actions in Gaza and democratic socialist label amount to landmines for some in the party.

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If elected, Mamdani would be the city's first Muslim mayor and its first of Indian American decent. He would also be one of its youngest.

For Republicans, Mamdani has already provided a new angle for attack. Trump and others in the GOP have begun to launch broadsides at him, moving to cast Mamdani as the epitome of leftist excess ahead of consequential elections elsewhere this year and next.

If Im a Republican, I want this guy to win, said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University. Because I want to be able to compare and contrast my campaign as a Republican, in a national election, to the idea of, This is where the Democratic party is.

New York City's ranked choice voting model allows voters to list up to five candidates on their ballots in order of preference. If a single candidate is the first choice of more than 50% of voters, then that person wins the race outright. Since no candidate cleared that bar on the night of the primary, the ranked choice voting process kicked in. The board is scheduled to certify the election on July 15.

Mamdani has been a member of the state Assembly since 2021, and has characterized his inexperience as a potential asset. His campaign promised free city buses, free child care, a rent freeze for people living in rent-stabilized apartment, government-run grocery stores and more, all paid for with taxes on the wealthy. Critics have slammed his agenda as politically unrealistic.

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Cuomo ran a campaign centered on his extensive experience, casting himself as the only candidate capable of saving a city he said had spun out of control. During the campaign, he focused heavily on combating antisemitism and leaned on his name recognition and juggernaut fundraising operation rather than mingling with voters.

Confronted with the sexual harassment allegations that ended his tenure as governor, he denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the scandal was driven by politics and that voters were ready to move on.

Cuomo did not remove his name from the November ballot last week, ahead of a procedural deadline to do so, and has said he is still considering whether to mount an actual campaign for the office.

Adams, while still a Democrat, is running in the November election as an independent. He dropped out of the Democratic primary in April after he was severely wounded by his now-dismissed federal bribery case. Though he had done little in the way of campaigning since then, he reignited his reelection operation in the days after Mamdani declared victory, calling it a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a silver spoon.

Russia launches the biggest aerial attack since the start of the war, Ukraine says

Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3-year-old war.

Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraines air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

The onslaught was the most massive airstrike on the country since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraines air force, told The Associated Press. The attack targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line.

Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the country's air force said.

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One person died in a drone strike in the Kherson region, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said, while another was killed when a drone hit a car in the Kharkiv region, according to its Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. Six people were wounded in Cherkasy, including a child, according to regional Gov. Ihor Taburets.

In the far-western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych following a drone attack that also cut electricity to parts of the city.

Ukraines air force said one of its F-16 warplanes supplied by its Western partners crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot died.

Attacks continued during the day. Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Serhii Lysak said a 72-year-old man was killed when a drone hit his car.

Russian troops reportedly advance in Donetsk

Russia's Defense Ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight.

Two people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Bryansk in western Russia, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said Sunday morning, adding that seven more Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the region.

Meanwhile, Russia claimed Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.

Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor.

In other developments, Russias foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said he had spoken on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

I had a phone call with my American counterpart and we reserved for each other the possibility to call at any time and discuss issues of interest to us, Naryshkin said in remarks to state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Sunday's attacks follow Russian President Vladimir Putins comments two days ago that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.

Zelenskyy withdraws Ukraine from an anti-land mine pact

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel land mines, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Sunday. The move follows similar recent steps by the Baltic states and Poland.

The 1997 treaty prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel land mines in an effort to protect civilians from explosives that can maim or kill long after fighting ends.

This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded, said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. He noted that Russia is not a party to the convention "and is massively using mines against our military and civilians.

Biden, Harris and Walz attend funeral for former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman

Democratic former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was honored for her legislative accomplishments and her humanity during a funeral Saturday, where former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined the over 1,000 mourners.

Hortman was shot to death in a pair of attacks two weeks earlier by a man posing as a police officer that Minnesota's chief federal prosecutor has called an assassination. The shootings also left her husband, Mark, dead and a state senator and his wife seriously wounded.

Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I get to remember her as a close friend, a mentor, and the most talented legislator I have ever known, Gov. Tim Walz said in his eulogy. For seven years, I have had the privilege of signing her agenda into law. I know millions of Minnesotans get to live their lives better because she and Mark chose public service and politics.

The service

Neither Biden nor Harris spoke, but they sat in the front row with the governor, who was Harris' running mate in 2024. Biden was also one of more than 7,500 people who paid their respects Friday as Hortman, her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert, lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda in St. Paul. Gilbert was seriously wounded in the attack and had to be euthanized. Biden also visited the wounded senator in a hospital.

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Dozens of current and former state legislators from both parties and other elected officials who worked with Hortman also attended.

Hortman, who was first elected in 2004, helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives like free lunches for public school students during the momentous 2023 session as the chambers speaker, along with expanded protections for abortion and trans rights. With the House split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she yielded the gavel to a Republican under a power-sharing deal, took the title speaker emerita, and helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.

The governor's eulogy

Walz said Hortman saw her mission as to get as much good done for as many people as possible. And he said her focus on people was what made her so effective.

She certainly knew how to get her way. No doubt about that, Walz said. But she never made anyone feel that theyd gotten rolled at a negotiating table. That wasnt part of it for her, or a part of who she was. She didnt need somebody else to lose to win for her.

The governor said the best way to honor the Hortmans would be by following their example.

Maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about," Walz said. "A moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did -- fiercely, enthusiastically, heartily, but without ever losing sight of our common humanity.

The homily

The Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor and rector of the Basilica, who led the service, said the country is in need of deep healing. He said it seems as if the U.S. is living in the dystopian reality described at the beginning of William Butler Yeats' poem, The Second Coming.

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Here in Minnesota, we have been the ground zero place, sadly, for racial injustice," Griffith said. "The killing of George Floyd just miles from our church today. And now we are the ground zero place for political violence and extremism. Both of these must be decried in the strongest possible terms, as they are, respectively, a threat to human dignity and indeed, our democracy.

But the priest also said Minnesota could also be a ground zero place for restoration and justice and healing. He added that the presence of so many people was a sign that the work could succeed.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese offered his condolences to the Hortman family.

A private burial will be held at a later date.

The Hortman family

The Hortmans were proud of their adult children, Sophie and Colin Hortman, and the lawmaker often spoke of them.

In a voice choked with emotion, Colin said his parents embodied the Golden Rule, and he read the Prayer of St. Francis, which his mother always kept in her wallet. He said it captures her essence. It starts, Lord make me an instrument of your peace.

After the service, Walz presented the children with U.S. and Minnesota flags that flew over the Capitol on the day their parents were killed.

The suspect

The man accused of killing the Hortmans at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park on June 14, and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in nearby Champlin, made a brief court appearance Friday. He's due back in court Thursday.

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities called the largest search in Minnesota history.

Boelter remains jailed and has not entered a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first. His lawyers have declined to comment on the charges, which could carry the federal death penalty.

Friends have described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views. But prosecutors have declined so far to speculate on a motive.

Fans criticize BeyoncΓ© for shirt calling Native Americans 'the enemies of peace'

A T-shirt worn by Beyonc during a Juneteenth performance on her Cowboy Carter tour has sparked a discussion over how Americans frame their history and caused a wave of criticism for the Houston-born superstar.

The T-shirt worn during a concert in Paris featured images of the Buffalo Soldiers, who belonged to Black U.S. Army units active during the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the back was a lengthy description of the soldiers that included their antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries.

Images of the shirt and videos of the performance are also featured on Beyoncs website.

As she prepares to return to the U.S. for performances in her hometown this weekend, fans and Indigenous influencers took to social media to criticize Beyonc for wearing a shirt that frames Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries as anything but the victims of American imperialism and for promoting anti-Indigenous language.

A spokesperson for Beyonc did not respond to a request for comment.

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

The Buffalo Soldiers served in six military units created after the Civil War in 1866. They were comprised of formerly enslaved men, freemen, and Black Civil War soldiers and fought in hundreds of conflicts including in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II until they were disbanded in 1951.

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As the quote on Beyoncs shirt notes, they also fought numerous battles against Indigenous peoples as part of the U.S. Army's campaign of violence and land theft during the country's westward expansion.

Some historians say the moniker Buffalo Soldiers was bestowed by the tribes who admired the bravery and tenacity of the fighters, but that might be more legend than fact. At the end of the day, we really dont have that kind of information, said Cale Carter, director of exhibitions at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston.

Carter and other museum staff said that, only in the past few years, the museum made broader efforts to include more of the complexities of the battles the Buffalo Soldiers fought against Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries and the role they played in the subjugation of Indigenous peoples. They, much like many other museums across the country, are hoping to add more nuance to the framing of American history and be more respectful of the ways they have caused harm to Indigenous communities.

We romanticize the Western frontier, he said. The early stories that talked about the Buffalo Soldiers were impacted by a lot of those factors. So you really didnt see a changing in that narrative until recently.

There has often been a lack of diverse voices discussing how the history of the Buffalo Soldiers is framed, said Michelle Tovar, the museum's director of education. The current political climate has put enormous pressure on schools, including those in Texas, to avoid honest discussions about American history, she said.

Right now, in this area, we are getting pushback from a lot of school districts in which we cant go and teach this history," Tovar said. "We are a museum where we can at least be a hub, where we can invite the community regardless of what districts say, invite them to learn it and do what we can do the outreach to continue to teach honest history.

Historians scrutinize reclamation motive

Beyonc's recent album Act II: Cowboy Carter has played on a kind of American iconography, which many see as her way of subverting the country music genre's adjacency to whiteness and reclaiming the cowboy aesthetic for Black Americans. Last year, she became the first Black woman ever to top Billboard's country music chart, and Cowboy Carter won her the top prize at the 2025 Grammy Awards, album of the year.

The Buffalo Soldiers play this major role in the Black ownership of the American West, said Tad Stoermer, a historian and professor at Johns Hopkins University. In my view, (Beyonc is) well aware of the role that these images play. This is the Cowboy Carter tour for crying out loud. The entire tour, the entire album, the entire piece is situated in this layered narrative.

But Stoermer also points out that the Buffalo Soldiers have been framed in the American story in a way that also plays into the myths of American nationalism.

As Beyoncs use of Buffalo Soldiers imagery implies, Black Americans also use their story to claim agency over their role in the creation of the country, said Alaina E. Roberts, a historian, author and professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies the intersection of Black and Native American life from the Civil War to present day.

Thats the category in which she thought maybe she was coming into this conversation, but the Buffalo Soldiers are even a step above that because they were literally involved in not just the settlement of the West but of genocide in a sense, she said.

Online backlash builds ahead of Houston shows

Several Native influencers, performers, and academics took to social media this week to criticize Beyonc or decry the shirt's language as anti-Indigenous. Do you think Beyonc will apologize (or acknowledge) the shirt? indigenous.tv, an Indigenous news and culture Instagram account with more than 130,000 followers, asked in a post Thursday.

Many of her critics, as well as fans, agree. A flood of social media posts called out the pop star for the historic framing on the shirt.

The Buffalo Soldiers are an interesting historical moment to look at. But we have to be honest about what they did, especially in their operations against Indigenous Americans and Mexicans, said Chisom Okorafor, who posts on TikTok under the handle @confirmedsomaya.

Okorafor said there is no progressive way to reclaim America's history of empire building in the West, and that Beyoncs use of Western symbolism sends a problematic message: That Black people, too, can engage in American nationalism.

Black people, too, can profit from the atrocities of (the) American empire, she said. "It is a message that tells you to abandon immigrants, Indigenous people, and people who live outside of the United States. It is a message that tells you not only is it a virtue to have been born in this country, but the longer your line extends in this country, the more virtuous you are.

Senators prep for a weekend of work to meet Trump's deadline for passing his tax and spending cuts

The Senate is expected to grind through a rare weekend session as Republicans race to pass President Donald Trump's package of tax breaks and spending cuts by his July Fourth deadline.

Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all GOP lawmakers are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks.

The 940-page bill was released shortly before midnight Friday. Senators were expected to take a procedural vote Saturday to begin debate on the legislation, but the timing was uncertain and there is a long path ahead, with at least 10 hours of debate time and an all-night voting session on countless amendments.

Senate passage could be days away, and the bill would need to return to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House.

It's evolving, said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., as he prepared to close up the chamber late Friday.

The weekend session could be a make-or-break moment for Trump's party, which has invested much of its political capital on his signature domestic policy plan. Trump is pushing Congress to wrap it up, even as he sometimes gives mixed signals, allowing for more time.

At recent events at the White House, including Friday, Trump has admonished the grandstanders among GOP holdouts to fall in line.

We can get it done, Trump said in a social media post. It will be a wonderful Celebration for our Country.

The legislation is an ambitious but complicated series of GOP priorities. At its core, it would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump's first term that would otherwise expire by year's end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans. The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350 billion to national security, including for Trump's mass deportation agenda.

But the spending cuts that Republicans are relying on to offset the lost tax revenues are causing dissent within the GOP ranks. Some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving health care through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives, worried about the nation's debt, are pushing for steeper cuts.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he is concerned about the fundamentals of the package and will not support the procedural motion to begin debate.

I'm voting no on the motion to proceed, he said.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., pushing for deeper cuts, said he needed to see the final legislative text.

The release of that draft had been delayed as the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the bill to ensure it complied with the chambers strict Byrd Rule, named for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. It largely bars policy matters from inclusion in budget bills unless a provision can get 60 votes to overcome objections. That would be a tall order in a Senate with a 53-47 GOP edge and Democrats unified against Trumps bill.

Republicans suffered a series of setbacks after several proposals were determined to be out of compliance by the chief arbiter of the Senate's rules. One plan would have shifted some food stamp costs from the federal government to the states; a second would have gutted the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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But over the past days, Republicans have quickly revised those proposals and reinstated them.

The final text includes a proposal for cuts to a Medicaid provider tax that had run into parliamentary objections and opposition from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25 billion fund to aid rural hospitals and providers.

Most states impose the provider tax as a way to boost federal Medicaid reimbursements. Some Republicans argue that is a scam and should be abolished.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that under the House-passed version of the bill, some 10.9 million more people would go without health care and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions.

Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the poorest Americans would face a $1,600 tax increase, the CBO said.

One unresolved issue remains the so-called SALT provision, a deduction for state and local taxes that has been a top priority of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states. The cap is now $10,000.

The White House and House Republicans had narrowed in on a plan for a $40,000 cap, but for five years instead of 10. Republican senators say that's too generous. At least one House GOP holdout, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, said he cannot support the compromise.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans are rushing to finish the bill before the public fully knows whats in it.

Theres no good reason for Republicans to chase a silly deadline, Schumer said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who sent his colleagues home for the weekend with plans to be on call to return to Washington, said they are very close to finishing up.

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We would still like to meet that July Fourth, self-imposed deadline, said Johnson, R-La.

With the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate, leaders need almost every lawmaker on board to ensure passage. Johnson and Thune have stayed close to the White House, relying on Trump to pressure holdout lawmakers.

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