LUY-Development

Blog

  • 26 Meta employees sue, alleging AI-driven layoff picks hit workers on medical and parental leave


    A group of 26 Meta employees has sued the company, claiming it used artificial intelligence systems to select people for layoffs, disproportionately targeting those on medical, parental or family leave.

    They are among the 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, Meta said it would lay off in May. The lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, claims the company used internal AI systems, keystroke and activity-monitoring data, AI token-usage dashboards and algorithmically assisted performance rankings, among other methods, to determine who would be laid off.

    Many of these scores and ratings “by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability,” the lawsuit says. Meta, according to the lawsuit, did not account for protected leave when taking employees’ scores into account and “did not pause the system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires.”

    As a result, people on protected medical or family leave were disproportionately selected for layoffs, the lawsuit says. Each of the 26 anonymous employees in the lawsuit took protected leave, or requested or received a reasonable accommodation for disability. Though they have been notified of their layoffs, all 26 remain employed by Meta, with separations set to begin July 22.

    Many workers were on parental leave

    Many of the employees in the lawsuit took pregnancy or parental leave, during which time they wouldn’t have worked and thus had their measured output reduced. Others took medical leave — one disclosed a “serious health condition and disability” that was approved by Meta’s own provider. But according to the lawsuit, he was “discouraged and deterred from taking that leave by a manager” who warned that doing so would result in his selection for the anticipated layoffs. Meta offered no accommodation for his disability, the lawsuit says.

    Meta said in a statement that the claims “lack merit and are not based on facts. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.”

    About half the plaintiffs had taken leave for caregiving or pregnancy-related reasons. Eight are women who had taken maternity or pregnancy-related leave, four are men who had taken parental leave and one is a woman who had taken leave to care for a family member and later bereavement leave.

    The lawsuit says the layoffs violated several state and federal laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

    Lawsuit cites ‘disparate impact’

    The complaint also references “disparate impact liability,” a longstanding civil rights concept that President Donald Trump’s administration moved to abandon. Disparate impact, codified in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, holds that facially neutral policies or practices can be discriminatory if they disproportionately burden a protected class of workers and aren’t necessary for the job.

    The Trump administration has ordered federal agencies to deprioritize disparate impact liability enforcement, arguing that its use undermines “meritocracy” and encourages the assumption that any racial or gender imbalance in a workforce is the result of discrimination. The order has led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to drop discrimination cases on behalf of some workers.

    However, the lawsuit against Meta underscores that companies remain vulnerable to disparate impact litigation in the age of AI despite the Trump administration’s efforts to stamp out its enforcement. Workers are still free to pursue such lawsuits on their own if the EEOC rejects their complaints, and several state laws specifically prohibit disparate impact discrimination.

    In the case against Meta, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the company’s “algorithmically assisted selection process, by systematically recording such absences as reduced performance, falls more heavily on women than on men.” That’s because women disproportionately take pregnancy and caregiving leave, according to the lawyers. The lawsuit cites Title VII’s prohibition on employment practices that have a disparate impact, as well as a landmark 1971 Supreme Court ruling that recognized the doctrine.

    The plaintiffs’ lawyers said in a statement that the lawsuit asks for one thing — preserving the status quo to keep the workers employed pending arbitration. That’s because “once these separations are final, the harms are irreversible: employer-subsidized health coverage lost during pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and active medical treatment; time-bound leave rights extinguished; unvested equity forfeited; and immigration consequences triggered.”

    —

    The Associated Press’ women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.


  • Kylian Mbappé denied a 3rd straight World Cup final but remains in Golden Boot mix with Messi


    ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé saw it for himself on the field: France simply didn’t play well enough to reach a third consecutive World Cup final.

    The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.

    Mbappé, one of the biggest stars of this year’s World Cup and one of the game’s greatest scorers, just couldn’t generate many chances in his team’s 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday.

    Mbappé and Messi have eight goals each so far at this year’s tournament. Mbappé, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar, holds the first tiebreaker with a 3-2 lead on assists. Messi and defending champion Argentina will play again on Wednesday in the other semifinal match against England.

    Both players will then have one more match before the award is decided. France will play the loser of the other semifinal match in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spain will take on the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final.

    “At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win,” Mbappé said. “When you don’t win … it’s part of the game. As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

    Mbappé had the fewest touches of any forward in the first half with 15. Perhaps his most prominent moment was trying to persuade referee Ivan Barton that the penalty resulting in Spain’s first goal shouldn’t have been called.

    The foul by Lucas Digne on teenager Lamine Yamal stood, and Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute, put Spain ahead for good.

    Mbappé’s best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.

    “It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball,” Mbappé said. “That’s what we let them do. We let the midfield too much time to play, and at the end of the day they had quality to play. It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain. We weren’t at the level to go to the final.”

    The 27-year-old Mbappé was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute when he rushed toward Unai Simón just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Simón to the grass.

    Mbappé started the match against Spain after exiting in the 77th minute of his team’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, when he scored his eighth goal of the tournament.

    Mbappé also scored eight goals four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final. France beat Croatia to win the World Cup eight years ago in Russia.

    “They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “Unbelievable effort by everyone.”

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Tom Cruise’s love for ‘Amores Perros’ led him to ‘Digger’


    BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Tom Cruise still remembers being in awe of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s feature directorial debut “Amores Perros,” which took home the Academy Award for best international feature film in 2001.

    “What a brilliant film. It was amazing,” Cruise told journalists at a recent press event. “Every aspect of that film was very thought out, very detailed, and you could feel the powerful human voice of someone who was incredibly skilled at what they were doing.”

    Twenty-five years later, Iñárritu and Cruise have collaborated on the highly-anticipated dark comedy “Digger.” Cruise kicked off his promotional tour for the film — and previewed a potential Hollywood awards campaign — at a trailer reveal event last week on the Warner Bros. studio lot. He greeted and posed for photos with film journalists and influencers.

    “He’s never made something like this before, nor have I,” said Cruise, who told journalists it felt as if all the skills he has developed throughout his 45-year acting career led up to his performance in the film, set for theatrical release on Oct. 2.

    Iñárritu knew the role was meant for Cruise.

    “The transformation he went through was astonishing,” said the filmmaker in a prerecorded video at Thursday’s event. “And I think we both know what it means to carry an entire career into a single moment like this. We both knew that throughout our journeys, we had never done anything even close to this.”

    The 64-year-old actor and producer stars in Iñárritu’s “Digger” alongside a cast of A-list talent like John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed and Jesse Plemons.

    Iñárritu first approached Cruise with the script and read it to him line by line over a series of days, a method Cruise says he asks of all collaborators.

    “I’m listening to everything that’s in his mind, so that I can understand that, and then I know how to contribute to it, and bring that collaboration together. And to be there with Alejandro, it was beautiful,” said the actor.

    The trailer showcases an eccentric oil baron named Digger Rockwell, played by Cruise in heavy prosthetic makeup, whose company sets off a chain of events and hijinks.

    Iñárritu says he had the idea for the film just after completing “The Revenant,” but it took him a decade to complete the story.

    “Not script, not a film, just a relentless recurring obsession that has endured through all these wild years. I knew who this character was,” said the Oscar-winning director. “I knew how he spoke, how he survived, how he seduced reality into agreeing with him … I wasn’t looking for a story. I was looking for the right way of saying it.”

    Like “The Brutalist” and “One Battle After Another,” the film was shot on VistaVision.


  • Messi vs Bellingham could be the story of the World Cup semifinal between England and Argentina


    ATLANTA (AP) — It’s England vs. Argentina in the World Cup semifinals. It’s also Lionel Messi vs. Jude Bellingham.

    The battle of the two No. 10s could be pivotal to deciding Wednesday’s match in Atlanta.

    “We know how good Messi is,” England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said of the Argentina great, whose enduring brilliance has been on show again even at the age of 39.

    Messi and Bellingham have been inspirational in their teams’ respective runs to the final four. And Wednesday’s match may well be determined by which one has the biggest say on the day.

    Messi is playing England for the first time in his storied career.

    “He’s scored so many goals and contributed to so many goals as well throughout his career, it’s great to finally go up against him,” Pickford said.

    Settling the GOAT debate

    Messi is already considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time and he seems to be on a mission to settle the debate about where he stands in the history of the sport.

    Already the all-time top scorer in the World Cup with 21 goals, he could surpass Argentina icon Diego Maradona by leading his country to back-to-back world titles.

    His eight goals in the tournament so far have been pivotal to Argentina’s run and his moments of magic have dragged his team through big scares against Cape Verde and Egypt.

    “It’s just incredible his campaign, this tournament, how he carries that team it’s just, absolutely incredible,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said of Messi. “There are no words … left for this kind of achievement, the responsibility and the quality that he shows again in this tournament.”

    Argentina’s World Cup triumph in 2022 saw Messi emulate Maradona by captaining his country to the title. Maradona lifted the trophy in 1986 and was runner-up with Argentina four years later when it lost to West Germany in the final.

    “Trying to draw inspiration from what Diego did is difficult. Only Leo can do that,” said Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister. “Diego is a national icon for us, and hopefully, we can achieve something similar to what that team did.”

    Doubts about Bellingham

    England has a talismanic No.10 of its own in the form of Bellingham, who is at the opposite end of his career to Messi.

    At the age of 23, Real Madrid star Bellingham is already playing in his second World Cup and his fourth major tournament for England. He has six goals, including two each in the last two rounds against Mexico and Norway.

    Not bad for a player who was dropped by Tuchel in the lead-up to the World Cup, prompting debate about whether he’d even be in England’s starting XI.

    There is no doubt anymore about a player who Tuchel described as “world-class” after two goals against Norway in the quarterfinals.

    Bellingham and captain Harry Kane, who also has six goals, have spearheaded England’s run to the semifinals.

    Tuchel said the duo had delivered “like crazy” at the World Cup.

    It is Bellingham, however, who has provided the biggest moments in the last two games.

    “We all strongly believe it’s a team sport and no one is doing it alone, but of course we are also relying on the world-class moments of world-class players,” Tuchel said.

    The key to victory

    Both England and Argentina will need to find a way to limit the impact of each other’s big stars.

    Tuchel said he had considered trying to man-mark Messi by deploying one player to shadow him throughout the game.

    “Everyone knows the spaces where he wants to show up. If you analyze the matches, you feel like he sees stuff just earlier than anyone else on the field,” Tuchel said. “I think we found some patterns in their game, but if you close the patterns he will find maybe a new one and create a new one. That’s a super strength. That’s just what it is.”

    If Messi is the main focus of England’s attention, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has to contend with the double threat of Bellingham and Kane.

    “We’re facing great players, two of the best in the world,” Scaloni said. “We will try our best to neutralize them. We have our weapons and we will try to prevent them from having a good game.”

    A fierce rivalry

    England vs. Argentina is a fierce rivalry that goes beyond the soccer field, with tensions also relating to the 1982 conflict over the Falkland Islands.

    There have been numerous clashes at the World Cup.

    Argentina captain Antonio Rattin, whose death was announced on Saturday, was sent off in a bad-tempered quarterfinal match against eventual champion England in 1966.

    Maradona scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal in 1986 – and England also felt aggrieved when David Beckham was sent off for kicking out against Diego Simeone in 1998 before losing in a penalty shootout.

    Most recently England beat Argentina in the group phase in 2002, with Beckham scoring from the penalty spot.

    “If a fixture provides so many iconic moments you cannot just say it’s just another football match, but as a coach we do exactly that,” Tuchel said. “We don’t speak about the historic events. We don’t speak about the iconic moments.”

    One of those iconic moments was Maradona’s second goal in the 2-1 win against England in the quarterfinals win in 1986 when he dribbled the ball from the halfway line before scoring.

    “That will be forever in our hearts. It was just such a beautiful goal,” Scaloni said. “Anybody who loves football will remember that in the best way possible.

    “It was just a coincidence that it was against England, but had it been against anybody else, it would have been just as beautiful.”

    ___

    James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Shohei Ohtani to be available for Dodgers’ weekend series at Yankees after fluid drained from knee


    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani will be a designated hitter at a minimum for this weekend’s series at the New York Yankees after having fluid drained from his left knee.

    Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday that Ohtani had the procedure to relieve irritation following Sunday’s game and that the four-time MVP was taking a few days of vacation before the season’s second half. Roberts said the two-way star did not receive an injection.

    Two-time World Series champion Los Angeles opens the second half Friday for the start of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.

    “He’s going to be in the lineup,” Roberts said before managing the National League in the All-Star Game.

    Ohtani is batting .293 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs while going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts. The four-time MVP skipped Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

    Ohtani last pitched on July 3. It isn’t yet clear whether he will pitch against the Yankees.

    “We haven’t decided that yet,” Roberts said.

    ___

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


  • In Maine, a familiar story unfolds: immigration officers fatally shot the driver of a moving vehicle


    BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — In the minutes after an immigration officer opened fire in a small coastal city in southern Maine, a now-familiar story began to unfold: another person had been shot and killed inside a moving vehicle during an immigration enforcement operation.

    The Department of Homeland Security later said the officer fired his weapon when the man they were pursuing attempted to flee the scene, threatening “public safety.”

    It’s a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers then saying they opened fire when their vehicles became a danger. That’s despite decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

    The Embassy of Colombia identified the man killed Monday in Biddeford, roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland, as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. Some friends, neighbors and an advocacy group have spelled his name “Joan.”

    Nine dead in immigration operations

    He is the ninth killed during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday she urged DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

    A person familiar with the matter told AP Tuesday that administration officials told immigration officers to suspend most vehicle stops. Some policing experts say Immigration and Customs Enforcement should never have conducted traffic stops.

    “They’re saying that all these cases are justified because the officers were in danger,” said John Sandweg, who was acting director at ICE, which is part of DHS, during the Obama administration. “But then why the hell are we putting the officer in danger by asking them to execute traffic stops?”

    Sandweg, who estimates there have been roughly 18 traffic-stop shootings during the immigration crackdown, noted there are many other places to make arrests, from homes to workplaces.

    “It becomes a much more risky and dangerous situation once you start to pursue someone,” said John Gihon, an immigration lawyer who was an attorney at ICE from 2008 to 2014. “That’s going to escalate.”

    Gihon said that during his tenure at ICE he regularly trained deportation officers about vehicle stop policies. He said officers were advised they have discretion on whether to pull over someone they are trying to arrest. But if that person refuses to get out of their car and drives away, the guidance is to let them go and track them down another day.

    “If they refuse, you are not pulling them out of the vehicle, you are not putting yourself in front of their car,” he said. “This policy is for everyone’s safety.”

    But fatal vehicle stops keep happening during Trump’s second administration.

    There was Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, shot during a late-night traffic stop in South Texas in March 2025, and Renee Good, a mother of three shot and killed in January as she drove her car through the streets of a Minneapolis residential neighborhood amid growing anti-crackdown protests.

    Last week, it was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican builder shot and killed as he drove his crew to a worksite in Houston, where he had lived and worked for decades.

    Shooting into moving vehicles creates danger for all who are near

    Each time, officials insisted the federal officers had fired because they feared they or someone else could be killed by the vehicles.

    “Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X after Good was killed. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”

    That shooting was captured on multiple bystander videos that contradicted the administration’s narrative and prompted widespread anger and protests against the officers’ use of deadly force.

    Much remains unknown about the others.

    Officers were not wearing body cameras in the Salgado Araujo or the Durán Guerrero killings, despite DHS announcing months ago that it would outfit all officers with cameras.

    Geoffrey P. Alpert, an expert on policing at the University of South Carolina, said without video evidence, investigators must rely on witness statements.

    “There’s certainly a pattern, a practice, a trend that is disturbing,” Alpert said, adding that police departments decades ago began prohibiting officers from shooting into moving cars because if the driver is injured or killed, they can lose control, turning the vehicle into “an unguided missile,” threatening anyone nearby.

    “Every bullet needs to be understood: why was it fired. Every time an officer pulls the trigger, we need to know why,” Alpert said. “We talked about that last time, and we’ll talk about that the next time.”

    Texas lawmaker notes conflicting descriptions of Houston shooting

    Doubts are already swirling about the official story the administration told about the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Salgado Araujo in Houston.

    DHS officials said in a statement that the Mexican national ignored commands and was trying to evade arrest, then attempted to ram his car into an officer, who opened fire in self-defense.

    Rep. Sylvia Garcia said she visited the facility where the men who were in the vehicle with Salgado Araujo are being held and spoke to two of them, raising “many alarming questions” about the administration’s claims.

    “Here’s the deal. I visited with them separately, and their stories were consistent, and paint a totally, totally conflicting version of the events,” Garcia said. They said that at no time were any of the ICE officers in front of the vehicle. Instead, they told her the officers were on the passenger side and shot Salgado Araujo, who was driving, through the passenger side window. The window had been open because the vehicle’s air conditioning was broken.

    The DHS story quickly shifted

    What exactly led to the deadly shooting in Maine remains unclear. Officers were in Biddeford, surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country, then tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, DHS said.

    Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said DHS Secretary Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers.

    But nearly 12 hours after Durán Guerrero was killed, that story shifted: DHS issued a statement saying the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

    When asked about the contrasting statements, King told CNN an investigation would reveal the truth.

    The state’s Office of the Attorney General announced it would investigate the shooting in coordination with federal authorities, promised transparency and encouraged witnesses to come forward.

    On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters gathered near an ICE facility in Scarborough, Maine. They held up a large banner reading “No more ICE killings” and signs saying “stop the murder” and “end this terror.”

    “We need to never see this happen in the streets of Biddeford, Maine, and in this country,” said Democratic state Sen. Mattie Daughtry, said during the protest. “Never forget the human toll of what has happened here in Maine, in Minnesota, in Texas.”

    ___

    Santana reported from Washington, D.C., Sullivan from Minneapolis and Galofaro from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press reporters Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, and Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed.


  • Spain shuts down France and Kylian Mbappé, advances to the World Cup final with a 2-0 victory


    ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Spain’s defensive prowess and swagger were just too much for an attacking trio led by France great Kylian Mbappé, and just enough to get the 2010 champions into another World Cup final.

    The Spanish team managed a record sixth shutout in seven games so far, winning 2-0 in the semifinals Tuesday against one of the most prolific scorers in World Cup history.

    Teenager Lamine Yamal certainly was correct when he said France should fear Spain. That despite FIFA’s top-ranked team being led by Mbappé — their captain with 20 goals in his 20 World Cup games before the semifinals — Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise, who has a tournament-high five assists.

    “We were up against one of the best national teams in the world, but today, they were facing the best team in the world,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.

    Mikel Oyarzabal scored from the penalty spot after a heady play by Yamal drew a foul, and Pedro Porro added another goal to put Spain in its second World Cup final.

    A day after his 19th birthday, Yamal was denied a goal on a close offside call that came soon after Porro’s give-and-go with Dani Olmo in the 58th minute had put Spain up 2-0. But it was Yamal’s smart play against a veteran defender that gave Spain the early lead.

    Spain will face either defending champion Argentina or England on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York City.

    “So difficult to get to this moment, but we want more,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “We want to win this World Cup.”

    After trying to become only the third team to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, France instead will play in the third-place game in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday.

    “Spain has been able to defend well,” departing France coach Didier Deschamps said through a translator. “They’ve closed out all the spaces and also we’ve made some technical mistakes. So it is difficult to create problems when the technical level is below standard.”

    Argentina and England play Wednesday in Atlanta in the second powerhouse semifinal match.

    This win on soccer’s biggest stage marked the third summer in a row that Spain beat France in a tournament semifinal match. Yamal scored in a 2-1 win in the 2024 European Championship semifinals just days before his 17th birthday, and La Roja won 5-4 in Nations League play last year.

    Yamal was quick to point out that France should be concerned after Spain’s quarterfinal win over Belgium set up another semifinal matchup.

    “It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball. That’s what we let them do,” said Mbappé, who got none of his three shots on target. “It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain.”

    Spain has outscored opponents 12-1 since a scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play. The lone goal allowed by goalkeeper Unai Simón was in the quarterfinal game against Belgium that snapped his World Cup record of 650 scoreless minutes.

    This World Cup run has extended Spain’s unbeaten streak in regular time to 37 matches (28 wins and nine draws) since March 2024. That broke the country’s previous record of 35 in a row from 2007-09.

    The loss broke France’s record-matching streak of six consecutive World Cup wins, which the team also accomplished in the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

    Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute came after Yamal drew a foul when kicked by defender Lucas Digne.

    After a poor first touch with his head, Digne was trying to clear the ball when Yamal raced in from behind to challenge in the penalty area. The ball hit off the elbow of the leaping teen before he was kicked by Digne, playing in his 63rd game for France only six days before his 33rd birthday.

    Oyarzabal’s fifth goal of this year’s World Cup marked the first time either team had trailed in their seven games in this tournament. It was his 30th goal in 60 international games for Spain.

    For the second goal, Porro broke free and received a pass back from Olmo, who got the touch just before getting knocked off his feet by defender Dayot Upamecano.

    “We knew that we’re a very tough team, we’re doing things really well,” Porro said.

    France allowed only two goals in its first six games in this tournament.

    Spain had two other real scoring chances in the first half.

    There was the a free kick from just beyond the box after Adrien Rabiot drew a yellow card for a foul on Olmo in the eighth minute. Alex Baena’s kick went directly into the wall of French players.

    After France goalkeeper Mike Maignan’s attempted clearing pass in the 38th minute instead went straight to Baena, there were several quick passes before Fabian Ruiz’s close-range shot was denied on a nifty play by Upamecano.

    Mbappé, who is tied with Argentina great Lionel Messi with a tournament-high eight goals and leads the race for the Golden Boot on the assist tiebreaker, still has the third-place match to add to his tally. Messi has two games left in his sixth World Cup to try to win the Golden Boot and also increase his overall record of 21 goals at the tournament.

    “As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility and I have no problem with that,” Mbappé said. “We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Mystery bidder buys T. rex nicknamed ‘Gus’ for a record $50 million


    NEW YORK (AP) — A Tyrannosaurus rex fossil billed as one of the world’s largest and most complete specimens was sold for a record $50.1 million Tuesday to a mystery bidder.

    Sotheby’s said the 67-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed “Gus,” is now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned off, besting the almost $45 million price tag for a nearly complete stegosaurus sold by the same New York auction house in 2024. The previous record holder had been a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed “Stan” that sold for nearly $32 million in 2020.

    “Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that’s been excavated, documented, prepared, and cared for with real excellence,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chair, said after the sale was completed. “The market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the right way.”

    Why the bidding for this T. rex was intense

    Standing upright with its tail extended and right foot slightly raised, “Gus” is an adult dinosaur specimen measuring about 12 ½ feet (3.8 meters) tall and 38 feet (11.5 meters) long.

    He’s about 61% complete, with what Sotheby’s describes as an “exceptionally preserved” skull including a gaping jaw of powerful teeth, two “well represented” feet and a number of rarely found bones, including a furcula, or wishbone.

    The fossil was discovered in 2021 on a ranch in South Dakota and named in honor of property owner Gary Licking, who died during the roughly five year excavation, restoration and mounting process.

    The auction house said the winner, who participated by phone and wants to remain anonymous, outbid six other prospective buyers during Tuesday’s 10-minute bidding battle. The piece had been estimated to fetch anywhere from $20 to $30 million ahead of the sale.

    “Try a bigger bite,” auctioneer Phyllis Kao cajoled the bidders at one point during the auction, which was conducted live and online. “It’s a T. rex, after all.”

    Scientists want ‘Gus’ on public display

    The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an advocacy group of scientists, scholars and students, said scientifically significant fossils such as “Gus” should be publicly displayed in museums and other research institutions so that they can be “preserved, documented, and accessible for future generations.”

    “Our hope is that the new owner recognizes the extraordinary scientific and educational value of Gus the T. rex and that they aim to keep it in the public trust by immediately donating it to an accredited natural history museum,” Kristi Curry Rogers, the society’s president-elect, said in a statement Tuesday. “That outcome would ensure that this remarkable specimen continues to advance science, rather than becoming unavailable for study.”

    Indeed, “Apex,” the stegosaurus, the previous dinosaur fossil record-holder, is currently on long-term loan to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. “Sue” the T. rex, the first dinosaur ever sold at auction in 1997, also by Sotheby’s, is a centerpiece of the Field Museum in Chicago.

    And “Stan” is on display at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, posed in combat with another fossilized T. rex over the remains of a triceratops.

    A Cretaceous king and Hollywood staple

    Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name roughly translates to “King of the Tyrant Lizards,” stood firmly at the top of the food chain when it ruled during the late Cretaceous period.

    With its fearsome jawline and comically stubby arms, it has become the most recognizable and beloved of the dinosaurs, depicted in everything from children’s programs like Barney, the purple T. rex, to the enduring “Jurassic Park” movie franchise.

    The great beasts roamed what is today western North America, during a time when the region boasted “warm climates, high sea levels, and rich coastal floodplains” that allowed their primary prey, giant herbivores like the triceratops, to flourish, according to Sotheby’s.


  • Subaru issues recall for 541,000 SUVs over label with incorrect weight rating


    NEW YORK (AP) — Subaru of America is recalling more than 541,000 of its Crosstrek, Forester, and Ascent SUVs due to an inaccurate label attached to the vehicles.

    According to a notice published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week, the now-recalled vehicles were made with a certification label that incorrectly states their gross axle weight rating, or GAWR, which reflects the maximum weight that each axle of a vehicle can support.

    The NHTSA warns a wrong GAWR label “may lead to an overloaded vehicle,” which could increase the likelihood of a crash.

    Subaru has not been aware of any crashes or injuries resulting from this issue in the U.S., according to recall documents. And no mechanical repair is needed — but the company plans to mail impacted owners a “corrective certification label” to place over the faulty one. Customers may also choose to have a dealer place the new label on their cars, free of charge.

    The labeling recall covers certain 2026 Crosstrek Hybrid, 2025-2026 Forester and Forester Hybrid, and 2019-2026 Ascent vehicles.

    Owner notifications are set to go out in late August — and additional letters will be mailed “once the remedy is available,” NHTSA documents note. In the meantime, drivers can also confirm whether their specific vehicle is included in this recall and find more information using the NHTSA’s website and/or Subaru’s recall lookup platform.

    The Associated Press reached out to contacts for Subaru of America — a New Jersey-based subsidiary of the larger Japanese automaker — for further comments Tuesday.


  • Elon Musk likely broke the law by promising voters $1 million payouts, Wisconsin board says


    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk likely broke Wisconsin law when he promised to hand out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election, a bipartisan panel has found.

    The Wisconsin Elections Commission last week referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney’s office, which can choose to bring criminal charges over violating the state law against election bribery. Prosecutors have 40 days to report back to the commission.

    Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, was deeply involved in the effort to flip majority control of the highest court in battleground Wisconsin.

    The tech titan and groups he supported spent at least $20 million on the candidate backed by Republicans, Brad Schimel. However, he lost by 10 percentage points to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford.

    A month after the lopsided loss, Musk announced that he would be spending far less on political campaigns. Spending on the election topped $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.

    Prosecutors will decide if Musk should be charged over the $1 million checks

    The complaints, which are confidential under state law, were brought by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, which is in Brown County. Musk handed out checks at a rally there just days before the election.

    The Wisconsin Elections Commission, consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 in closed session on Thursday to refer the complaints to the district attorney, the commission’s spokesperson Emilee Miklas said.

    Brown County District Attorney David Lasee, a Republican, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

    The motion approved by the elections commission said it found probable cause that Musk broke Wisconsin law by making a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the Supreme Court election “in order to induce them to vote in that election.”

    Spokespeople for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Musk gave $1 million checks to 3 Wisconsin voters

    Three Wisconsin voters received checks from Musk, including two who got them in person at the Green Bay rally. Two weeks before the election, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, offered $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to “activist judges,” or referred someone to sign it.

    Crawford’s win kept liberals in control of the state Supreme Court, and their majority grew to 5-2 after Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor’s victory this year.

    Musk’s spending on the 2025 race has already resulted in one lawsuit filed by a government watchdog group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which seeks to prohibit him from ever again offering cash payments in the state.

    That lawsuit is pending in Brown County. It alleges that Musk and two groups he funds violated prohibitions on vote bribery and unauthorized lotteries and that his actions were an unlawful conspiracy and public nuisance.

    Attempts to stop Musk failed in 2025

    Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general sued to stop Musk from handing over the checks to two voters, but was rejected by state courts.

    Musk’s attorneys argued in legal filings in 2025 that Musk was exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions.

    The payments are “intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate,” Musk’s attorneys argued in court filings.

    Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the 2024 presidential election, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second amendments. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.