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  • Haaland scores deciding goal as Norway wins its 1st World Cup knockout game, beating Ivory Coast 2-1


    ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Erling Haaland savored the moment after Norway won a knockout game at the World Cup for the first time, a celebration that included a horned helmet atop his head and again sitting on the field with teammates to do the Viking Row in synch with their red-clad fans.

    “This is unbelievable. This is history,” Haaland said on the field after the game.

    A slight tap from Haaland’s left foot in the 86th minute was the difference as Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1 on Tuesday, setting up another World Cup match against five-time champion Brazil — 28 years after a victory that many consider the greatest ever for the Norwegians.

    For now, they prefer to enjoy their latest accomplishment.

    “What we’re going to think about now is to enjoy the win today. We’re really happy and proud of ourselves,” said Martin Odeegaard, the team’s captain who banged the drum to set the pace for the postgame row. “Hopefully we can keep dreaming and keep believing and keep performing like we did.”

    Antonio Nusa scored the opening goal in the first half with a curling kick for Norway, which in its fourth World Cup will next play in the round of 16 against Brazil on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

    “This is really a dream come true,” Nusa said in translated remarks.

    Norway is in its first World Cup since that 1998 appearance, when the team got to the knockout round only after scoring goals in the 83rd and 89th minutes for an incredible 2-1 comeback win over then-reigning World Cup champion Brazil in the group finale.

    Amad Diallo, who had prevented Norway from taking a two-goal lead earlier in the second half, evened the match for Ivory Coast with a left-footed kick in the 74th minute.

    Even after Haaland’s go-ahead goal, his Norway-record 60th in 53 matches, Ivory Coast kept pressing and had a chance to equalize with a direct free kick by Diallo in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Orjan Nyland made a leaping stop, the last of his four saves, when he deflected the ball away as he extended his left hand across his body.

    “After their equalizer, it was easy to panic. But we got our players in the right position and managed to play our game again,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said.

    Haaland’s 27 touches were the fewest of any Norway player who played the full match, but he was open after three defenders converged when Patrick Berg moved into the penalty area with the ball before making a quick pass. It was a slow roll over the line after coming off the foot of Haaland, who lunged forward as if he might have to kick it again.

    It was his Haaland’s fifth goal in three games at this year’s tournament. That is one behind Lionel Messi, who has six for Argentina and scored three of those in two group games at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

    Haaland, who won the Golden Boot in the Premier League last season with 27 goals for Manchester City, has scored in 13 straight competitive international games — a total of 25 goals in that span.

    The youthful Elephants, ranked 31st by FIFA, had never before won twice in the same World Cup. This was the fourth World Cup appearance for the West African nation, the same as Norway.

    “We are proud for what we achieved,” Diallo said. “But a big disappointment because we knew we have quality in the team, we have players that can make a difference anytime.”

    Nusa scored his first World Cup goal in the 39th minute when he took a few strides past the left corner of the penalty area and sent a right-footed kick between two defenders toward the far post.

    Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana made a diving attempt at the ball that was just beyond his extended reach, and he was still in air when he turned his head back to see the ball curl into the net. It was Nusa’s ninth international goal in 28 games for Norway.

    Diallo evened the score at 1-1 after a give-and-go with Nicolas Pepe, who had scored both Ivory Coast goals in its previous game and was stopped by Nyland in the 55th minute. Diallo found space for his left-footed blast.

    That came only about eight minutes after Torbjorn Heggen had a shot for Norway that was deflected away by Diallo, who was right next to his keeper.

    Nusa’s yellow card in stoppage time before the half set up a free kick by Pepe, but the ensuing header went left of the post.

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Trump administration seeks to stomp out all fires quickly, reviving policy that has been discredited


    The deaths of three U.S. government firefighters in a Colorado wildfire are casting a spotlight on the Trump administration’s creation of a new federal fire service and its revival of a previously discredited policy to stomp out all wildfires quickly.

    One of the killed firefighters worked for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, established this year without customary congressional approval by drawing personnel from four agencies within the Interior Department. The victims were part of an elite, helicopter-based crew that got trapped Saturday in a fast-growing wildfire near the Utah border as they attacked the blaze on the ground.

    Five firefighters, including the ones who died, tried to shield themselves by deploying tentlike emergency shelters as flames overran their position. The two survivors were hospitalized with burn injuries.

    The consolidation of thousands of personnel into the fire service has sown confusion among some firefighters about who their bosses are and what their responsibilities should be, according to former government officials.

    And the administration’s focus on “full suppression” of new fires marks a sharp reversal from a decades-long trend toward embracing flames as a tool — to burn off old vegetation and growth that acts like fuel and lessen the risk of catastrophic blazes being stoked by a warming planet.

    The changes benefit private fire aviation companies that are key to hitting blazes fast.

    Federal officials have not released details on the circumstances preceding the weekend deaths, including the firefighters’ objective at the site where they were overrun.

    “The question is, why were they attacking that fire in the first place?” asked Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter and cofounder of the advocacy group Firefighters United For Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “What was actually at risk? If it was a bunch of shrubs on remote mountaintops, what was the real risk that justified putting those firefighters at risk?”

    98% of fires are extinguished

    Wildfires ignited over the past week all across the West following months of dry weather and a record lack of snow in some places. Authorities in southern Colorado said Tuesday that a wind-driven fire northwest of Colorado City had burned more than 35 square miles (90 square kilometers) and destroyed more than 150 structures, including at least 55 homes.

    Under an order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the Wildland Fire Service plans to use full suppression “for every wildfire under its management,” federal officials said in a statement to The Associated Press.

    “Any wildfire that represents a threat to life, property, infrastructure or the environment should be extinguished as quickly as possible,” the statement said. “Our experienced fire managers retain the authority to select the safest and most effective tactics based on conditions on the ground.”

    But critics say the administration is trying to fix something that isn’t broken: The four agencies the firefighters were drawn from — the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Park Service — have a record of extinguishing 98% of the fires they handle.

    The new agency and policy won’t eliminate catastrophic wildfires that occur due to dense forests where people are increasingly moving and extreme weather caused by climate change, said Steve Ellis, who retired as a Bureau of Land Management deputy director. Land managers must be a part of the solution, he said.

    “Severing forest management and forest managers from fire suppression will make firefighting less safe and put communities at greater risk,” Ellis said.

    The two other wildland firefighters killed in Colorado worked for the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, which handles most U.S. wildfires and is also operating under a full suppression policy. Trump had wanted the new agency to include Forest Service firefighters, but Congress blocked that part of the plan.

    Fire aviation companies pushed for the consolidation

    Under Trump, federal officials have been bringing in aircraft more quickly once fires ignite, said Austin Moeller, an aerospace analyst for the investment firm Canaccord Genuity.

    “Anyone that has an air tanker benefits from this more aggressive contracting activity,” Moeller said.

    A chief beneficiary is Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based company founded by U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy. Before his 2024 election, Sheehy hired lobbyists in a failed attempt to persuade the Montana Legislature to create a statewide fire service analogous to the one just created at the federal level. Within a month of taking federal office, he sponsored a bill to codify the consolidation of federal firefighters into one agency.

    Sheehy stepped away from his company during the 2024 campaign and put his Bridger assets into a blind trust, said Sheehy spokesman Tate Mitchell.

    Mitchell said Trump was behind the idea to create a new fire agency, but Sheehy supports it.

    “One of Senator Sheehy’s top priorities in the Senate is using his experience to stop the catastrophic fires destroying American communities and he won’t apologize for it,” Mitchell said.

    Bridger describes itself as one of the nation’s leading aerial firefighting companies. CEO Sam Davis has said the company’s fleet of Super Scooper aircraft, its surveillance aircraft and its fire observation technology make it “uniquely positioned” to respond to the renewed emphasis on attacking fires to put them out.

    New full suppression policy dates back decades

    The aircraft will help the administration’s new full suppression policy, which harkens back to a 1935 policy known as the 10 a.m. rule because it required agencies to put out new fires by 10 a.m. the following day.

    Michael Dudley, a retired director of fire, aviation and air management at the Forest Service, said that old policy is why forests today are overgrown.

    Wildfires serve a purpose — they clear out the small and dead material. But officials became so good at putting out fires that the forests kept growing and more fuels built up, so when a fire hits now, it’s easy for it to get out of control, he said.

    Scientists who study wildfires say trying to stop all fires is unrealistic since some of the most destructive blazes in recent years have evaded efforts to put them out. Some fires simply grow too fast, are too remote, or result from multiple ignitions that makes them impossible to stop.

    “The narrative that if we just try harder, we’re gonna make these fires go away isn’t true,” said former Forest Service wildfire researcher David Calkin. “The fire paradox is not beatable: The more you make fire go away, the more fuel accumulates. The more fuel accumulates, the harder it is to make fires go away.”

    Firefighters: New agency needs work

    Firefighters in the consolidated agency are working under newly appointed Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy, who had served as chief of California’s Orange County Fire Authority since 2018.

    “There’s a level of confusion as everyone’s trying to sort out responsibilities and who’s in charge and who do you report to,” Dudley said.

    An Interior spokesperson said Fennessy was highly respected with decades of experience, including managing some of the nation’s most complex fire challenges in densely-populated southern California.

    Luke Mayfield, a founder of the group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, said he believes the consolidation will better serve firefighters, but significant work remains to get the new agency fully running.

    “Everyone was aware of the potential fuel and fire conditions we face this fire season,” Mayfield said. “Those conditions are surfacing and have resulted in firefighter fatalities with weather conditions that won’t let up in the near future.”


  • New Trump book, ‘Regime Change,’ has sold 300,000 copies, with more being printed, publisher says


    It turns out readers still want to learn more about President Donald Trump after all.

    “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” the l atest book on the Trump presidency, written by political journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, has sold more than 300,000 copies in its opening week, according to publisher Simon & Schuster.

    They’re the kind of sales that numerous works about Trump reached during his first term, but had been rare during his second term. Publishers had speculated that the public had tired of Trump books, believing there was little left to know.

    The total figures include preorders, print book sales, ebooks, and e-audiobooks and orders that have yet to be fulfilled because of demand, the publishing house said. Simon & Schuster said the book is into its third hard copy printing, with 200,000 copies on order, after it sold out quickly in bookstores and on Amazon. It’s the best first-week clip of any hardcover nonfiction book in 2026.

    The book covers the first 14 months of Trump’s second presidency and takes readers inside the West Wing, White House residence and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, aboard Air Force One and on foreign trips with the president.

    Trump, who has a long history with Haberman from her days covering him as a New York City business and society figure, has trashed the book as “mostly made up.” Haberman and Swan are now New York Times reporters.

    Their manuscript depicts meticulous details of Trump’s military decisions, how he’s wielded the power of the Justice Department against his political opponents, his conversations with other power players, and the time and attention he’s devoted to remaking the aesthetics and structure of the White House.

    The book spells out a thesis that Trump himself believes: Had he not lost the 2020 election, he would not be as powerful in his second term as he is now — emboldening him to trample norms, dismantle established institutions and push the limits of presidential power.

    Haberman and Swan have been featured regularly across news talk shows promoting the book and sharing details of their reporting, including a sit-down with Trump in which he boasted about being compared to some of history’s great villains.

    Sean Manning, vice president and publisher at Simon & Schuster, said the book “has entered the national conversation” and will hold up as “a work of historic importance.”


  • What, like it’s hard? Newcomer Lexi Minetree put in the work to play a teen Elle Woods in ‘Elle’


    When Lexi Minetree auditioned for the part of a teenage Elle Woods in a “Legally Blonde” prequel series for Prime Video, she went for it with the determination and creativity that the character herself used to apply to Harvard Law School in the original film.

    Minetree, said “Elle” executive producer Lauren Neustadter, “actually recreated her own version of the Harvard admission video featured in the 2001 movie that starred Reese Witherspoon, “and she hit it out of the park.”

    The preparation to play Elle in the series debuting on Wednesday, didn’t stop there. Minetree says she watched “Legally Blonde” about “200 times at this point,” studying Witherspoon’s performance, but steering clear of an outright impression of the Oscar winner.

    “Reese brought her essence to the character,” Minetree said. “And that is something that no one could ever replicate. It would be a disservice if I tried to do that, so I tried to bring the parts of myself that I thought were reflected in Elle.”

    A fish out of water

    In “Legally Blonde,” we met Elle as a sorority girl who applies to Harvard Law School, gets accepted, and is a star in her class.

    “When I read the script it reminded me a lot of old Goldie Hawn movies, or ‘Working Girl,’ Witherspoon told The AP in 2001. “You think this girl is certainly not very smart because of the way she speaks and the way she looks, and then she just turns the tables on everybody and becomes smarter than everyone, and I just love that.”

    Like the film, “Elle” underscores that people don’t have to sacrifice their true selves in order to achieve success.

    How we meet Minetree’s Elle is at her blowout 16th birthday party, shortly before her parents (played by Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael) break the news that they’re all moving to Seattle.

    The students at her new school are less than friendly and shun Elle’s sunny disposition and pink attire. This is Seattle in 1995 and both grunge music and its culture are everything. Even the cheerleaders wear flannel. It takes time for the student’s to warm up to their new classmate, whose ice breaker is “I like iced coffee, the month of July and when people dress kind of tennis-y even if they don’t play tennis.”

    “Such an integral part of the ‘Legally Blonde’ IP is not judging a book by its cover,” said Chandler Kinney, who plays Kimberly, one of Elle’s schoolmates who is particularly judgy — at first.

    The lasting influence of ‘Legally Blonde’

    The time seemed right to explore more of Elle’s story when Witherspoon noticed the pressures young women feel to live up to unrealistic standards curated online. Studies have linked social media to mental health issues among teens.

    Witherspoon “really saw what was happening to young women,” said Neustadter of Witherspoon’s desire to explore the character as a young woman. “She felt like this was the right moment to give Elle to the next generation.”

    “Elle reminds us that we should feel good about being ourselves, feel proud of who we are and to be kind and good to others. It feels like a good reminder for this moment in time.”

    Telling an origin story of this character just makes sense, Raphael said. We’ve seen prequels about all kinds of male characters — but “we rarely get to do that with the iconic female characters that we love,” she said.

    A surprise cast member
    — James Van Der Beek

    Viewers will recognize a familiar face in the first season of “Elle.” James Van Der Beek, who died in February after a diagnosis of bowel cancer, plays Dean Wilson, superintendent of Elle’s new school and a mayoral candidate.

    Raphael had the most scenes with Van Der Beek and says it was an honor to share scenes with him.

    ”It’s so special to me,” she said. “His work on the show is so lovely, and he is such a lovely person. I’d never met him before, and I was so excited to work with him. I was really blown away by his charm and his charisma and mainly his ease.”

    More ‘Elle’ is coming

    Season 2 of “Elle” wrapped filming earlier this month, and Minetree is happy viewers won’t have to wait long to see a continuation to the story.

    “Honestly, Season 2, it’s so good,” Minetree said. “Season 1 is amazing, but season 2 might be better.”

    There are also plans to make a third “Legally Blonde” film starring Witherspoon.

    “Absolutely, we’re on it,” Neustadter said. “Don’t you worry. We’re in the kitchen we’re cooking something up.”


  • Forecasters cite ‘dangerous’ conditions as heat scorches Midwest while on its way to the East


    DETROIT (AP) — Nature’s oven was on high Tuesday for millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes states as intense heat and humidity baked the regions with no immediate relief before the misery shifts to the eastern U.S.

    The National Weather Service was blunt: Conditions were “dangerous” as the heat index, a combination of air temperature and humidity, exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) in some areas. It warned about a risk for heat-related illnesses, especially among people without air conditioning.

    Detroit’s air temperature was in the high 90s, the Weather Service said, and could even reach 100 at some point through Thursday. The city said a dozen recreation centers were open, some until 11 p.m., for people to cool off. Big chunks of Michigan, as well as Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and much of Iowa, were under an extreme heat warning.

    The Northeast, including New York City and Boston, will next feel major heat through the Fourth of July holiday. Norristown, Pennsylvania, 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Philadelphia, canceled a Saturday parade because of the weather.

    Philadelphia declared a heat emergency, Wednesday through Saturday, and said 50 cooling centers will operate with extended hours. The city said visitors will find misting tents, water refill stations and medical stations at the free World Cup fan festival at East Fairmount Park.

    When the heat’s on, people adjust

    The Chicago History Museum offered free admission to state residents who wanted a cool space Tuesday. Roads in a few places in Illinois buckled under the heat. When the surface has no room to expand in the heat, it can rise and crack.

    At 9:15 a.m., window washer Stephen Mason, 72, was wiping mayflies off glass at a Detroit convenience store. He got an early start to avoid the worst conditions of the day, but it was already 85 (29.4 C).

    “It’s the only way to beat it. But it’s already starting to cook out here,” Mason said.

    Adam Schubatis, 36, a runner who was shirtless in Detroit’s Indian Village neighborhood, said he was cutting his route to 6 miles (9.6 kilometers).

    “I know where all the drinking fountains are,” he said. “My wife thought I was crazy. She offered to pick me up if I got tired or if there was anything I was doing that wasn’t safe.”

    A dog’s day can be ‘miserable’

    In Milwaukee, more than 100 firefighters spent hours controlling a fire at a school in the extreme heat. Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said crews were rotating and shedding their thick coats while they rehydrated.

    Overnight low temperatures were in the 70s (21-26.7 C) in many places, which doesn’t give the body a chance to cool down naturally, said Dr. Kisha Davis, health officer for Montgomery County, Maryland.

    “The heat stress will compound day after day,” said Davis, who added that alcohol and soda, popular holiday drinks, are dehydrating.

    In Jackson, Mississippi, where the afternoon heat index exceeded 100 F (37.7 C), massive fans tried to keep about 100 dogs cool at an old mattress warehouse that serves as a shelter for Community Animal Rescue and Adoption.

    “It’s miserable. … We try to keep everybody hydrated back there. Dogs and people,” said kennel manager Raquel Burney.

    Cooling it forward

    George Liller, 64, was a hero in Grosse Pointe Park, a Detroit suburb. He added air conditioning to his home, so he offered a window unit for free on Facebook — extension cord and remote control included.

    “It was probably on my porch maybe 15 minutes,” Liller said. “That air conditioner was given to me. I thought, ‘Somebody needs it.’ I know how it feels to be in an old house when it’s this hot.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Sophie Bates in Jackson, Mississippi, Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., contributed.


  • Federal board offers $3B settlement to restructure Puerto Rico power company debt


    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances announced Tuesday that it has offered a $3 billion settlement to bondholders in a new push to finally restructure more than $10 billion in debt held by the U.S. territory’s power company.

    The board is proposing paying cash and offering the issuance of new bonds to bondholders that have not settled and are seeking some $8.5 billion in claims.

    The proposed settlement represents $1.4 billion more than previously offered.

    Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority has been trying to restructure its debt for roughly a decade, after the U.S. territory announced in 2015 that it was unable to pay its more than $70 billion debt load. That prompted U.S. Congress to create the federal board in 2016. A year later, Puerto Rico’s government filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

    Since then, the board and bondholders of the power company’s debt have been at odds over compensation, with multiple mediation attempts failing.

    “Puerto Rico must be able to close this last chapter of its fiscal crisis and move forward,” said Robert F. Mujica Jr., the board’s executive director.

    He stressed that restructuring the company’s debt “is essential to Puerto Rico’s recovery — to the reliable, affordable electricity and the new investment its residents and businesses deserve.”

    The board said it has not yet identified the source to finance the proposed settlement.

    Some worry that the source of funds could come from an increase in power bills, which already are among the highest in any U.S. jurisdiction as chronic outages persist.

    The board noted that previous agreements reached with several creditors and some bondholders in the power company’s case remain in place.

    The board said that overall, it has completed 12 debt restructurings for Puerto Rico’s government, eliminating more than $55 billion in debt payments over 40 years.

    ___

    Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america


  • Iran heads home after a heartbreaking World Cup knockout, but fans say players should be proud


    TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The Iranian national team left North America on Tuesday, departing from its World Cup home in Mexico following a tournament marked by repeated disagreements with U.S. officials, flashes of athletic brilliance and, ultimately, disappointment over barely missing out on advancing beyond the group stage.

    The players return to a homeland still in the grips of an unresolved conflict with Israel and the United States. But their fans say they should be proud.

    “I think even though they lost, it gave people a sense of hope,” said Mohammad Modarres, 38, who traveled from San Diego to bid the team farewell.

    Heartbreak over missed chances

    After its three group stage matches ended in draws, Iran’s World Cup future depended on either Algeria or Austria winning their match on Saturday.

    Watching from the lobby of their Tijuana hotel, the team erupted in celebration when Algeria took the lead in stoppage time.

    “I’ve never seen a room explode like that,” said Kimia Ranjbar, 25, a lifelong fan of Team Melli who had driven down from the Los Angeles area. But minutes later, Austria tied the game again, leaving the lobby in dismayed silence.

    It was the last of many disappointments throughout the tournament, including when a late goal by Shoja Khalilzadeh gave Iran the lead in its last match, against Egypt, before being ruled offside.

    Facing challenging circumstances

    Distractions abounded off the pitch before and during the tournament, beginning with questions over whether Team Melli would even be allowed to play in light of Iran’s war with the U.S. and Israel. What followed was Iran’s denied request to move its matches to Mexico, a relocation of its base camp from Arizona, and the U.S.’s refusal to grant visas to key members of the Iranian team’s staff. The U.S. also rejected Iran’s request to travel to the U.S. two days before its Los Angeles matches, though it relaxed some restrictions for Iran’s last match.

    During a World Cup security briefing Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that the U.S. had made several accommodations for Iran’s travel and repeated assertions that many of the people Iran originally requested to travel with the team to the U.S. were associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

    “I’m just glad they’re done and they’re not coming back,” Mullin said, adding that he “might have sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance.”

    FIFA did not respond to request for comment.

    In a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, the Iranian team said Mullin’s remarks showed a lack of commitment to international law and the basic standards expected to host a global tournament.

    “The fact that he openly celebrates Iran’s elimination says far more about him than it does about our team. It reflects a level of pettiness that cannot even tolerate the presence of a football team competing on the world’s biggest stage,” said the team, which declined requests to interview players and staff.

    Before decamping Tuesday, the team thanked Mexico and Tijuana for their “kindness” but questioned its treatment at the tournament by the U.S.

    “What we experienced was a series of decisions, logistical arrangements, and circumstances that undermined the sense of fairness — an impression only reinforced by the events of the final matchday of our group,” the team said in a statement.

    Members of the Iranian diaspora were also divided about whether supporting the team showed tacit backing for Iran’s theocratic government, which many of them oppose. Some wanted to keep politics and sports separate.

    “You don’t see someone screaming at (U.S. soccer star) Christian Pulisic for something Trump does,” Modarres said.

    Though the team spoke out against its travel restrictions, it avoided commenting directly on the war. But it didn’t shy away from spotlighting the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school at the start of the conflict.

    Players wore pins with the number “168” when they first landed in Mexico, referencing the number of people, mostly children, killed in the attack, which was likely launched by the U.S. They left a note in the locker room at Los Angeles Stadium, calling for peace “among all nations” and with the hashtags #168 and #minab, the school’s name.

    Sherry Ghaemi, an Iranian living in Los Angeles, called their stand for the young victims “honorable.”

    New friendships are forged

    Amid the strife, players tried to focus on the sport. There were high notes, like when goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand made seven saves to hold Belgium to a scoreless draw, and when Ramin Rezaeian scored off the outside of his boot to equalize against New Zealand.

    “They’re going home not as losers, they’re going home as winners,” said Ghaemi. “We’re proud of them.”

    Meeting some of the players was a thrill for Siavash Khosrowshahi, a 32-year-old Iranian American who drove from Los Angeles to Tijuana on Sunday, the day after the team was eliminated.

    “It’s been really tough and stressful,” Khosrowshahi said of the months since the U.S. and Israel started the war. There were times during the conflict when he couldn’t reach his parents in Tehran — but not Sunday, when he called his mother from the hotel and surprised her by putting Beiranvand on the phone.

    “It’s a source of happiness for her,” he said.

    Iranians and Mexicans also deepened a bond, as Tijuana embraced the team throughout its visit.

    “Irán, hermano, ya eres Mexicano!” fans chanted in Spanish whenever they saw Team Melli: “Iran, brother, now you are Mexican!”

    “Iran is taking home the best of our country, and this city, which is the way in which outsiders are received,” said Arely Ramírez, a Tijuana resident who turned up at the team’s hotel Sunday hoping to meet some of the players.

    The feeling was mutual.

    “We’re leaving Tijuana today, but our heart and soul stay here,” head coach Amir Ghalenoei said Tuesday through an interpreter before the Iranian team left for the airport.

    On Monday, many players still looked solemn as they passed their last hours in Mexico. A few signed final autographs and stood for photos with fans, their smiles more muted than the week before.

    Despite the disappointment, some supporters were already looking ahead. “This whole year has been bad events, bad luck after bad luck” for Iranians, said Ranjbar. But the AFC Asian Cup is six months away, a new chance for Team Melli, she said. “I’ll be watching them play for that.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.


  • Ben Shelton stunned at Wimbledon with 1st-round loss to Finnish qualifier


    LONDON (AP) — Ben Shelton wasted a match point in the fifth-set tiebreaker against qualifier Otto Virtanen at Wimbledon in what the fourth-seeded American called “one of the toughest losses of my career.”

    Shelton was eliminated 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9) on Tuesday, losing in the first round at the grass-court Grand Slam for the first time in his young career.

    The 23-year-old Shelton led 8-5 in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker against his 140th-ranked opponent and had match point at 9-8 but made an unforced error and then lost the next two points.

    “I thought I put myself in a great position to win at the end. He came up with the goods,” said Shelton, who reached the quarterfinals last year at the All England Club.

    The left-handed American said he “wasn’t getting many free points.”

    “The way that he was playing, hitting the ball, it definitely forced my hand. He’s playing aggressive,” Shelton said. “He wasn’t really making any mistakes. Towards the end, any ball I left semi-hanging, he was ripping a winner, especially in that last game before the tiebreak.

    “In the tiebreak,” he continued, “I was trying to get to the net as much as I could, try to really rush him and not allow him to swing away from the baseline.”

    The 25-year-old Virtanen came through the qualifying tournament and earned the biggest win of his career in eliminating Shelton, who is ranked No. 5.

    “I had a great month. I played a lot of grass matches,” Virtanen said in his on-court interview after 4 hours, 21 minutes on No. 2 Court.

    He reached the second round in his Wimbledon debut in 2024 and missed last year’s tournament.

    Shelton said he’ll try not to dwell on the defeat.

    “I’m usually the type of person that gets back on the court or in the gym the next day. This is definitely one of the toughest losses of my career, coming here at Wimbledon. First time I’ve lost in the first round here,” he said. “I didn’t even think I played a poor match today. Things just didn’t go my way. … I’ll be right back on the practice courts in a couple days.”

    ___

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


  • Florida Panthers bring back goaltender Jacob Markstrom in a trade with the Devils


    The Florida Panthers traded for their second goaltender in as many days, acquiring Jacob Markstrom in a deal with the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday that all but certainly signals the end of Sergei Bobrovsky’s storied run in South Florida.

    The Panthers sent Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and the rights to pending restricted free agent Ben Steeves to the Devils for Markstrom and winger Angus Crookshank. Florida got goalie Akira Schmid from Vegas on Monday night for a 2028 third-round pick.

    “Jacob is an established veteran leader in this league who possesses size and a relentless drive to win,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. “We are excited for him to compete alongside our established group and return to South Florida.”

    Markstrom at 36 returns to Florida, where he started his NHL career a decade and a half ago. He was one of the top prospects at the position after getting taken with the 34th pick in the 2008 draft and played his first 43 games in the league with the Panthers during their down years, long before becoming a contender again.

    Bobrovsky, 37, backstopped Florida to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024 and ’25 and another trip to the final in ’23. He is expected to be among the top players available when free agency opens Wednesday.

    Markstrom is beginning a two-year contract at an annual salary cap hit of $6 million. That was signed in late October by former Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, who left the organization in April. Moving on from him is the first big roster shakeup for successor Sunny Mehta. New Jersey now has Jake Allen in net and will likely go shopping for his tandem mate in free agency.

    Rodrigues, who turns 33 on July 28, gives the Devils another top-nine forward. The Panthers shed his salary of just over $3 million after getting Brady Tkachuk from Ottawa to play with brother Matthew.

    In other moves around the NHL:

    — The St. Louis Blues put winger Jonathan Drouin on unconditional waivers to buy out the final season of his contract. They got Drouin at the trade deadline from the New York Islanders as part of the return for Brayden Schenn.

    — Utah signed goalie Sebastian Cossa to a two-year, $4 million contract after trading a first-round pick to Detroit for his rights.

    — Fresh off winning the Cup, Carolina reacquired defenseman Kyle Masters’ rights from Anaheim for forward Noah Philp. The Hurricanes sent Masters to the Ducks on Saturday along with a sixth-round pick for the rights to pending free agent John Carlson.

    — Vegas, which lost to Carolina in the final, made a one-for-one defenseman swap with Pittsburgh, sending Kaedan Korczak to the Penguins for Parker Wotherspoon. Pittsburgh is retaining half of Wotherspoon’s $1 million salary in a cap-saving deal for the Golden Knights.

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    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL


  • Trump administration suspends funding for New York’s Medicaid fraud unit


    NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would freeze federal funding for New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a state agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting fraud in the safety-net government healthcare program.

    In a letter sent to New York officials, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Thomas March Bell accused the state of not securing enough criminal indictments and convictions and said millions of dollars in funding would be suspended through at least Sept. 30.

    The move is the second suspension of a state Medicaid fraud unit this year by the Republican Trump administration, and part of a barrage of anti-fraud actions it has aggressively promoted in the healthcare sector. They have included the creation of a new task force, targeted investigations, funding deferrals and demands for revalidation of healthcare providers that have touched all states but focused largely on Democratic ones.

    The pulled funding also comes after the administration admitted a glaring error in figures meant to help justify a fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program earlier this year, a mistake critics said revealed a Trumpian tendency to attack first and verify the facts later.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, immediately vowed to fight Tuesday’s funding freeze.

    “During my time as Attorney General, my office has recovered over $627 million for Medicaid and was recognized by this very administration for leading the nation in anti-fraud efforts,” she wrote. “We are considering all legal options to stop this outrageous action.”

    Letter accuses New York of low performance

    Bell’s letter to James and New York MFCU Director Amy Held argues that the unit is moving too slowly on cases and amassing too few indictments and convictions for wrongdoing in the Medicaid system. It notes that compared to four similarly-sized units in other states, it secured the lowest number of criminal fraud convictions between 2023 and 2025.

    The letter acknowledges that one reason the state has fewer criminal convictions than other states is that it made a deliberate choice to focus on “high impact, complex fraud cases” rather than smaller-scale individual cases, but says that tradeoff didn’t produce sufficient results.

    “Enough is enough,” Bell wrote. “The New York MFCU has failed to comply with the terms and conditions of its MFCU grant award.”

    Bell said in the letter that the funding suspension could be lifted before Sept. 30 if New York takes corrective action, “showing it has remediated concerns that formed the basis for this suspension.” He said if the state doesn’t fix the problems, the freeze will continue.

    New York officials dispute the Trump administration’s claims

    New York’s attorney general’s office said in a statement that it has “long been recognized as a national leader in effectively investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud schemes,” including by the HHS inspector general’s office. A 2025 report from the office notes that New York is one of four states that made up half the total civil recoveries in that year.

    A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said most of the unit’s criminal convictions focus on company owners, executives and corporations that would return large amounts to Medicaid.

    “Under the leadership of Governor Kathy Hochul, New York State has taken concrete steps to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid,” said New York health department spokesperson Cadence Acquaviva. “We look forward to the day when these disingenuous attacks end.”

    The funding cutoff follows a similar move in Hawaii. In early June, Bell told Hawaii officials that Medicaid fraud funding would be cut off there, saying that it had a three-year stretch without a Medicaid fraud indictment or conviction.

    Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said there’s an irony in the federal government cutting off money intended for prosecuting fraud when its stated goal is to do just that.

    “If you want to fight fraud, don’t take away money from states’ fraud control units,” she said. “I chalk this up to more political theater to distract voters from historic Medicaid cuts before the midterms.”

    The Department of Justice named the MFCUs in both Hawaii and New York as prosecutorial partners in a news release about a national Medicaid fraud takedown last week.

    Move follows months of federal warnings and deferrals

    For months, the Trump administration has contended that states — especially some Democratic-led ones — have been lax about fraud in social safety-net programs, including Medicaid.

    It has demanded at least five states, four of them governed by Democrats, share information about how they identify, prevent and address Medicaid fraud.

    The federal government has also withheld some Medicaid funding from Minnesota and California over fraud concerns. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who was Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, accused Trump of making cuts because of retribution.

    The fraud-busting efforts have also targeted Medicare programs. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced a six-month moratorium on new enrollments for providers of hospice and home care nationally.

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    Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report. Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.