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HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston 18-year-old has been arrested and charged with illegally distributing explosive-making information and attempting to support the Islamic State organization. The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on Dec. 8 following an undercover FBI operation. A statement says Damlarkaya said he intended to travel overseas and fight for IS and said he tried to get to Syria twice. He told agents that he would commit a U.S. attack if efforts to travel overseas failed. It also says Damlarkaya provided to alleged IS supporters a formula for explosive Triacetone Triperoxide and instructions how to use it in a pressure cooker device containing shrapnel. If convicted, he faces a possible 20-year maximum prison term. The U.S. has designated IS as a terrorist organization.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX is about to launch a few tons of research to the International Space Station — plus ice cream. An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off at 12:31 p.m. Monday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Experiments make up most of the 6,400 pounds of cargo. That includes 20 mice. The Dragon capsule is also doubling as an ice cream truck this time. There was extra freezer space, so NASA packed little cups of vanilla, chocolate and birthday cake ice cream for the station’s crew of six, as well as ice cream candy bars. Those treats should be especially welcomed by U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, in orbit since November. As usual on these cargo flights, SpaceX will try to land its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral.

MASON, Ohio (AP) — Wimbledon champion Roger Federer withdrew Monday from the Western & Southern Open, which he has won seven times, citing a back injury. Tournament officials announced Federer’s withdrawal on the first full day of matches at the event in Cincinnati. The 19-time major champion said in a statement that he “tweaked” his back last week at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where he lost Sunday to Alexander Zverev in the final. The Swiss star, No. 3 in the ATP Tour rankings, becomes the fifth of the top six players to skip Cincinnati because of injuries. He joins top-ranked Andy Murray, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, fifth-ranked Novak Djokovic and sixth-ranked Marin Cilic, the defending champion. Only second-seeded Rafael Nadal, the tournament’s top-seeded player, remains in the draw. “It’s just coincidence,” said Nadal, 31, pointing out that all of the missing players except Cilic are 30 or older. “We’re not 20 years old any more. We’re not playing all the weeks. It’s part of our sport. I’ve been in their position lots of times. I’ve missed more events than the other players. It’s part of the game. I wish them all a speedy recovery. We need them in the game. I hope they get back soon.” Federer’s withdrawal means Nadal, who lost in the third round at Montreal, will return to No. 1 when new ATP rankings are released on Aug. 21. The Spaniard will be No. 1 for the first time since July 6, 2014. Nadal has spent 141 weeks as the men’s No. 1 player since first ascending to the top spot after reaching the Western & Southern semifinals in 2008. “It’s been tough to get back to No. 1,” he said. “I’m happy to have the chance to be in that position.” In early first-round men’s play Monday, Richard Gasquet and wild card Tommy Paul advanced in straight sets. Gasquet eased past qualifier John-Patrick Smith 6-4, 6-4, while Paul beat fellow American Donald Young 6-4, 7-6 (4). Ivo Karlovic needed three sets to knock out Jiri Vesely 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Also advancing in straight sets were Fabio Fognini with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Daniil Medvedev, qualifier Mitchell Krueger with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Benoit Paire, and Feliciano Lopez with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Hyeon Chung. In women’s action, 14th-seeded Petra Kvitova shook off a first-set loss to beat Anett Kontaveit 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, while Beatriz Haddad Maia advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lauren Davis. Lesia Tsurenko also crafted a comeback win, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-0. Kristina Mladenovic became the first seeded player to be eliminated. The 13th seed lost to Daria Gavrilova 6-0, 7-6 (6).

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Because he can’t pay $228 in traffic fines, Seti Johnson faces revocation of his North Carolina’s driver’s license, which means he won’t be able to drive to the job he hopes to get soon. For Sharee Smoot, the amount keeping her off the road is $648. In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, attorneys for the two say North Carolina’s practice of revoking drivers’ licenses of people who can’t pay their traffic fines and court costs is unconstitutional because it violates the rights to due process and equal protection under the 14th amendment. “This revocation scheme disproportionately punishes impoverished residents in violation of federal law, taking away crucial means of self-sufficiency and further pushing them into poverty,” the motion for a preliminary injunction states. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Torre Jessup, commissioner of the state Division of Motor Vehicles, is named as the defendant. North Carolina law requires automatic revocation of licenses for nonpayment of a traffic ticket 40 days after a court judgment. The groups are suing because the law doesn’t require a hearing to make sure the driver can pay the fine and court costs. The statements by Smoot and Johnson describe a cycle of fines and attempts to catch up on their debts as they try to hold on to their jobs and support their families. Last year, Johnson said he paid more than $700 in fines, court costs and late fees on previous tickets. His driver’s license was reinstated, but he fell behind on rent payments and had to move in with his mother. But before he paid the $700, he was issued another ticket for not paying. He was convicted in April of a lesser crime — failure to notify the Division of Motor Vehicles of an address change — and sentenced to pay a $100 fine and $208 in court costs. He paid $100 that day, but was charged an additional $20 for an installment plan and set-up fee even though the bill says the entire amount is due within 40 days. He said he doubts he’ll be able pay the remaining debt within 60 days of May 22, as he’s required to do to keep his license. “I value taking care of my responsibilities,” he writes . “But that is hard to do when I am required to pay hundreds of dollars in fines and court costs and my driver’s license is revoked when I do not have the money to pay. … No one should have to live with the burden of their license revoked because they cannot pay off their traffic tickets.” Smoot writes that she was making $9 an hour while working at a group home when was sentenced to pay $308 for driving while her license was revoked in 2016. She was assessed a $50 late fee for not paying within 40 days. She and her 9-year-old daughter moved in with her grandmother in 2017 to save money. Smoot said she stopped attending school part-time at the University of North Carolina Charlotte because she couldn’t afford it. In 2017, she was issued another ticket for driving while her license was revoked and ordered to pay $235. That grew to $285 with a late fee; an order for her arrest was issued for not paying the fines, and she was charged a $5 arrest fee. She said her car was repossessed, and she lost her job because she didn’t have transportation to work. “I have been forced to make the difficult choice of staying home, losing my job and not being able to take care of necessities for me, my daughter, and my grandmother, whose I also pay, or continuing to drive illegally and risk more punishment,” she writes. A spokeswoman for the state Transportation Department, which oversees the state Division of Motor Vehicles, said Wednesday that officials are reviewing the lawsuit. ___ Follow Martha Waggoner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc . ___ This story has been corrected to show an order was issued for Smoot’s arrest instead that she was arrested

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Police in a Phoenix suburb say one of Uber’s self-driving vehicles has struck and killed a pedestrian. Police in the city of Tempe said Monday that the vehicle was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel when the woman walking outside of a crosswalk was hit. Sgt. Ronald Elcock says in an email that the accident happened overnight but did not say whether it occurred Sunday night or Monday morning. The woman died of her injuries at a hospital and her name was not made public. Uber has been testing the self-driving vehicles in Tempe and Phoenix for months. Uber says on Twitter that it is “fully cooperating” with the investigation and expressed condolences to the family of the victim.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In keeping with tradition, dozens of couples have obtained marriage licenses in Las Vegas this Valentine’s Day. The Clark County Marriage License Bureau reported issuing more than 110 marriage licenses by Tuesday afternoon. Its main office in downtown Las Vegas closes at midnight. A county spokesman, Dan Kulin, says the bureau issues about 120 licenses on a normal Tuesday. Nearly 380 couples obtained licenses last year’s Valentine’s Day, which fell on a Sunday. In an area where people can get married in venues that range from a shooting range to a Denny’s restaurant, the bureau is one of the busiest in the nation. It issues more than 80,000 marriage licenses every year.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers moved Wednesday to create a state-backed bank to handle the billions of dollars flowing from the newly legal recreational marijuana market. The world’s largest legal recreational marijuana economy, created under a law that took effect this year, is projected to grow to $7 billion. The bill approved by a bipartisan 29-6 state Senate vote is designed to help pot entrepreneurs who usually deal in cash because most banks won’t accept money from a product that remains illegal under federal law. SB930 now goes to the Assembly for consideration. The bill would permit charter banks and credit unions regulated by the state Department of Business Oversight to provide limited banking services to pot-related businesses. They could use the banks to pay rent, state and local taxes and fees, vendors within California for goods and services related to the cannabis business and to buy state and local bonds and other investments. “We’re not using the federal system, we’re not using the federal wire,” Democratic Sen. Bob Hertzberg of Van Nuys said of his proposal. “This is a short-term creative approach to deal with this extraordinary problem.” He said the banks would suffice until what proponents hope will be an eventual change in federal law. Hertzberg said the current system is dangerous because it requires pot dealers to conduct their business using cash, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. He said he’s heard of some businesses burying or hiding tens of millions of dollars for lack of an alternative. State budget officials project California will collect $600 million in cannabis taxes in the upcoming year, but that often requires the businesses to haul duffel bags full of cash to tax agencies. The cash economy also makes audits and other standard oversight measures difficult.

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish parliament’s lower house is debating whether to end Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s nearly eight years in power and replace him with the leader of the Socialist opposition. Rajoy refused to resign after his conservative Popular Party was fined as beneficiary of a large kickbacks-for-contracts scheme. In a damaging ruling last week, the court questioned Rajoy’s claim that he and other top officials were unaware of the party’s illegal accounting. Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, who is leading the no-confidence vote against Rajoy, would instantly become the country’s prime minister if he wins 176 or more votes in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies on Friday. His opening speech Thursday proposing an alternative government will be watched by other opposition lawmakers who are still undecided on whether to oust the government.

MOSCOW (AP) — A U.S. senator who is part of a congressional delegation visiting Russia says Moscow could help improve ties by not meddling in the midterm U.S. election in November. Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Russia’s “change in behavior” is essential for better relations. Thune says “the best way to demonstrate this as we head into the 2018 election is to show the American people and our Congress and our administration that the Russians have no intention of messing or playing with the American election.” Thune and other members of the delegation met with Russian officials and lawmakers Tuesday. Russia-U.S. ties have been bitterly strained by the fighting in Ukraine, the Syrian war and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

An Arizona lawmaker who repeatedly harassed women has become the first since the swell of the #MeToo movement to get kicked out of office by colleagues but likely will not be the last to face repercussions amid intensifying scrutiny of sexual misconduct in state legislatures. The heightened focus on harassment and misconduct has led to growing calls for change in a year that already has seen an unusually large number of women expressing interest in running for office. “This conduct perpetuates the good-old-boys culture all too familiar to women in workplaces across the nation,” said Ohio state Rep. Teresa Fedor, one of several female Democratic lawmakers who called this week for the resignation of Republican Rep. Bill Seitz because of offense remarks. “Women and men deserve better, not more of the same tired excuses. It’s time for a change.” With his expulsion on Thursday, Arizona Rep. Don Shooter became the 15th state lawmaker to leave office since the start of 2017 (the others resigned) after being accused of sexual misconduct. About 20 others have faced lesser consequences, ranging from forced apologies to suspensions to the loss of powerful leadership posts, according to a state-by-state review by The Associated Press. Sexual harassment investigations are ongoing against other state lawmakers, including in California, Hawaii, Kentucky and Oregon. On Friday, the Democratic leaders of the California Assembly and Senate released records that show four current lawmakers have faced such complaints since 2006, although none was formally disciplined. They include a 2017 allegation against a female lawmaker, Democratic Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, who later took responsibility for engaging in sexually charged banter. The issue is already beginning to resonate in election campaigns. Women have stepped forward as candidates in five of the eight upcoming elections across the nation to replace lawmakers who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations. In California, a former legislative staffer who says she was aware that a co-worker was being sexually harassed is now running for the lawmaker’s seat. The alleged incident happened years ago when former Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra was serving as chief of staff for another lawmaker. Bocanegra resigned in November amid multiple allegations. Yolie Anguiano said she decided to run for Bocanegra’s seat in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley after the allegations surfaced and that she regrets not speaking up at the time about what she knew. Anguiano said she was fearful of retaliation and believes electing more women is critical to addressing issues such as health care and education. “I want to have that seat at the table to bring up these policy issues but also to hold those folks who are hurting other people, whether they are men and women, to hold them accountable,” she said. In Oklahoma, Amber Jensen, a Democrat who represents a rural part of the state, is running to replace former state Sen. Bryce Marlatt, who resigned in September after being charged with sexual battery stemming from an incident with an Uber driver. Jensen said she attended last year’s women’s march in Oklahoma City and was inspired to see so many women stepping forward. “I feel like a woman’s voice is missing from the very conversations that affect all women,” Jensen said. “I am tired of men making decisions for women.” In what could be a historic election, many women have said they plan to run for office this year for the first time at all levels of government, from statehouses to Congress. That is driven largely by Democratic frustration over the election of President Donald Trump, but the #MeToo movement also is playing a role. Experts say lawmaker resignations and retirements can provide an opportunity for women, because it’s easier for a political newcomer to be competitive in an open seat rather than challenging an incumbent with name recognition and a stockpile of campaign cash. “When the issue is sexual harassment and men behaving very badly, it also opens up a window for a woman candidate,” said Debbie Walsh, who leads the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “Whether it’s true or not, women are perceived to be more ethical and honest and far less likely to behave in the manner that these lawmakers did.” Some men also are citing accusations of sexual misconduct against male lawmakers as part of their impetus for mounting electoral challenges this year. Brian Kent Strow, an economics professor at Western Kentucky University, said he was frustrated when negotiations to fix the state’s multi-billion public pension debt fell apart last fall following reports that four Republican lawmakers had secretly signed a sexual harassment settlement. One of those lawmakers was Rep. Michael Meredith, Strow’s representative and someone he had voted for in the past. When the daughter of one of Meredith’s Republican colleagues subsequently accused the lawmaker of sending her inappropriate Facebook messages, Strow decided to challenge Meredith in the Republican primary. “That made me upset, that the real business of the state would get sidetracked because people were misbehaving personally,” said Strow, adding: “I had basically had enough.” Meredith declined to comment Friday about the accusations or his re-election bid. ___ Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Frankfort, Kentucky, Bob Christie in Phoenix and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. ___ An earlier version of this report had an incorrect spelling of Amber Jensen’s last name.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that infuriate North Korea will begin on April 1, the allies said Tuesday, but they will likely be more low-key than past years ahead of two highly anticipated summits among the countries’ leaders. This year’s drills were postponed during the Pyeongchang Olympics, which saw rare cooperative steps between the rival Koreas after months of confrontation over the North’s weapons programs. North Korea considers the exercises an invasion rehearsal and often conducts weapons tests in protest. After post-Olympics talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials said Kim indicated he would accept the maneuvers. Kim also offered to meet personally with President Donald Trump to discuss giving up his nuclear weapons on unspecified terms, and Trump quickly agreed to meet Kim by the end of May. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are to meet separately in late April. In a brief statement, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his South Korean counterpart, Song Young-moo, agreed to go forward with the two sets of exercises, known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, “at a scale similar to” that of previous years. North Korea has been notified of the schedule “as well as the defensive nature” of the exercises, the Pentagon said. South Korea’s Defense Ministry released a near-identical statement. A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of department rules, said there are no immediate plans to bring in American strategic assets such as aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines or supersonic B-1B bombers during this spring’s training. The United States sent such assets during past drills when tensions ran high. The exercises begin with Foal Eagle, a field training drill that will last about four weeks, compared with its typical two-month run. The other drill, known as Key Resolve, is a computer-simulated command post exercise and is scheduled to start around the middle of April for a usual two-week run, the South Korean official said. “These are low-key drills. Now it’s a dialogue mode so they are trying to keep pace with that,” said Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Choi said North Korea may respond by issuing a relatively mild diatribe but will likely avoid conducting weapons tests that could disrupt its recent outreach to Washington and Seoul. The timing and size of the annual maneuvers are especially sensitive this year because of heightened worry over the North’s accelerated work last year on a nuclear-armed missile potentially capable of reaching the United States. This was followed, unexpectedly, by prospects for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis. “To avoid compromising exercise objectives, specifics regarding the exercise scenarios will not be discussed,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan. He said the purpose is to enhance the ability of the U.S.-South Korean alliance to defend South Korean territory. The planned summit meetings have raised hopes for a potential breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear crisis. But many experts say tensions will flare again if the summits fail to make any progress and leave the nuclear issue with few diplomatic options. A main sticking point in U.S.-North Korea talks would be what nuclear disarmament steps Kim would promise in return for what concessions from the United States and whether Trump would accept them. ___ Burns reported from Washington.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s a bittersweet morning for the songwriters of “Remember Me” from “Coco.” Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez learned of their Golden Globe nomination just as a bomb exploded on the New York City subway. The couple said they turned on the television to watch the Globe nominations when news of the Port Authority explosion broke Monday. This is the second nomination for the songwriting pair, who were previously recognized for “Let It Go” from “Frozen.” Anderson-Lopez said they are now at work on “Frozen 2” and the Broadway version of “Frozen.” The couple says it’s a “giant thrill” to be nominated, but they didn’t plan to do much celebrating. Their cat is terminally ill and may be put down today. Anderson-Lopez said they planned to sing “Remember Me” to him.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to avoid a “trade war” ahead of what the White House says is a possible announcement of an investigation into whether China is stealing U.S. technology. An official told reporters the president would order his trade office on Monday to look into whether to launch an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 of possible Chinese theft of U.S. technology and intellectual property. “There is no future and no winner in a trade war and both sides will be the losers. As we have emphasized for many times, the nature of China-U.S. trade relations is mutual benefit and win-win,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying. “Considering the importance of the China-U.S. relations, China is willing to make joint efforts with the United States to keep trade and economic relations on sustained, healthy and stable development on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,” Hua said. Earlier Monday, a state newspaper, the China Daily, said Trump’s possible decision to launch an investigation could “intensify tensions,” especially over intellectual property. A decision to use the law to rebalance trade with China “could trigger a trade war,” said the commentary under the name of researcher Mei Xinyu of the ministry’s International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institute. “And the inquiry the U.S. administration has ordered into China’s trade policies, if carried out, could intensify tensions, especially on intellectual property rights,” the commentary said. It gave no indication of how Beijing might respond but Chinese law gives regulators broad discretion over what foreign companies can do in China. If an investigation begins, Washington could seek remedies either through the World Trade Organization or outside of it. Previous U.S. actions directed at China under the 1974 law had little effect, said the China Daily. It noted that China has grown to become the biggest exporter and has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves. “The use of Section 301 by the U.S. will not have much impact on China’s progress toward stronger economic development and a better future,” said the newspaper.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president has issued a direct threat, claiming his country is capable of restarting its nuclear program within hours. Hassan Rouhani says it could be done “in an hour and a day” if Washington continues with “threats and sanctions” against Iran. He says that once restarted, the program could quickly be brought to a much more advanced level than it was back in 2015, when Iran signed the nuclear deal with world powers. That agreement capped Iran’s uranium enrichment levels in return for the lifting of international sanctions. Rouhani’s remarks to lawmakers on Tuesday offered no evidence of Iran’s capabilities but are likely to ratchet up pressure further with the Trump administration. Rouhani also tempered his threat, adding that Iran seeks to remain loyal to its commitments under the deal.

A Bermuda police spokesman says authorities have found a body amid search for US college student

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will be meeting with the families of the victims of a Texas school shooting during a visit to the state Thursday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the announcement at the White House briefing Wednesday. Eight students and two substitute teachers were killed during the shooting at Santa Fe High School on May 18. The president will be traveling to Houston and Dallas on Thursday.

SHANGHAI (AP) — China has awarded President Donald Trump a valuable new trademark. The win comes after a 10-year dispute and raises a host of ethical questions about the president’s foreign intellectual property. China’s Trademark Office posted the registration of Trump’s new mark, which became official Feb. 14, to its website Wednesday. It gives Trump the right to use his name for building construction services in China through 2027. This may be the first foreign trademark Trump has received as president, but it’s unlikely to be the last. He has 49 pending trademark applications in China alone. Critics say Trump’s foreign intellectual property holdings are a conflict of interest and may violate the U.S. Constitution. But Trump’s lawyer says he has taken adequate steps to distance himself from his trademark portfolio.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, which operates Hainan Airlines and other businesses around the world, says its co-chairman has died while on a business trip in France. HNA Group said Wang Jian, a co-founder of the company, suffered “severe injuries” in a fall and died Tuesday at age 57. It gave no other details. Launched in 1993 on the southern island of Hainan, HNA grew to become China’s fourth-largest airline and expanded into finance, hotels, logistics and other businesses in a multibillion-dollar global acquisition spree. More recently, HNA has been selling some assets as Chinese regulators tighten lending controls and press companies to rein in debt.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tennessee moves back into the top 10 after a big win while UConn continues to be No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll. The Lady Vols (10-0) knocked off then-No. 2 Texas on Sunday and climbed four spots to seventh in the Top 25 on Monday. Tennessee, which was a perennial top team in the sport, hasn’t been among the first 10 teams in the poll since Nov. 30, 2015. The Longhorns dropped six spots to eighth. Both teams are chasing the Huskies (8-0), who routed DePaul in their only game this past week. UConn received all 32 first place votes from a national media panel. The Huskies, like many other teams, are off for exams this week. Notre Dame, Louisville, Mississippi State and South Carolina follow UConn. Baylor, Tennessee, Texas, Oregon and West Virginia round out the first 10. Iowa (10-1) entered the Top 25 for the first time since 2015, coming in at No. 25. Kentucky fell out. Other poll tidbits: OKLAHOMA BLUES: UCLA and South Florida slipped up this week losing at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma respectively. The Bruins dropped four spots to No. 11 while the Bulls fell six places to No. 22. UCLA has a two-game eastern swing at Seton Hall and Fordham coming up before beginning Pac-12 play. SURGING WILDCATS: No. 20 Villanova is off to its best start since the 1979-80 season, winning its first nine games. The Wildcats held off Temple down the stretch on Sunday, winning 69-65 to equal the squad’s mark from 38 years ago. Villanova has its best ranking since Jan. 12, 2004 when the team was 19th. SHE SAID IT: “If that was the No. 2 team in the country, where do we stand now?” Tennessee senior Mercedes Russell asked after the win over Texas. “82-75. There’s your answer right there.” BIG GAMES: There are two games this week between ranked teams as No. 9 Oregon visits sixth-ranked Mississippi State on Wednesday. The 12th-ranked Florida State Seminoles visit No. 8 Texas on Sunday. ___ See the full poll: https://collegebasketball.ap.org/ap-womens-basketball-poll-week-6-0 ___ Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to drastically reduce and break up a national monument in Utah wasn’t the only blow Native American tribes say they were dealt last week. The president’s proclamation on Bears Ears National Monument changes the makeup of a tribal advisory commission for the land. It adds a San Juan County, Utah, commissioner who supported peeling back protections for the monument. The new commissioner — now Rebecca Benally — will have the same authority as the other members. All five others represent tribes. Federal legislation also would create tribal co-management councils. The proposal by Utah Republican Rep. John Curtis excludes tribes outside Utah and lets the president hand-select most members. The Utah congressional delegation sees the changes as unifying forces. Tribes say they’re another example of Native Americans being told what’s good for them.

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Police in Texas acting on a tip found 16 immigrants locked inside a tractor-trailer parked at a gas station about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the border with Mexico, less than a month after the deaths of 10 people who were packed in a hot truck in San Antonio. Edinburg Assistant Police Chief Oscar Trevino says the immigrants may have been locked inside the 18-wheeler in Edinburg for at least eight hours before being freed by officers late Sunday morning. He had earlier said there were 17 immigrants locked in the tractor-trailer before correcting the number on Monday to 16. Trevino said none of the people inside the tractor-trailer required medical attention. He said they were hungry and thirsty and were given food and water at the scene. Those found locked in the tractor-trailer included eight people from El Salvador, six from Mexico and two from Romania, said Manuel Padilla, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol sector chief for the Rio Grande Valley at Texas’ southernmost point. A man and woman who Trevino said are Cuban nationals were in charge of the rig and have been detained. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said no one has been charged yet in connection with the case but that the agency is working with state and local officials and talking to witnesses. The discovery comes three weeks after 10 people died who were in a sweltering rig parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. Immigration officials say survivors estimated 100 people had been packed into the back of the 18-wheeler at one point. Officials said 39 people were inside when rescuers arrived, and the rest either escaped or hitched rides to their next destination. Nearly 20 of those rescued from the rig were hospitalized in dire condition, many suffering from extreme dehydration and heatstroke. The driver of that rig remains in federal custody, charged with illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain, resulting in death. On Sunday, Edinburg police went to the gas station, a popular stopover for commercial truck drivers traveling through the region, after receiving an anonymous call from someone saying a relative was trapped inside the tractor-trailer. Officers began knocking on the sides of trailers parked at the station and eventually received return knocks from the one holding the immigrants, police said. The San Antonio incident demonstrated how smugglers regularly use big rigs in an elaborate network of foot guides, safe house operators and drivers. The immigrants discovered in San Antonio had been divided into groups and marked with color-coded tape. Six black SUVs were waiting at one transit point to take some to their destinations. Authorities have not said if similar arrangements had been made for the immigrants found in Edinburg, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of San Antonio. Trevino said that they discovered the immigrants after one of the people locked in the tractor-trailer called a relative in Mexico. The relative then called authorities. Padilla declined to say if Sunday’s incident was related to the San Antonio case, citing the ongoing investigation. But he said authorities had stopped more than 30 tractor-trailers since October in the Rio Grande Valley. That doesn’t include Laredo, the Texas border city where authorities say the driver of the trailer in the San Antonio case said he stopped twice on his journey. “You don’t know how many you miss,” Padilla told The Associated Press on Monday. “But … the use of tractor-trailers to smuggle people out of this area is higher in South Texas, to include Laredo, than any other area along the border. And it goes right back to a weak border.” Most people apprehended crossing the United States’ southern border are caught in the Rio Grande Valley, which includes more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) of the Rio Grande, the river separating the United States and Mexico. Border apprehensions have risen each month since falling in April to a 17-year low. Tractor-trailers emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s amid a surge in U.S. border enforcement in San Diego and El Paso, Texas, which were then the busiest corridors for illegal crossings. Before that, people paid small fees to mom-and-pop operators to get them across a largely unguarded border. As crossing became exponentially more difficult after the 2001 terror strikes in the U.S., migrants were led through more dangerous terrain and paid thousands of dollars more. ___ Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv ___ This version of the story has been corrected to say there were 16 people inside the locked tractor-trailer instead of 17.

NEW YORK (AP) — In Washington, even a name change is fraught with political drama. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pushing to be referred to as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, a surface level, but notable change for the agency tasked with protecting consumers against debt collectors and banks. Officials say the change reflects the bureau’s legal name, but critics say it underscores the abrupt ideological turn the bureau has taken since Trump-appointee Mick Mulvaney took over. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act did create a “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” but that name has rarely been used, except occasionally in court filings. Under Mulvaney, the bureau has proposed revisiting the regulations and policies the Obama administration put in place, and has also reduced the number of enforcement actions it has taken.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — LeBron James spent the morning sending a crystal clear message to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the wake of Kevin Love’s knee injury: things will be just fine as long as James is on the court. He spent the night backing that up against an emboldened Andrew Wiggins and the Minnesota Timberwolves, as if anyone doubted him in the first place. James had 25 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Cavaliers to a 116-108 victory over the Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Channing Frye had 21 points and 10 rebounds while starting for Love, who will miss at least the next six weeks after having surgery on his left knee. Kyrie Irving scored 25 points for the Cavs and James sealed the victory with a stepback 3-pointer with two minutes to play. “The one thing that we can always rely on is the fact that we’ve played without Kev before,” James said. “We’ve had to do that in the playoffs. As much as you don’t like to play without some of your big guns, sometimes if it happens then you’re just ready for it.” Wiggins scored 41 points against the team that drafted him and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 26 for the Wolves, who finished a six-game homestand at 2-4. The Wolves allowed Cleveland to shoot 51 percent and hit 13 3s. “It’s always competitive playing them,” Wiggins said. “I feel like it brings out the best in everybody.” James took his time to get going, choosing to get others involved, including with a no-look pass through Wiggins’ legs to a diving Derrick Williams for a layup in the second quarter. He threw down two soaring dunks later in the third and added a Jordan-like reverse layup as part of a highlight-filled night. “It’s been a burden on me since I got drafted. Why does it change now?” James said when asked if he has to do more with Love out. “Nothing’s changed. I’ll have my guys ready to play every single night.” The Cavs appeared to be pulling away when they opened a 14-point lead in the third quarter, but Wiggins exploded for 20 points in the period to make it a game. He hit a 3-pointer and beat the buzzer on a long 2 to tie it at 93 going into the fourth. Wiggins was chosen by the Cavs No. 1 overall three years ago, but that was before James made his surprising return to Cleveland. The Cavs traded Wiggins to Minnesota for Love and Wiggins has always given them his best punch. He entered the night averaging 27.6 points per game against them, his highest scoring average against any team in the league. The Wolves missed two open 3-pointers that would have tied the game in the final four minutes, but James hit his from deep and Williams got a steal and a layup to drop Wiggins to 0-6 against the Cavs. “We’ll get ’em eventually,” Wiggins said. TIP-INS Cavaliers: F Iman Shumpert played 25 minutes after missing the previous three games with a sprained left ankle. … Williams scored 13 points off the bench against the team that drafted him No. 2 overall. … Tristan Thompson had 14 points and 11 boards. Timberwolves: SG Zach LaVine had surgery in Los Angeles on Tuesday to reconstruct the torn ACL in his left knee. He is expected to miss nine months while recovering. … Ricky Rubio had 16 assists and eight rebounds, but was just 2 for 8 from the field. QUOTE OF THE DAY As he prepared to face a Timberwolves team filled with very young players trying to find their place in the league, James was asked how long it took him to turn the corner as a professional. “I turned a corner very, very young,” James said, smiling. “Probably about 16.” STEPHENSON INJURED Guard Lance Stephenson has played well since signing a 10-day contract last week, and the Wolves were hoping to have his defensive intensity against James and the Cavs on Tuesday night. But Stephenson grotesquely rolled his left ankle just three minutes into his first shift and needed help walking off the floor. Stephenson hit his only two shots before he was injured. UP NEXT Cavaliers: Cleveland heads back home to face Indiana on Wednesday for its final game before the All-Star break. Timberwolves: Minnesota flies to Denver for a game Wednesday night in a key game for the Wolves against the Nuggets, who currently own the eighth seed in the West.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines runs its planes hard. They make many short hops and more trips per day than other U.S. airliners, which adds to wear and tear on parts, including the engines. As the investigation into last week’s deadly engine failure continues, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly could face questions about whether the company’s low-cost business model — which puts its planes through frequent takeoffs and landings — is putting passengers at risk. Some aviation safety experts said they see no reason for alarm. And, in fact, Southwest’s safety record is enviable: Until last week, no passenger had died in an accident during its 47-year history. Still, the Dallas-based airline has paid millions over the past decade to settle safety violations, including fines for flying planes that didn’t have required repairs. Twice in the past nine years, holes have torn open in the roofs of Southwest planes in flight. In another episode in 2016, an engine on a Southwest jet blew apart over Florida because of metal fatigue, or wear and tear, hurling debris that struck the fuselage and tail. No one was hurt. Then, last week, one of the engines on Southwest Flight 1380 blew apart at 32,000 feet over Pennsylvania, spraying the Boeing 737 with shrapnel and killing 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan, a mother of two who was blown partway out a broken window. The National Transportation Safety Board said a fan blade that had snapped off the engine was showing signs of metal fatigue. The union representing Southwest mechanics recently accused the company of pressuring maintenance workers to cut corners to keep planes flying. And the Federal Aviation Administration investigated union whistleblower complaints and found mistrust of management so serious that it could hurt safety. In one case, investigators said a worker who should have been praised for finding corrosion on a plane in Dallas was chastised for working beyond the scope of the task he had been assigned. The leader of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, Bret Oestreich, said Southwest had created a culture of hostility and retaliation. Nevertheless, aviation safety experts and longtime industry watchers said they do not consider Southwest unsafe. “They have had a lot” of incidents, said John Goglia, a former NTSB member, “but you have to remember that they have a very large fleet” — more than 700 Boeing 737s, the largest 737 fleet in the world. Before last week, if Goglia thought about airlines that might have safety questions, Southwest wasn’t even on the radar, he said. Southwest’s short, frequent flights put more stress on the plane and engines, like a car used heavily in stop-and-go city traffic, said Alan Diehl, an aviation-safety consultant and former NTSB and Air Force accident investigator. Diehl said, however, that Southwest’s crews are accustomed to the quicker pace and that their work is made easier because Southwest flies only Boeing 737s instead of an assortment of planes. Southwest jets make on average 5.3 flights per day compared with between 2.8 and 3.4 per day at American Airlines, Delta and United, according to an analysis by industry newsletter Airline Weekly using information from airline data provider Diio. Southwest flies frequently on short routes such as Los Angeles to San Francisco and Dallas to Houston. Its average flight is 764 miles, the shortest among U.S. airlines and barely half as long as the average at American and Delta, according to the Airline Weekly analysis. Each takeoff and landing contributes to wear and tear on the aircraft. “It’s amazing how safe Southwest has been over the years, considering the operational difficulty of what they do,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner of Airline Weekly. Like others interviewed for this story, Kaplan said he is not afraid to fly Southwest — he and his family are booked on a flight next week. Although last week’s accident was Southwest’s first passenger fatality, it was not the first time someone was killed by one of its planes. In 2005, a Southwest jet skidded off a runway and through a fence at Chicago’s Midway Airport, striking a car and killing a 6-year-old boy. Southwest, the nation’s fourth-biggest airline by passenger traffic but the largest in terms of U.S.-only flights, has paid millions in fines after enforcement actions by the FAA. The biggest FAA fine against Southwest was $7.5 million in 2009. The FAA said Southwest kept 46 planes flying even though they had skipped critical inspections of the fuselage for metal fatigue. Five years later, the FAA proposed a $12 million fine over 44 planes that had undergone improper fuselage repairs while at a contractor hired by Southwest. The airline settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $2.8 million. The 2016 engine failure over Florida highlighted the need for closer inspection of engine blades. Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said that after engine maker CFM International recommended more inspections last year, Southwest had inspected all fan blades covered by the recommendation before last week’s accident. King said the airline will meet a new CFM recommendation to inspect all older fan blades by the end of August. She said the airline is also inspecting all newer fan blades, a move not yet required by the FAA. Southwest’s CEO has said many times before and since last week’s engine failure that safety is paramount at the airline. Rather than hide from bad news, Kelly spoke to reporters just hours after the accident and promised to “do all we can” to help Riordan’s family. “His emotion was very real. It was palpable,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel-industry analyst. “Mr. Kelly has done a very good job in communicating this to the public and leading the airline.” The day after the accident, Southwest sent letters from Kelly to passengers on Flight 1380, saying that the airline would give them each $5,000 “to cover any of your immediate financial needs” and a $1,000 travel voucher. Harteveldt said Southwest clearly hoped the letters might discourage lawsuits, “but I thought it was a noble gesture.” ___ David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter Associated Press writers Dee-Ann Durbin and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group is promoting a vegan lifestyle in the Romanian capital with its ambassadors known as the “Lettuce Ladies.” Two young women dressed in bikinis adorned with bright green leaves handed out vegan sandwiches in Bucharest on Monday. They carried signs in Romanian and English saying: “Start Fresh: Go Vegan.” They attracted attention, though some passers-by looked puzzled. The animal rights group is promoting vegan eating in different countries. They recent visited Moscow and Saint Petersburg in Russia and will also travel to Istanbul. They have also visited China and Cuba. Many Christian orthodox Romanians consume vegan food for religious reasons in the weeks prior to a religious festival such as Christmas or a saint’s day.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The company formerly known as Yahoo is paying a $35 million fine to resolve federal regulators’ charges that the online pioneer deceived investors by failing to disclose one of the biggest data breaches in internet history. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the action Tuesday against the company, which is now called Altaba after its email and other digital services were sold to Verizon Communications for $4.48 billion last year. The Sunnyvale, California-based company, which is no longer publicly traded, neither admitted nor denied the allegations but did agree to refrain from further violations of securities laws. Personal data was stolen from hundreds of millions of Yahoo users in the December 2014 breach attributed to Russian hackers. The SEC alleged that, although Yahoo senior managers and attorneys were told about the breach, the company failed to fully investigate. The breach wasn’t disclosed to the investing public until more than two years later, when Yahoo was working on closing Verizon’s acquisition of its operating business in 2016, the SEC said. “Yahoo’s failure to have controls and procedures in place to assess its cyber disclosure obligations ended up leaving its investors totally in the dark about a massive data breach,” Jina Choi, director of the SEC’s San Francisco regional office, said in a statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — One of the social media posts resembled a wanted poster or a missing-persons flyer: Photographs of men were arranged in rows, seeking their names and employers. But the Facebook post wasn’t circulated by law enforcement in the search for a suspect or by relatives looking for a missing loved one. It was the work of ordinary people trying to harness the power of social media to identify and shame the white nationalists who attended last weekend’s violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Meanwhile, a Twitter account dedicated to calling out racism, YesYoureRacist, identified people who attended the rally using photos culled from the news and social media and listed their places of employment and other information. A website created Sunday dedicated itself to collecting the names, social media profiles, colleges and employers of people photographed at the rally. At least one person has lost his job as a result, showing that angry online groups can be used to renounce racism as well as promote it. “The goal with online shaming is very short term and driven by people’s desire to feel as if they are fighting back and having an impact,” said Brian Reich, who’s written several books on digital communications, behavior and political influence. “They are afraid, appalled and they want to stop it.” But is it helpful? Reich said those behind these efforts “are arguably fanning the flames,” giving attention to a group — white supremacists — that feeds on attention. ___ THE END OF ANONYMITY? Nicholas Brody, professor of communications at the University of Puget Sound, said the events show that in the age of social media, “nothing is really anonymous anymore.” People attending a white supremacist rally decades ago may have had the comfort of knowing that their schools, employers and disapproving family members probably wouldn’t find out about their activity. These days, not only can information be quickly and widely shared, but a lot of data is available about people on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Image searches and facial-recognition technology, meanwhile, can make it relatively easy to identify people online. But the method isn’t foolproof. In 2013, users of Twitter and the website Reddit wrongly accused a man of being a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. Reddit later apologized . ___ COLLEGE STUDENT IS EXPOSED Peter Cvjetanovic, a 20-year-old college student, was photographed shouting with a group of torch-wielding protesters Friday during a march through the University of Virginia campus. Cvjetanovic said in a television interview that he didn’t expect the photo to spread as widely as it did. But spread it did. And thousands of people signed an online petition to have him kicked out of school. Cvjetanovic told a local TV station that he is “not the angry racist they see in that photo,” but a white nationalist who cares for all people. The University of Nevada in Reno confirmed Monday that Cvjetanovic is a student there. Spokeswoman Kerri Garcia said the university is “still monitoring the situation and reviewing information.” A message left for Cvjetanovic through the school was not returned. There was no telephone listing available for him in Reno. Meanwhile, Top Dog, a hot dog company in the San Francisco area, said one of its employees resigned after being confronted by management about participating in the rally. ___ ‘DOXING’ AS INVITATION TO VIOLENCE The practice of publishing private or identifying information — such as an address or phone number — about people online in an attempt to hurt, shame or abuse them is known as “doxing.” In the 1990s, anti-abortion hackers infamously exposed abortion providers’ home addresses, photos and other information on a now-defunct website called the “Nuremberg Files.” Names that were greyed out indicated people who had been “wounded.” A strikethrough meant they had been killed. Collecting and posting publicly available information, such as a photo of a person attending a public protest, is not the same thing, even if that can still hurt or shame people. Paul Levinson, a communications professor and social media expert, called it a “moral obligation” to expose white supremacists for who they are, something for which social media provides a good opportunity. Gordon Coonfield, communications professor at Villanova University, said there is an important difference in the reasons people get doxed. “Doxing an advocate of racial equality is an implicit — and often explicit — call for violence against them,” he said in an email. “Doxing a white nationalist is a call for accountability. Compelling individuals to be accountable for their words and deeds online or off is not a threat to freedom of expression. It is the foundation of freedom of expression.” Of course, mere presence at a rally does not imply willing participation. Tiki Brand Products, whose torches were used and widely photographed during the rally, took to Facebook to distance itself from the march. “We do not support their message or the use of our products in this way,” the company wrote on its Facebook page. Our products are designed to enhance backyard gatherings and to help family and friends connect with each other at home in their yard.”

DENVER (AP) — The Latest on a civil trial involving Taylor Swift and a former DJ she accused of groping her (all times local): 4:50 p.m. Taylor Swift has won long-awaited vindication after a jury decided that a radio host groped her during a pre-concert photo op four years ago. After a weeklong trial over dueling lawsuits, jurors determined Monday that fired Denver DJ David Mueller assaulted the pop star by grabbing her backside during a backstage meet-and-greet. The six-woman, two-man jury also found that Swift’s mother and radio liaison were within their rights to contact Mueller’s bosses. Mueller sued the Swifts and their radio handler, Frank Bell, seeking up to $3 million for his ruined career. Just before closing arguments, the judge dismissed Taylor Swift from Mueller’s lawsuit and drastically reduced the amount Mueller could collect. The singer-songwriter said in her countersuit that she wanted a symbolic $1 and the chance to stand up for other women. ___ 4:40 p.m. Jurors have reached a verdict in dueling lawsuits over Taylor Swift’s allegation that a radio host groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet in 2013. The decision by six-woman, two-man jury will be read Monday in U.S. court in Denver. It comes after a weeklong trial. Denver DJ David Mueller sued the pop star, her mother and their radio handler, Frank Bell, after he was fired, seeking up to $3 million for his ruined career. Just before closing arguments, the judge dismissed Taylor Swift from Mueller’s lawsuit and drastically reduced the amount Mueller could collect. The singer-songwriter said in her countersuit that she wanted a symbolic $1 and the chance to stand up for other women. ___ 12:35 p.m. The Taylor Swift groping case has headed to a jury in federal court in Denver. The jury got the case for deliberations Monday after Swift’s attorney Douglas Baldridge questioned former DJ David Mueller’s credibility in closing arguments. In dueling lawsuits, Swift said Mueller groped her at a backstage 2013 event and Mueller accused Swift, her mother and a Swift representative of getting him fired while denying the groping accusation. Baldridge noted Mueller lost audio recordings he took secretly during a meeting with his bosses after he was fired from a Denver country music station. He said that “no credibility goes with a story-changing, evidence-destroying aggressor like David Mueller.” The eight-member jury must rule unanimously on Mueller’s claim that Andrea Swift and Frank Bell wrongly caused Mueller’s firing. A judge removed Swift as a defendant in the firing claim. The jury also must reach a verdict on Swift’s counterclaim of assault and battery and her request for a symbolic $1 judgment. ___ 11:35 a.m. Taylor Swift’s attorney says she’s standing up for all women in her federal lawsuit by taking on a man who she says groped her and is saying “No means no.” In closing arguments Monday, lawyer Douglas Baldridge characterized the former DJ who sued Swift after he lost his job as an “aggressor.” Former radio host David Mueller said Swift’s claim that he groped her at a 2013 pre-concert event in Denver is false and led to his being fired. Baldridge asked jurors: “Will aggressors like David Mueller be allowed to victimize their victims?” Citing Swift’s counterclaim alleging assault and battery, Baldridge asks jurors to “return a verdict for a single dollar, a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation.” ___ 11:30 a.m. Taylor Swift cried during part of closing arguments in her civil trial alleging that a former radio DJ groped her before a 2013 concert. The lawyer for former DJ David Mueller, Gabriel McFarland, questioned Monday whether the pop star’s smiling face in a photo she appeared in with Mueller was the face of someone who was upset. Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, touched her daughter’s right leg as Swift cried and wiped her face in federal court in Denver. Her lawyer also rubbed her back. Andrea Swift touched Swift’s hand as McFarland said the photograph taken during the meet-and-greet in meant nothing. Swift testified the photo was taken just as she was groped by Mueller, who denies the allegation. _____ 11:10 a.m. A lawyer for the former radio DJ accused of groping Taylor Swift says the pop star’s account is inconsistent with every other Swift team member’s testimony and with a photo taken at the time of the alleged incident. During closing arguments in Denver federal court Monday, attorney Gabriel McFarland told jurors Monday that David Mueller “is not the guy” who groped Swift during a photo op before a 2013 concert. He argued that Swift’s smiling face in the photo contradicts her testimony that she was groped the instant the photo was taken. McFarland also cast doubt on a Swift security guard’s claim that he saw Mueller touch Swift but did not act because he did not think she was in danger. He also said the photographer who took the image “started it all” by pulling a photo of Mueller and his girlfriend with Swift from dozens she took during a meet-and-greet and showing it to Swift, who identified Mueller as the person who touched her. _____ 10:20 a.m. Closing arguments are underway in the civil trial involving Taylor Swift and the former radio DJ she accuses of groping her before a 2013 concert. A lawyer for ex-DJ David Mueller, Gabriel McFarland, made his case to jurors first on Monday morning in Denver federal court. Before arguments began, Judge William Martinez told jurors that a preponderance of evidence is needed to return a verdict. The verdict form asks if Frank Bell, a radio liaison for Taylor Swift, and Andrea Swift intentionally caused Mueller to be fired from his job. It also asks in Swift’s counterclaim if Mueller assaulted or battered Swift. The judge threw out Mueller’s case against Taylor Swift on Friday. _____ 9:10 a.m. Taylor Swift, her mother Andrea Swift, and former radio DJ David Mueller are back in a federal courtroom in Denver federal as the judge and attorneys for her groping case review instructions for the jury. Monday’s review is taking place outside the presence of the eight-member jury, which will be called in later in the morning to hear closing arguments. Swift alleges Mueller groped her before a 2013 concert and he denies the allegation. A judge ruled Friday Mueller did not prove Swift personally tried to end his career. Identical allegations against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell are expected to go to jurors. Mueller sued the three after Swift’s team reported the encounter to his bosses. He sought up to $3 million in damages. The judge ruled that he did not make a case for recovering that much money. Swift countersued for a symbolic $1. The jury will consider her assault claim. _____ 9 a.m. Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments Monday in a trial over allegations that a former radio host groped Taylor Swift before a 2013 Denver concert. The former DJ alleges in a competing federal lawsuit that the star’s mother and radio liaison tried to destroy his career. A federal judge ruled Friday that former DJ David Mueller did not prove Swift personally tried to end his career. Identical allegations against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell are expected to go to jurors. Mueller sued the three after Swift’s team reported the encounter to his bosses. He sought up to $3 million in damages. The judge ruled that he did not make a case for recovering that much money. Swift countersued for a symbolic $1. The jury will consider her assault claim. _____ 7:55 a.m. Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments Monday in a trial over allegations that a former radio host groped Taylor Swift backstage before a 2013 Denver concert. The former DJ alleges in a competing federal lawsuit that the star’s mother and radio liaison set out to destroy his career. A federal judge ruled Friday that former DJ David Mueller did not prove Swift personally tried to end his career. But identical allegations against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell are expected to go to jurors. Mueller sued the three after Swift’s team reported the 2013 encounter to his bosses. He’s seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job. Swift countersued for a symbolic $1. The jury will also consider her assault claim. She called the encounter despicable. _____ 1:15 a.m. Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments Monday in a trial concerning allegations that a former radio host groped Taylor Swift backstage before a concert in Denver, and competing allegations the singer’s mother and her radio liaison set out to destroy the DJ’s career after the photo op took place. A federal judge on Friday determined that former DJ David Mueller didn’t prove that Swift personally tried to end his career, but identical allegations against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell are expected to go to jurors. Mueller sued the three after Swift’s team reported the 2013 encounter to his bosses. He’s seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job. Swift countersued for a symbolic $1. The jury will also consider her assault claim. She called the encounter with Mueller despicable.

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say at least two people were injured when a crane collapsed on two homes in a Florida neighborhood. Lauderhill Fire Rescue Capt. Jerry Gonzalez says tge crane was being used to put up Florida Power & Light electric poles Wednesday afternoon when it fell on the two houses. No fatalities were reported, and Gonzalez wasn’t sure of the extent of the injuries. Gonzalez says firefighters are going through the houses to make sure no one else was inside. The crane smashed through the roof of one of the homes, causing extensive damage. Gonzalez says it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the collapse. FPL spokesman Richard Beltran confirmsd the crane was being operated by a contractor when it tipped over. He had no additional information. Lauderhill is northwest of Fort Lauderdale.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jurors in the trial of a Milwaukee police officer charged with killing a black man fleeing a traffic stop are expected to see footage of the shooting from an officer’s body camera. An officer who witnessed Dominique Heaggan-Brown shooting 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a foot chase is expected to testify Wednesday afternoon. The Aug. 13 shooting sparked riots in a predominantly black neighborhood where it occurred. Heaggan-Brown, who’s no longer on the force, is charged with first-degree reckless homicide. Prosecutors say Smith was unarmed on the ground when Heaggan-Brown shot him in the chest. Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, says he thought Smith may have been reaching for a firearm. Smith had a gun when he ran. Prosecutors say video footage shows he’d tossed it before the shooting.

MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow is awaiting nearly two dozen Russian diplomats ordered to leave Britain as part of a standoff over a nerve agent attack on British soil. Britain ordered the 23 diplomats to leave by Tuesday, and they’re expected in Moscow later, according to Russian media reports. Russia retaliated by expelling 23 British diplomats, who are expected to leave Moscow in the coming days. Russia denies involvement in the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury earlier this month. They remain in critical condition. Britain accuses Russia of the poisoning, which Western powers see as an example of increasingly aggressive Russian meddling abroad. International chemical weapons experts took samples Monday of the nerve agent used, which Britain says is the Soviet-developed Novichok.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Trump Administration appears to be easing away from longstanding U.S. support for Palestinian statehood as the preferred outcome of Middle East peace efforts, which may please some allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. But the alternatives are few, and each comes with daunting and combustible complications, including for Israel itself. The idea of two states in the Holy Land — a Jewish Israel and an Arab Palestine — rests on a particular logic: There are two quite different peoples of roughly equal size living between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River; each wants their own nation-state to control and dominate numerically; each has shown tenacity toward this goal. This would require Israel to let go of most and maybe all of the territory it captured in the 1967 war, when it completed its takeover of all the land that British colonizers abandoned in 1948. That includes the West Bank, where there are now islands of Palestinian autonomy, scattered Jewish settlements and overriding Israeli military control; the eastern part of Jerusalem, which Israel has fully annexed and populated with Jews; and the coastal Gaza Strip, which was actually evacuated in 2005 and is now blockaded and controlled by the Islamic militants of Hamas. Over the years many and probably most Israelis have come around to the idea of a partition largely because they want to be considered a democracy and do not want all the Palestinian future citizens that would come along with the territory. For almost two decades, U.S. policy has been to advocate a two-state solution. But over two decades of peace talks have failed to produce agreement on the details, and many on both sides consider it impossible without a major change in circumstances — massive global pressure on Israel, more upheaval in the Arab neighborhoods, perhaps tectonic shifts in the prevailing world order. Ahead of Wednesday’s White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Netanyahu, a senior U.S. official suggested a two-state solution was optional, bringing condemnation from Palestinian officials. But many of them have for years been quietly preparing for an alternative strategy of a single bi-national state in the Holy Land. Here’s a look at that option, and other scenarios that might arise: ONE STATE For years this was the goal of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and for many Palestinians it is indeed the preferred option: a single democratic state, not defined as specifically Jewish or Arab, in the area of British colonial Palestine. Many prefer it anyway to the two-state notion whereby even if Israel gives up all the land it captured in 1967 it retains almost 80% of Palestine. The problem is that almost no one in Israel is arguing for the true extension of full rights to Palestinians in the currently occupied territories because even with Gaza excluded it would leave Arabs constituting close to half the country’s population — and that is clearly the end of the Zionist dream of a Jewish state. This is why Israel has never annexed the West Bank and why the more sophisticated nationalists profess to support a partition, albeit on terms the Palestinians have not accepted and are not likely to. If the Palestinians formally drop the two-state strategy and demand incorporation into Israel it will put Israel in the awkward position of refusing to annex territories where it has been settling Jews for decades. Down this path lie coercion efforts in the form of international sanctions on Israel, or Palestinian violence. INTERIM AGREEMENT Many Israelis have concluded that a final peace agreement with the Palestinians is simply not possible because the Palestinians are asking for the moon as a result of a feeling that they hold the demographic cards. It is not just about territory: the Palestinians still in theory demand a “right of return” to Israel proper for millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees living around the region and the world, which the vast majority of Jewish Israelis reject. But perhaps a partial deal is possible whereby the Palestinians would not have to forego future claims but for now get their state on, say, 80% of the West Bank, with some sort of preferred access of new regime in the Old City of Jerusalem? Even the current nationalist Netanyahu government would probably accept such a thing, but the Palestinians have ruled it out, fearing the temporary would become permanent. To get them to agree would require massive global and Arab world pressure, and risks huge internal conflict among the Palestinians. JORDANIAN OPTION Jordan took over the West Bank and east Jerusalem during the 1948-1949 Arab-Israel war that followed the British pullout, lost the areas to Israel in 1967 and then gave up all claims to them in favor of the Palestinians in the 1980s. But Jordan is a country with a majority Palestinian-descended population, and some Israelis still think that it can play a role in satisfying Palestinian national aspirations and resuming control over only a part of the West Bank. But this would probably require a collapse of Hashemite rule, founded on Jordan’s Bedouin population, and as such is anathema to the Jordanian monarchy, which is beloved by many israelis for making peace with them in 1994. Adding to the awkwardness, the Palestinians reject it altogether as well. PARTIAL UNILATERAL PULLOUT Under these vexing circumstances many Israelis conclude no peace is possible, but they still want to be rid of the Palestinian population of the West Bank. In the mid-2000s the government of Ehud Olmert planned a unilateral pullout from most of the territory, to follow the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. But those plans were upended when Gaza was taken over by Hamas militants and became a launching pad for rocket attacks on Israel, leading to several mini-wars. Few want to see that scenario repeated with the West Bank, which is much larger and closer to Israel’s main cities. Now talk grows of a pullout of settlers from some areas, to create a more convincing reality of partition, while the military stays for now, pending some future arrangement. NATO? A global or Arab peacekeeping force? Perpetual Israeli control? No one can say. STATUS QUO When the best that can be hoped for is the least bad solution, the status quo looks attractive to some. But Israel is constantly changing the landscape by adding settlers — already there are some 350,000 Israelis in the West Bank and a quarter million in East Jerusalem. And the Palestinians do not have a history of acquiescing for long: There were multi-year uprisings in the late 1980s and early 2000s and a spate of violence in late 2015 and early 2016. Down this path lies the very strong likelihood of more. ___ Dan Perry is AP’s Middle East editor leading text coverage in the region.

NEW YORK (AP) — AP POLL ALERT: At No. 7, Tennessee back in women’s top 10 for first time since 2015; Texas drops to No. 8. Share this: Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Pinterest

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid consulted Vice President Mike Pence on health care issues while he was Indiana’s governor, a post she maintained amid a web of business arrangements — including one that ethics experts say conflicted with her public duties. A review by The Associated Press found Seema Verma and her small Indianapolis-based firm made millions through consulting agreements with at least nine states while also working under contract for Hewlett Packard. It holds a financial stake in the health care policies Verma’s consulting work helped shape in Indiana and elsewhere. Her firm, SVC Inc., collected more than $6.6 million in consulting fees from the state of Indiana since 2011, records show. At the same time, records indicate she also received more than $1 million through a contract with Hewlett, the nation’s largest operator of state Medicaid claims processing systems. Last year, her firm collected an additional $316,000 for work done for the state of Kentucky as a subcontractor for HP Enterprises, according to documents obtained by AP through public records requests. In financial disclosures posted this week, Verma reported she has an agreement to sell SVC Inc. to Health Management Associates of Lansing, Michigan, within 90 days of her confirmation. A spokesman for SVC did not immediately respond to an emailed list of questions from The AP. A spokesman for Pence also did not respond to a request for comment. Verma faces a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday. Democrats in Washington are aware of many of her consulting arrangements, and have broader concerns about her philosophy about government entitlement programs, lack of background in Medicare and inexperience leading a large organization. As a trusted adviser to Pence, she had an office in the state government center and took on duties usually reserved for state administrators. Verma was also widely respected for her grasp on policy and designed a federal Medicaid waiver that allowed Pence to undertake his own conservative expansion of the program while still accepting money made available through the Affordable Care Act. Verma did not address how she would handle decisions related to HP in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services that was released this week. The letter outlined her plan for managing potential conflicts of interest should she be confirmed by the Senate to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Her relationship with HP was first reported by the Indianapolis Star in 2014. Legal and ethics experts contacted by AP say Verma’s work for Hewlett, and offshoot HP Enterprises, raised questions about where her loyalties lay — to the company, or to state taxpayers. Richard Painter, former President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer, called the Verma’s arrangement a “conflict of interest” that “clearly should not happen and is definitely improper.” Such arrangements are typically prohibited for rank-and-file state employees under Indiana’s ethics rules and laws, but they’re murkier when it comes to consulting work. Contractors have often replaced state employees in a GOP bid to drive down the number of public employees, distinctions between the two can be hard to discern. “She was cloaked with so much responsibility and so much authority, people thought she was a state employee,” said Debra Minot, a former head of Indiana’s Family and Social Services Agency under Pence who worked with Verma. Indiana University law professor David Orentlicher compared Verma’s dual employment to an attorney who represents both the plaintiff and the defense in a lawsuit. It’s also similar to federal contract negotiator with a side job for a company they regularly negotiate with, he said. “If you have one person on both sides of the negotiating, they can’t negotiate hard for both sides,” said Orentlicher, a former Indiana Democratic state lawmaker. There was at least one instance where Verma crossed the line in Indiana when she was dispatched by HP to help smooth over a billing dispute, said Minot. “It was never clear to me until that moment that she, in essence, was representing both the agency and one of our very key contractors,” said Minot, who was removed as head of the agency by Pence over her disagreements with Verma. “It was just shocking to me that she could play both sides.” State contracts show Verma’s duties to Indiana and Hewlett have overlapped at times. One agreement she held with the state’s social services agency required her to “provide technical assistance” to state contractors, as well as the governor’s office. Another duty was “contract development and negotiation” with vendors, which included HP and HP Enterprises Verma reported her salary with SVC is $480,000 and her business income from the company as nearly $2.2 million. ___ Johnson reported from Chicago.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The unprecedented sudden cancellation of one of television’s top comedies has left a wave of unemployment and uncertainty in its wake. Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet and the swift axing of her rebooted show put hundreds of people out of work, with some wondering whether they would be paid, most knowing they wouldn’t be, and few with any legal recourse. “A lot of people there are just middle class Americans making a living and now they’re out of work, especially at a time when we’re ramping up into production for the fall season,” Rebecca Sun of the industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It is pretty devastating for all of the people who worked on that show who are now collateral damage as a result of their star’s racist beliefs.” Contractual details for those involved with the show, including Barr, were not immediately clear, and would play out in the coming months. Experts say high-profile figures in the television industry typically have contractual clauses that give them significant severance for shows that are not produced. Lower-level workers are generally out of luck at an unfortunate time. Though “Roseanne” and many shows just had their season finales, jobs for next season are mostly taken. Ben Sherwood, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, apologized in a memo Wednesday to “the many men and women who poured their hearts and lives into the show and were just getting started on next season. We’re so sorry they were swept up in all of this and we give thanks for their remarkable talents, wish them well, and hope to find another way to work together down the road.” The cancellation came on the first day of meetings for the newly assembled writers for the fall season of “Roseanne.” They arrived after Barr’s tweet, but before ABC President Channing Dungey’s announcement that the show was finished, leading to what executive producer and writer Dave Caplan said were “a lot of bittersweet hellos — and a couple hours later, a lot of very difficult goodbyes.” “Everybody is still in shock at how quickly this all went down,” Caplan told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate because the writers did pass on other jobs to take this job and nobody really knows yet what kind of compensation they’re going to get.” For cast and crew members that did have longer-term contracts, Barr’s show-sinking tweet could be deemed, strange as it sounds, an “act of God.” A “force majeure” or “act of God,” legally, is some unpredictable event such as an earthquake or a riot that changes the underlying circumstances. “It means something outside of the control of the parties. Roseanne’s speech wasn’t in the control of ABC,” said F. Jay Dougherty, a professor who specializes in entertainment and media law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “It wouldn’t surprise me if this was treated by the studio like that kind of event, giving the studio a right to terminate contracts.” Barr herself suggested on Twitter lately that she may try to take some action. “You guys make me feel like fighting back,” Barr tweeted to her followers Wednesday. “I will examine all of my options carefully and get back to U.” Her contract may have a “morals clause,” however, which are often included in the contracts of television stars, athletes and other prominent figures, demanding a standard of behavior as the face of an enterprise. “If there is a morals clause in her contract, then breaching that would give the studio a right to terminate her contract, and possibly even sue her for damages for breach of contract,” “We can’t predict whether there will be lawsuits or not,” Dougherty said, “but I don’t think there will be successful lawsuits.” ___ Mike Cidoni Lennox and Nicole Evatt in Los Angeles and David Bauder in New York contributed to this report. ___ Follow Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton .

CHICAGO (AP) — Competitors of Chicago-based Exelon Corp. filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday opposing legislation that provides billions of dollars in subsidies to the power giant. The legislation approved in December provides as much as $235 million per year to Exelon to keep unprofitable nuclear plants running in Clinton and the Quad Cities. More than 4 million customers of power-distributing subsidiaries ComEd and Ameren will pay more to finance the plan. The lawsuit filed U.S. District Court in Chicago challenges the law on constitutional grounds. Crain’s Chicago Business reports (http://bit.ly/2lf0W6v ) the competitors, including Houston-based Dynegy, allege the subsidies undermine wholesale power markets that are the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “It will profoundly disrupt the FERC-approved energy market auction structure and result in the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars a year of ratepayer funds to Exelon at the expense of other generators that would have been economically viable without discriminatory subsidies,” the lawsuit stated. Exelon contends the legislation provides it similar mechanisms that have aided renewable energy development for years. “Exelon opposes misguided and parochial efforts to block state lawmakers from taking legitimate steps to protect the environment and promote sound economic policies for their citizens,” Exelon said in a statement Tuesday. Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition is slamming the lawsuit, saying the filers want to shackle Illinoisans to higher costs and dangerous fuels of the past. Consumer groups, including the nonprofit BEST Coalition, argue the plants aren’t needed and keeping them open will cost ratepayers more anyway. The plan, to go into effect in June, would cost 3.1 million northern Illinois customers of Exelon’s power-distributing subsidiary, ComEd, an average of 25 cents more per month during the life of the plan. In central and southern Illinois, Ameren’s 1.2 million customers would pay an additional 12 cents or less monthly, the company said. Both companies said the increase could be less because of rate caps that Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has argued repeatedly in favor of saving jobs, insisted on in return for his support, lawmakers said. ___ Information from: CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS.

Asian shares rose Thursday after U.S. stocks recovered most of their sharp losses from a day earlier as jitters over Italy’s political situation subsided. KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8 percent to 22,201.82 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.1 percent to 30,385.50. The Shanghai Composite index rebounded 1.8 percent to 3,095.47 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 climbed 0.5 percent to 6,011.90. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.6 percent to 2,423.01. Shares rose in Taiwan and were mostly higher in Southeast Asia. WALL STREET: Banks and energy companies surged Wednesday as investors reversed course on hopes that Italy will be able to avoid a new round of elections. Stocks had plunged the previous day as investors expected the Italian gridlock would be resolved with new elections that could have turned into a yes-or-no referendum deciding whether Italy would continue to use the euro. The S&P 500 index jumped 1.3 percent to 2,724.01 and the Dow Jones industrial average also climbed 1.3 percent to 24,667.78. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.9 percent to 7,462.45. The Russell 2000 index surged 1.5 percent, closing at a record high of 1,647.99. Italy’s FTSE MIB stock index climbed 2.1 percent after a 2.7 percent drop a day earlier. Prices for Italian government bonds also rose, sending yields down following a huge surge the day before. CHINA MANUFACTURING: Chinese factory activity grew at its fastest rate in eight months on stronger demand, a survey showed Thursday, in a positive sign for the world’s No. 2 economy despite trade tensions with the U.S. The official purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, rose to 51.9 in May from 51.4 the previous month. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while lower numbers indicate contraction on the index’s 100-point scale. ANALYST’S VIEWPOINT: “Today’s strong set of official PMIs tell a reassuring story about current growth momentum. However, we will have to wait for more reliable indicators to be published in order to get a clearer picture of the health of China’s economy,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary. CHINA TRADE: China’s government said Thursday it reserves the right to retaliate if Washington goes ahead with proposed investment controls Beijing said violate global trade rules. The Commerce Ministry’s comment came as the two sides prepared for weekend talks in Beijing on American complaints about China’s trade surplus and Beijing’s promise to buy more American goods. CURRENCIES: The euro rose to $1.1689 from $1.1664. The dollar fell to 108.66 yen from 108.89 yen. ENERGY: U.S. crude oil slipped 25 cents to $67.96 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 2.2 percent on Wednesday to $68.21 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 43 cents to $77.29 per barrel. It added 2.8 percent to $77.50 a barrel in London. Oil prices fell 7.6 percent in five days following reports OPEC countries and Russia might start producing more oil soon. ___ AP Markets Writer Marley Jay contributed to this report. He can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — An international court ruling saying Costa Rica should allow same-sex marriage has upended the Central American nation’s presidential race, turning an evangelical candidate who opposes it from an also-ran with just 2 percent support into the leading contender in Sunday’s vote. Following last month’s decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Fabricio Alvarado, a 43-year-old journalist with a prominent career as a preacher and Christian singer, vaulted to 16.9 percent in a survey published Jan. 31 by the University of Costa Rica’s Center for Research in Political Sciences, or CIEP. Alvarado’s nearest rivals were Antonio Alvarez of the National Liberation Party with 12.4 percent, and Carlos Alvarado — no relation — of the governing Citizens’ Action Party with 10.6 percent. If no candidate tops 40 percent in the vote, the first two finishers advance to a runoff scheduled for April 1. The same poll showed that just over two-thirds of Costa Ricans oppose the court’s ruling, which also tells the country to grant same-sex couples rights such as the ability to adopt children and receive inheritances and other benefits from their partners. For deeply Roman Catholic Costa Rica, the gay marriage ruling came as an “external shock” to the campaign, political analyst Francisco Barahona told The Associated Press. “Fabricio is a young candidate, well-spoken with a good on-camera presence, but he was also the only one who reacted in radical opposition to what the Inter-American Court proposed,” Barahona said. That “put him on the radar for a good portion of the conservative electorate.” Alvarado has called the ruling a “sovereign violation” and an “external imposition” and even floated the idea of withdrawing from the OAS-sponsored rights court, which is hosted in Costa Rica’s own capital, San Jose. That won tacit approval from evangelical and Catholic leaders who, while prohibited from explicitly participating in elections in the country, have called on voters to back candidates with “Christian values.” About 76 percent of Costa Ricans identify as Roman Catholic and 14 percent as evangelical, according to the CIA World Factbook. Ana Cecilia Sanchez, a 53-year-old office administrator, is one of many who say they are undecided but would not vote for a candidate who supports gay marriage. “For me the issue of values and principles is very important for all of society, because family is the basis of society. … You ask yourself what will happen to Costa Rica if Christian values are lost,” Sanchez said. Adrian Pignataro, a political scientist at the University of Costa Rica, said the country has seen a marked erosion in party loyalty and this election has exposed a social divide between secular and religious values. “It’s not that this division is new, they are values that were there before, but in this campaign they were activated by an event and one party strategically came out in favor,” Pignataro said. Pignataro sees a parallel to the 2006 election, when voters were polarized by opposing visions on the economy: one that favored opening to the world amid trade negotiations with the United States, and another more protectionist approach. Carlos Alvarado, who is not related to Fabricio, is also a young candidate at just 38, a journalist by profession who began his political career as communications director for the Citizens’ Action Party and served as labor minister under current President Luis Guillermo Solis. His candidacy has been marred by corruption scandals involving people close to Solis’ government and a lingering deficit problem. But as the only major candidate openly backing same-sex marriage, Carlos Alvarado also saw his poll numbers rise about 5 percent recently as he attracted socially liberal voters who oppose Fabricio Alvarado’s anti-gay marriage stance. Alvarez, a 59-year-old agricultural businessman, two-time president of the Legislative Assembly and former Cabinet minister under the first presidency of Oscar Arias in 1986-1990, is running on promises to create 150,000 jobs, decrease the deficit and modernize public transportation. Alvarez has also opposed same-sex marriage, while supporting the idea of recognizing certain other rights for gay couples. Lawyer and former Security Minister Juan Diego Castro was a front-runner as recently as December as a tough-on-crime candidate. But he fell to fourth in polls as some voters were turned off by his direct attacks during debates and after the gay marriage ruling in January. Sunday’s outcome is very much up in the air with more than two-thirds of likely voters undecided, according to the CIEP poll. “None of them really grabs my attention,” said Berlioth Hidalgo, a 35-year-old cleaning worker who has not yet fixed on any candidate. “In this country it’s only fights, corruption, you don’t know where the money goes, lots of poor children.” Voters will also be selecting the 57 delegates that make up the Assembly.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West is en route to the White House to advocate on behalf of a great-grandmother serving a life sentence in prison. That’s according to a person familiar with the visit who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Kardashian West has urged the president to pardon 62-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, serving a life sentence without parole for a non-violent drug offense. She’s been in touch with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. He oversees the administration’s push to overhaul the nation’s prison system. It’s unclear whether Kardashian West will meet with President Donald Trump, but the president often invites visitors into the Oval Office. She tweeted Wednesday, “Happy Birthday Alice Marie Johnson. Today is for you.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is planning to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports after failing to win concessions from the European Union. That’s according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people say the administration’s plans could change if the two sides are able to reach a last-minute agreement, but an announcement is expected before Friday’s deadline. President Donald Trump announced in March he would slap a 25 percent tariff on imported steel, and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum, citing national security interests. But he delayed the implementation for several countries, including the European Union, giving them time to negotiate a deal. The EU has said it will retaliate if the exemptions lapse.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a free speech fight over California’s attempt to regulate anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. The case being argued Tuesday involves information required by a state law that the centers must provide clients about the availability of contraception, abortion and pre-natal care, at little or no cost. Centers that are unlicensed also must post a sign that says so. The centers say that they are being forced to deliver a message with which they disagree because their aim is to steer women away from abortion. California and abortions rights group that backed the law say its goal is to provide accurate information about the range of options facing a pregnant woman. The outcome also could affect laws in other states that seek to regulate doctors’ speech. In Louisiana, Texas and Wisconsin, doctors must display a sonogram and describe the fetus to most pregnant women considering an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. Similar laws have been blocked in Kentucky, North Carolina and Oklahoma. Doctors’ speech has also been an issue in non-abortion cases. A federal appeals court struck down parts of a 2011 Florida law that sought to prohibit doctors from talking about gun safety with their patients. Under the law, doctors faced fines and the possible loss of their medical licenses for discussing guns with patients. In another lawsuit over regulating crisis pregnancy centers, a federal appeals court in New York struck down parts of a New York City ordinance, although it upheld the requirement for unlicensed centers to say that they lack a license. The abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice California was a prime sponsor of the California law. NARAL contends that the centers mislead women about their options and try to pressure them to forgo abortion. Estimates of the number of crisis pregnancy centers in the U.S. run from 2,500 to more than 4,000, compared with fewer than 1,500 abortion providers, women’s rights groups said in a Supreme Court filing. California’s law was challenged by the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, an organization with ties to 1,500 pregnancy centers nationwide and 140 in California.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea’s leadership has cracked down further on human rights as tensions have escalated over its nuclear and missile tests, including beefing up restrictions on movements and making “horrific” prison conditions more severe, the U.N. rights chief said Monday. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein told the Security Council that the international security crisis sparked by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s military actions “is inseparable from concerns about the human rights situation of the ordinary people in the country.” A chronic lack of food, partly due to resources which are diverted to the military, has made humanitarian aid provided by the U.N. and others “literally a lifeline for some 13 million acutely vulnerable individuals,” he said. Zeid urged the Security Council to assess the human rights impact of sanctions — including controls over international banking transfers — that have slowed aid deliveries and to minimize the humanitarian consequences. This was the fourth year the Security Council has discussed human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, the country’s official name. As in previous years, the meeting only went ahead after a procedural vote in the 15-member council where at least nine nations are required to support having the session. On Monday, the human rights meeting was approved by 10 council members and opposed by Russia and China, with Egypt and Ethiopia abstaining. China’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Wu Haitao, whose country is the DPRK’s closest ally, said the meeting would be “counterproductive” at a time of heightened tensions. North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test demonstrated that it can threaten the U.S. mainland, and there is growing concern that the DPRK will soon be able to put a nuclear warhead on its missiles. President Donald Trump has vowed to stop the North Koreans from reaching such capability, increasing the possibility of conflict. “Indeed, the context of military tensions seems to have deepened the extremely serious human rights violations endured by the DPRK’s 25 million people,” the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said. North Korea has barred U.N. human rights officials from visiting the country, and its government has vehemently opposed the Security Council meetings on its rights situation and the annual resolutions by the U.N. General Assembly condemning its rights record. The DPRK maintains that it upholds human rights. But Zeid said people who have escaped from North Korea have reported “extremely widespread violations of rights in almost every aspect of people’s lives.” “In recent months, military tensions have led to more severe controls over freedom of movement and civil and political rights for the people of the DPRK,” he said. Zeid pointed to new physical barriers being erected along North Korea’s border and increased surveillance. He also criticized China for returning North Koreans who escape from their country, saying they “are routinely subjected to multiple forms of torture and ill-treatment,” including women who are subjected “to invasive body searches” that may amount to rape under international law. Zeid said his office has received more than 70 reports of women, men and children who escaped from being sent back after Chinese authorities decided they were “economic migrants,” disregarding “the overwhelming human rights violations taking place in the country.” He also cited horrific conditions in prisons and labor camps, and widespread torture in detention centers used to extract information or confessions about people planning to leave the country, illegally using foreign telecommunications networks to contact people abroad, or engaging in smuggling activities. Detainees are forced to work in mines or on building projects, face beatings, “and are being fed so little they barely survive,” Zeid said. There are reportedly five secret political prison camps which instill fear and function as “a powerful instrument of control,” he said. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council that the systematic human rights violations against North Korea’s people “are a means to a single end: Keeping the Kim Jong Un regime in power.” “The regime is using that power to develop an unnecessary arsenal and support enormous conventional military forces that pose a grave risk to international peace and security,” she said. “Their menacing march towards nuclear weapons begins with the oppression and exploitation of ordinary North Korean people.” Haley said an estimated 100,000 North Koreans, including children, are in prisons, many because the DPRK practices “guilt-by-association” and allows up to three generations of a family to be imprisoned along with the accused family member. “Defectors have reported that all North Koreans age 12 and older are required to attend public executions — a graphic reminder of consequences of disobedience of the government,” she added. Haley said the majority of asylum seekers are women, many of them trafficked. If women are repatriated while pregnant, she said they are tortured and forced to have abortions. If their baby is born alive, it is killed in an effort to maintain “ethnic purity,” she said. Haley brought two women defectors to speak about their escapes and lives in DPRK camps at an informal council meeting later in the day.

BEIJING (AP) — China criticized President Donald Trump’s order for a possible U.S. trade investigation of Beijing’s technology policies as a violation of global rules and said Tuesday it will “resolutely safeguard” Chinese interests. Trade groups for technology companies welcomed Trump’s order Monday but the Chinese Commerce Ministry said it violated the spirit of international trade and Washington’s World Trade Organization commitments. The ministry said Beijing will take “all appropriate measures” if Chinese companies are hurt but gave no details. Trump told U.S. trade officials to look into whether to launch a formal investigation into whether Beijing improperly requires foreign companies to hand over technology in exchange for market access. “If the U.S. side disregards the fact it does not respect multilateral trade rules and takes action to damage the economic and trade relations between the two sides, then the Chinese side will never sit back and will take all appropriate measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese side,” said a Commerce Ministry statement. Beijing requires automakers and other foreign companies in China to work through joint ventures, usually with state-owned partners. They often are required to give technology to partners that might become competitors. More than 20 percent of 100 American companies that responded to a survey by the U.S.-China Business Council, an industry group, said they were asked to transfer technology within the past three years as a condition of market access, according to Jake Parker, the group’s vice president for China operations. “We don’t believe market access should be contingent on transferring technology,” said Parker. “It goes counter to China’s WTO commitments.” Foreign business groups complain companies are being squeezed out of promising Chinese markets or pressured to hand over technology for electric cars and other emerging industries. Trump said in April he was setting aside trade disputes while Washington and Beijing worked together to persuade North Korea to give up nuclear weapons development. But American officials have resumed criticizing Chinese policy in recent weeks. “The White House is right to make clear all options are on the table,” said Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, an industry group in Washington, in a statement. The Commerce Ministry complained Trump’s order was “strong unilateralism” that violated the spirit of multinational trade agreements. “We believe the U.S. side should strictly adhere to commitments and should not become the destroyer of multilateral rules,” said the statement. Ahead of Monday’s order, the Chinese foreign ministry appealed to Trump to avoid a “trade war.” A state newspaper, the China Daily, said an investigation could “intensify tensions,” especially over intellectual property. Parker noted then-President Barack Obama ordered a similar investigation of Chinese policy on green technology in 2010. That ended in a negotiated settlement. “It didn’t lead to any unilateral sanctions against the Chinese,” said Parker. “Nor did it undermine the overall U.S.-China trade relationship.” ___ Chinese Ministry of Commerce (in Chinese): www.mofcom.gov.cn

LONDON (AP) — Roger Federer and Serena Williams are both back on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Wednesday as they look to advance to the third round. Federer will play Lukas Lacko of Slovakia as he continues his quest for a record-extending ninth title at the All England Club. Williams then faces Bulgarian qualifier Viktoriya Tomova as she goes for a 16th straight match win at the tournament — having missed last year while pregnant. Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki and last year’s men’s runner-up, Marin Cilic, are also back in action as they try to avoid more upsets at the tournament. Three of the top-10 seeded men lost in the first round, while former champions Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova also went out on Tuesday. The forecast calls for more sunny skies, although there is a 30 percent chance of rain showers in the afternoon. ___ More AP tennis coverage: https://www.apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A Virginia police chief said he “absolutely” regrets violence that erupted over the weekend when dozens of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members clashed with counterprotesters. As the world watched pandemonium in Charlottesville unfold live on television Saturday, officers seemed to stand on the sidelines as fists flew, bats swung and objects soared through the air. “We were hoping for a peaceful demonstration,” Chief Al Thomas said at a news conference Monday. “Gradually the crowd size increased along with aggressiveness and hostility of the attendees towards one another.” After police ordered everyone out of a small park where the rally was being held, protesters took to the streets. A man plowed his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 others. On Monday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he directed his administration to conduct an “extensive review” of how police prepare and respond to rallies. The city’s former police chief and law enforcement experts were critical of the way police responded, saying the ostensibly hands-off approach seemed to allow the violent fracas to grow. Thomas said his officers were spread thin and had to make quick adjustments to their strategies when white nationalists began swarming the park and violence erupted. “Absolutely, I have regrets,” he said. “It was a tragic, tragic weekend.” Former Charlottesville Police chief Timothy Longo said he was “shocked” that police didn’t block the street where a car plowed into a group of protesters Saturday, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring several others. “I’m shocked in disbelief that there was traffic anywhere near that level of pedestrian activity. That street is typically shut down on weekends for events that occur on the mall,” Longo, who retired from the department last year, told CNN. Joseph Giacalone, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former New York City police sergeant, said there should have been a stronger police presence and officers should have created a buffer zone between the two groups. Longo said he also would have expected police to have created buffers. “When you have a group on one side and another group protesting against them, you have to put yourself in the middle of them,” Giacalone said. “As uncomfortable as it is to be a police officer out there in between them, that’s the only thing to do.” Those on both sides of the protests were also critical of how police responded to the violence. “Their entire mission seemed to be to just stand there,” said Matthew Heimbach, a leader of the white nationalist Traditionalist Worker Party. Andrew Mayton, a union organizer and researcher who traveled from Baltimore to protest the white nationalists for the second time this summer, said officers were “nowhere to be found.” Giacalone, who helped plan the NYPD’s response to Occupy Wall Street, said it appeared police in Charlottesville chose not to engage with the protesters and surmised officials may not have wanted to appear as militarized as officers who used war-fighting gear to confront protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. “I think there’s this disengagement theory that’s been pushed forward,” he said. “You’re dealing with radicals and a disengagement strategy is not going to work with them.” Thomas denied any accusation that his officers had been told not to make arrests or step in when fights broke out. Charlottesville officers called for backup from state police, who helped clear the park. But police appeared to have no firm plan after that, as protesters flooded out of the park onto the streets. The Charlottesville Police Department had responded to 250 calls Saturday and emergency workers treated 36 injured people, including several who were hurt in the car attack, the chief said. City officials had tried to move the rally to a larger park about a mile from downtown Charlottesville, but their request was blocked by a federal judge after the American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit challenging the proposal. Virginia’s governor, a Democrat, said he believed the violence could have been quelled if the rally had been moved to the larger park. The ACLU said its lawsuit challenged the city to act constitutionally. “Had that been up there, we wouldn’t have had the issues. We wouldn’t have had the car terrorism, and let me be very clear: It was terrorism,” McAuliffe said. ___ Balsamo reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Sarah Rankin in Charlottesville and Alan Suderman in Richmond contributed to this report.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A failed attempt to sneak into Japan to visit Disneyland in 2001 may have doomed the leadership dreams of the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who was assassinated this week in an airport in Malaysia. Banished from his dictator father’s favor, the exiled Kim Jong Nam frequented casinos, five-star hotels and traveled around Asia, with little say in North Korean affairs. That ended Monday when he was killed in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Officials in South Korea say they believe the attack was carried out by North Korean agents. Despite multiple reported assassination attempts over the years, Kim Jong Nam was still a member of the most important family in North Korea, a direct blood descendent of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Estranged for years from his relatives, the 45-year-old gambler and playboy played a key, if complicated role in the dynasty that has ruled for three generations since North Korea’s foundation in 1948. Here’s a look: __ PARENTS Kim Jong Nam is the eldest son of Kim Jong Il, the second member of the Kim family to rule North Korea. Kim Jong Il had three known sons with two different women. Jong Nam was born from his father’s unofficial relationship with North Korean actress Sung Hae Rim. Kim Jong Il forced Sung to divorce her first husband and live with him, but Kim Il Sung — the first leader of North Korea and Kim Jong Il’s father — never accepted Sung as his daughter-in-law. Kim Jong Il reportedly kept Kim Jong Nam’s 1971 birth a secret from his father for several years. Sung was reportedly forced to leave North Korea and died in Moscow in 2002. Despite his mother’s exile, some foreign experts believed that Kim Jong Nam would end up inheriting power because of a traditional Korean value system that favors the eldest son as heir. Unlike his mother, Kim Jong Nam eventually won the affection of his grandfather, who died in 1994, according to South Korean media reports. __ BROTHERS AND SISTERS Kim Jong Nam’s two younger brothers share a mother: Kim Jong Il’s Japan-born mistress, the dancer Ko Yong Hui. Ko’s links to Japan, which colonized the Korean Peninsula in the early part of the 20th century, led some to believe that Kim Jong Nam would outpace his siblings in the succession race. Ko immigrated to North Korea in the 1960s from Japan, where she had lived among the ethnic Korean minority. She died in Paris in 2004. Kim Jong Un eventually won the succession race and became the North’s supreme leader in late 2011 upon the death of his father. Believed to be in his early 30s, Kim Jong Un has carried out a series of high-profile executions and purges, and outside experts say few can now challenge his rule. Kim Jong Nam’s other half-brother, Kim Jong Chol, was once viewed by some outsiders as a potential candidate for leader. But a former sushi chef of Kim Jong Il said the late leader derided the middle son, known as a huge fan of rock guitarist Eric Clapton, as “girlish.” The brothers also had at least two known sisters. One is Kim Yo Jong, who shares a mother with Kim Jong Un and who is currently working as a top propaganda official. Another sister, Kim Sol Song, was born from Kim Jong Il’s relationship with another woman, Kim Yong Sok. There has been little information about Kim Sol Song, but unconfirmed rumors in the South say she is being detained. __ AUNT AND UNCLE Kim Jong Nam’s aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, is Kim Jong Il’s younger sister. She was reportedly behind the expulsion of Kim Jong Nam’s mother to the then Soviet Union in the 1970s. Kim Kyong Hui and her husband Jang Song Thaek then acted as Kim Jong Nam’s caretaker. But Jong Nam gradually lost favor with his father. He reportedly spent too much money at a Pyongyang hotel and made wild shopping excursions to China. When he was detained in Tokyo for trying to enter the country with a fake Dominican passport, he sported a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch and carried wads of cash. Kim Kyong Hui and Jang were believed to have played a major role in grooming Kim Jong Un as the next leader. After Kim Jong Un took power, the two initially enjoyed great power. Jang was seen as the country’s No.2 until he was stripped of all posts and executed in a sudden purge for alleged treason in 2013. Kim Kyong Hui, who was reportedly seriously ill, disappeared from the public eye. __ Follow Hyung-jin Kim on Twitter at twitter.com/hyungjin1972

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The gunman who wounded a top Republican congressman and several others during an early morning baseball practice had apparently been living out a white cargo van for months and was frequently seen working on a computer at a nearby YMCA, where he kept mostly to himself. James T. Hodgkinson shot House Rep. Steve Scalise on Wednesday before he was fatally shot by police who had been guarding the House majority whip on the Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field, officials said. Authorities believe the 66-year-old had been living out of a van in northern Virginia since March after leaving his southern Illinois home. The man expressed grievances online about President Donald Trump and Republicans, but authorities said they’re still working to determine a motive. Hodgkinson was spotted regularly over the past several weeks at the YMCA next to the site of the shooting, sitting with a computer in the lobby or at a table in an exercise area that looked out onto the baseball field. Former Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille, who chatted with Hodgkinson at the gym, said he assumed the man was homeless because he wore pretty much the same outfit every day and carried a bag full of extra clothes. Hodgkinson rarely joined in the political discussions often set off by the television in the room and never showed any signs that he was troubled, Euille said. “I never saw him get mad when people were talking good, bad or ugly about any of the political parties,” Euille told The Associated Press. “He was just a very calm, rational person, I thought,” he said. Stephen Brennwald, another YMCA member, said he never saw Hodgkinson talk to anyone and figured the man was a “loner.” Brennwald thought it was odd he never saw Hodgkinson exercise or wear workout clothes and considered asking a staffer about him but never did, he said. “There’s just no way that I would have guessed that this guy would be shooting at law enforcement and a congressman,” said Brennwald, an attorney. Hodgkinson, who was armed with a handgun and a rifle, died from multiple gunshot wounds to his torso, the FBI said. Federal investigators are working to trace his weapons to find out where they were purchased and other details about their history. Texas Rep. Roger Williams said one of his aides, Zack Barth, was shot but was doing well and expected to recover fully. Two Capitol Police officers sustained relatively minor injuries. A former congressional aide was hospitalized. The FBI said authorities are speaking with people who knew Hodgkinson or who may have encountered him. FBI agent Tim Slater said the FBI needs the public’s help in piecing together Hodgkinson’s whereabouts and activities while he was in Alexandria. “We’re just not sure at this time” how he spent his time, he said. Kristina Scrimshaw, a bartender at the Pork Barrel BBQ restaurant a few blocks from the shooting scene, said Hodgkinson had become something of a regular in recent weeks. He always drank Budweiser from a can and drank alone, barely speaking to anyone, including the bartenders. “I didn’t like him from the beginning,” she said. “Nothing I can really put my finger on, but he was just not a pleasant person.” The gunman’s brother told The New York Times that the man was upset about Trump’s election and recently went to Washington to protest, but Michael Hodgkinson said he didn’t know why the man stayed in the area. “I know he wasn’t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff,” the shooter’s brother told the newspaper. Until recently, Hodgkinson ran a home-inspection business out of his house in southern Illinois. His Facebook page shows he was a fan of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who last year made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders acknowledged Wednesday that Hodgkinson had apparently been among many volunteers on his 2016 campaign. A search of online newspapers shows that Hodgkinson frequently wrote letters to his local newspaper, the Belleville News-Democrat, which published nearly two dozen of them between 2010 and 2012. Many included complaints about the same theme: income inequality. Hodgkinson also had arrests in his background for a series of minor offenses and at least one more serious matter. Court records show that his legal trouble started in the 1990s with arrests for resisting police and drunken driving. In 2006, he was arrested on a battery charge after allegedly punching a woman in the face, then striking her boyfriend in the head with the wooden stock of a 12-gauge shotgun before firing a round at the man, according to a sheriff’s department report. While trying to drive away from that confrontation, the report said, Hodgkinson used a pocket knife to cut a seat belt. The charges were dismissed later that year, according to the court clerk. Though no other legal problems are listed in St. Clair County, which includes Belleville, since 2011, Hodgkinson did come to the attention of local law enforcement as recently as last spring. On March 24, Bill Schaumleffel recalled hearing shots being fired outside his house, which stands about 500 feet behind Hodgkinson’s home. When he went outside, he saw Hodgkinson shooting a rifle into a cornfield. He was squeezing off five or six rounds at a time, according to the report of the incident, and fired about 50 shots in all. “I yelled, ‘Quit shooting toward the houses,'” Schaumleffel said. When Hodgkinson refused to stop, Schaumleffel called the sheriff’s department. St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson said Wednesday that Hodgkinson showed the deputy all required firearms licenses and documentation for the high-powered hunting rifle, which he said he was simply using for target practice. The deputy cautioned Hodgkinson about shooting around homes, given that the rounds can travel up to a mile. No charges were filed. ___ Richer reported from Richmond, Virginia. Sarah Rankin in Richmond; Matt Barakat in Alexandria, Virginia; Don Babwin in Chicago; John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois; Jim Suhr in Kansas City, Missouri; Jake Pearson in Washington and Associated Press Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed to this report.

HONOLULU (AP) — The hottest and fastest-moving lava of Kilauea volcano’s latest eruption spread across new parts of the Big Island Wednesday, forcing officials to order evacuations in two coastal neighborhoods over fears that the rapidly advancing flows could cut off dwindling escape routes. Overnight, the lava was moving fast enough to cover about six football fields an hour, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientist Wendy Stovall. “Hawaii County Civil Defense decided to evacuate all of lower Puna to ensure that people would be able to get out,” Stovall said. Lava gushed across and then along a roadway that leads from the commercial center of Pahoa toward smaller towns and rural farmlands to the east. About two dozen recent fissures in that area have created towering lava fountains and bone-rattling explosions throughout the eruption. The lava that is currently coming to the surface is the hottest and most fluid to date. “This is the hottest lava that we’ve seen in this eruption, even just a matter of 50 degrees centigrade makes a big difference in how quickly lava flows can move and how they behave once the magma exits the vent,” Stovall said. In fact, the current lava eruptions in Puna are as hot as Hawaii’s lava will ever get. “It can’t get hotter than where we are,” Stovall added. “We are pretty much tapping mantle temperatures right now.” One fissure was observed early Wednesday morning spouting lava over 200 feet (61 meters) into the air. Hawaii County officials said lava destroyed the electric utility’s equipment on the highway, which knocked out power to Vacationland and Kapoho Beach Lots. “You are at risk of being isolated due to possible lava inundation,” the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency advised the public. There were several small earthquakes at Kilauea’s summit Wednesday, where the vent inside the volcano’s Halemaumau Crater has grown along with a series of explosive eruptions that have sent rock and ash thousands of feet into the sky. The U.S. Geological Survey released drone footage Wednesday of another fast-moving lava flow that trapped a man in Leilani Estates over the weekend. As lava rushed past the property, a USGS crew that was flying the drone used the aircraft to lead rescue teams to the stranded person. The person was safely evacuated. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park remains closed because of the volcanic activity at the summit and the ongoing eruptions on Kilauea’s eastern flanks. Park officials said that crews are working on clearing another roadway on the south side of the park that was covered by lava from previous eruptions. They hope the roadway will provide an alternative escape route if lava cuts off more roads to the north. Strands of volcanic glass called as Pele’s hair was accumulating on the ground in Leilani Estates and surrounding neighborhoods, and winds may blow lighter particles farther away, scientists said. The strands can cause irritation and respiratory problems when it comes in contact with people. Pele, known as the goddess of volcanoes and fire, is an important figure in Hawaiian culture. Volcanic gas emissions remain high from the eruption. Wind conditions for Wednesday were forecast to result in widespread vog — or volcanic smog— over the Big Island. ___ Follow AP’s complete coverage of the Hawaii volcano here: https://apnews.com/tag/Kilauea Follow AP’s Hawaii correspondent Caleb Jones on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalebAP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on SpaceX launch to the International Space Station (all times local): 12:31 p.m. A SpaceX capsule is rocketing to the International Space Station — carrying a few tons of research, plus ice cream. SpaceX launched its unmanned Falcon 9 rocket Monday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Experiments make up most of the 6,400 pounds of cargo. That includes 20 mice. The Dragon — due at the station Wednesday — is also doubling as an ice cream truck this time. There was extra freezer space, so NASA packed little cups of vanilla, chocolate and birthday cake ice cream for the station’s crew of six, as well as ice cream candy bars. Those treats should be especially welcomed by U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, who has been in orbit since November. 10 a.m. SpaceX is about to launch a few tons of research to the International Space Station — plus ice cream. An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off at 12:31 p.m. Monday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Experiments make up most of the 6,400 pounds of cargo. That includes 20 mice. The Dragon capsule is also doubling as an ice cream truck this time. There was extra freezer space, so NASA packed little cups of vanilla, chocolate and birthday cake ice cream for the station’s crew of six, as well as ice cream candy bars. Those treats should be especially welcomed by U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, in orbit since November. As usual on these cargo flights, SpaceX will try to land its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral.

BOSTON (AP) — Five female kitchen workers in Boston are detailing a sexual harassment lawsuit they’re filing against a national restaurant chain. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, which represents the women, says the lawsuit being addressed Tuesday highlights the plight of women in low-wage positions like dishwashers, cleaners and cooks. It comes as allegations of sexual misconduct have roiled American politics, media, film and other white-collar industries. The lawyers’ committee, a Boston-based nonprofit, says the lawsuit alleges a workplace filled with “lewd behavior, sexually inappropriate comments and unwanted touching.” The woman and their attorneys are expected to speak Tuesday. The committee hasn’t named the women or the restaurant chain yet. Celebrity chef Mario Batali stepped away from his restaurant empire Monday after four women accused him of inappropriate touching.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking leverage with Russia, the Trump administration has reopened consideration of long-rejected plans to give Ukraine lethal weapons, even if that would plunge the United States deeper into the former Soviet republic’s conflict. The deliberations put pressure on President Donald Trump, who’s fighting perceptions he is soft on the Kremlin amid investigations into whether his campaign colluded with Moscow to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. The proposal, endorsed by the Pentagon and the State Department, reflects his administration’s growing frustration with Russian intransigence on Ukraine and a broader deterioration in U.S.-Russian ties. The tensions were seen most recently in Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s order for America to eliminate more than half its diplomatic personnel in Russia. Awaiting Trump and his closest advisers is an authorization to provide Ukraine with anti-tank and potentially anti-aircraft capabilities, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plan. It’s not dramatically different from proposals rejected by President Barack Obama, who feared an influx of U.S. weapons could worsen the violence responsible for more than 10,000 deaths in Ukraine since 2014 and create the possibility of American arms killing Russian soldiers. Such a scenario could theoretically put the nuclear-armed nations closer to direct conflict. While Obama was still in office, Trump’s campaign also rejected the idea of arming Ukraine, preventing it from being included in the Republican platform. Now, however, it’s under discussion by Trump’s senior national security aides, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk about the matter publicly. While there is no deadline for a decision and one is not expected imminently, the debate is going on as U.S. and Russian diplomats prepare to meet as early as this coming week to explore ways to pacify eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have fought the central government for three years. “The Russians have indicated some willingness to begin to talk with us about a way forward on Ukraine,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after seeing his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, last week in the Philippines. Tillerson noted his recent appointment of a special representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who will coordinate with Russia and European countries to give “full visibility to all the parties that we’re not trying to cut some kind of a deal on the side that excludes their interests in any way.” Russia hawks in the U.S. and uneasy American allies have feared such a prospect since Trump took office after a campaign in which he questioned NATO’s viability and repeatedly expressed his wish for a new U.S.-Russian partnership. At one point, two years after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, Trump even challenged the notion that the Russians would “go into Ukraine.” Volker has proposed a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Putin ally Vladislav Surkov, before the end of the month. Lavrov said after his talks with Tillerson that the meeting would be in Moscow. U.S. officials say no venue has been determined, with the neutral venues of Geneva or Vienna also in play. Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO who is known as a Russia hawk, supports arming Ukraine. Such action, he says, would boost the U.S. negotiating position in the east and offer Kiev the means to defend itself against any future aggression. Unsurprisingly, Russia opposes such assistance and warns of consequences. “I hear these arguments that it’s somehow provocative to Russia or that it’s going to embolden Ukraine to attack. These are just flat out wrong,” Volker told an interviewer last month as he visited Europe on his first trip in his new post. He argued that arming Ukraine would help rather than hurt efforts to stop Russia from threatening or interfering in its neighbor’s territory. All proposals in recent years have focused on arms that are deemed “defensive” in nature and none would appear to give Ukraine any strategic edge over Russia’s vastly superior military forces. “We have not provided defensive weapons nor have we ruled out the option to do so,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Aug. 3. “That’s an option that remains on the table.” A White House official would not comment on internal administration deliberations but noted that since the crisis began in 2014, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with support equipment for its forces and training and advice to further defense reforms. Some U.S. officials say the idea is gaining currency because of Washington’s impatience with Russia and its start-and-stop implementation of a 2015 agreement designed to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Minsk Accords were agreed to by Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia with the goal of enforcing a cease-fire in the east and introducing political reforms to give the area more political autonomy. While the Obama administration allowed Europe to take the lead on the Minsk process, Volker has been empowered to make the U.S. a player in the effort. The objective now is to change Russia’s strategic thinking, one official said, and providing defensive weapons to Ukraine would be one way to do that.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the issues of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the chances of reinvigorating negotiations on the peace process. Mogherini has joined many EU leaders in expressing disapproval of the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. She said during a joint media address Monday that “the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states with Jerusalem as the capital of both.” Netanyahu insisted that what U.S. President Donald Trump did was “put facts squarely on the table. Peace is based on reality.” He said the reality of seeing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “doesn’t obviate peace, it makes peace possible.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has thrown out a 2016 California law allowing terminally ill people to end their lives after finding that the Legislature unconstitutionally approved it during a special session. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked an appeals court to block and reverse last week’s decision by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia. The court denied the request to immediately block the ruling. But experts say Becerra has other legal options and could ask the state Supreme Court to weigh in to try to restore the law. For now, there are many questions on the impact of the ruling. Here are some of them: WHAT DID THE LAW ALLOW? Adults could obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs if a doctor determined they had six months or less to live. To ensure they didn’t have a change of heart, patients had to make two verbal requests at least 15 days apart and submit a written request. California health officials reported 111 terminally ill people took drugs to end their lives in the first six months the law was in effect. Compassion & Choices, a national organization that supports the law and wants it reinstated, estimated that 504 Californians requested prescriptions in the law’s first year. The next state report on the number of people who took the drugs is expected in July. WHAT DID THE JUDGE DECIDE? Ottolia didn’t address the legal issue of whether it was proper to allow people to end their own lives. Rather, he found the law should not have been passed during a special session in 2015. Those who supported the measure say state lawmakers were justified in taking up the issue because the session was devoted to health-related topics. The appeals court that refused to block Ottolia’s order has not yet considered the state’s request to reverse the ruling. Ottolia on Wednesday rejected a request by Compassion & Choices to vacate his decision and scheduled a June 29 hearing on a similar request from the attorney general’s office. What does all this mean for now? “We are in the world that we were before the law went into effect,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley. WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO PLANNED TO USE THE LAW? Patients who have not obtained prescriptions for life-ending medications can’t legally get them now, said Dr. Lonny Shavelson, whose practice was solely focused on those cases. Shavelson said he still is meeting with patients and taking their initial requests for drugs but not issuing prescriptions. And he said he can’t guarantee their requests will count toward the required waiting period should the law be restored. Shavelson said patients who previously obtained prescriptions can take their medication if they choose to. But with the law not in effect, it’s possible a medical examiner could declare the death a suicide, which could create challenges for family members claiming insurance payments. “I am spending a lot of time calming down really freaked-out patients,” he said. COULD DOCTORS FACE PROSECUTION? Shavelson said he and his colleagues met recently and determined they were no longer in business because of the judge’s ruling. Similarly, Kaiser Permanente halted the health network’s end-of-life program. What would happen to a doctor who wrote a prescription? Experts said that’s largely up to prosecutors and can vary by jurisdiction. Matt Valliere, executive director of the Patients’ Rights Action Fund that wants the law thrown out, said he believes doctors who write prescriptions can and should be prosecuted for assisting in a suicide, which is a felony under California law. Kathryn Tucker, executive director of the End of Life Liberty Project, said she doubts prosecutors would go after doctors who continue to treat pre-existing patients. But she said she doesn’t expect doctors to issue new prescriptions without greater legal certainty. CAN LAWMAKERS PASS ANOTHER LAW? It’s possible for lawmakers to propose another measure, but it took years for the state’s now-blocked law to be passed. A new proposal on such an emotional issue would not sail through the Legislature. Tucker said legal wrangling in the courts will likely take less time than another legislative push. “What’s at stake is of a very time-sensitive nature,” she said. Becerra’s office asked the appeals court to consider the case on a quicker timeframe than the average appeal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the 2018 primary season already underway, leaders of the Senate intelligence committee are launching an effort to protect U.S. elections from a repeat episode of foreign interference. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, will preview some of the committee’s recommendations for improving the nation’s election infrastructure at a news conference Tuesday. On Wednesday, the committee will hold a hearing examining attempted hacks on state elections systems in 2016 and the federal and state response to those efforts. The committee has prepared a larger report on the issue, one of what could be several reports to come out of the committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Burr and Warner have said this report is the most urgent because of the threat that it could happen again in 2018. It’s unclear when the full report will be released, but it is expected to include recommendations for elections officials around the country and also proposals for legislation to help ward off the hacking. Overall, experts say far too little has been done to shore up vulnerabilities in 10,000 U.S. voting jurisdictions that mostly run on obsolete and imperfectly secured technology. Russian agents targeted election systems in 21 states ahead of the 2016 general election, the Homeland Security Department has said, and separately launched a social media blitz aimed at inflaming social tensions and sowing confusion. Top U.S. intelligence officials have said they’ve seen indications Russian agents are preparing a new round of election subterfuge this year. There’s no evidence that any hack in the November 2016 election affected election results, but the attempts scared state election officials who sought answers about how their systems had been potentially compromised. DHS took nearly a year to inform the affected states of hacking attempts, blaming it in part on a lack of security clearances. Lawmakers in both parties have pressed the department on why it took so long. Warner has said he thinks the process to prevent such hacking needs to be more robust, especially since President Donald Trump has not addressed the matter as an urgent problem. “We’ve got bipartisan agreement we have to do something on this,” Warner said earlier this year. At the hearing Wednesday, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and current Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will both testify. The Senate intelligence panel has put off making any assessments about whether Trump’s 2016 campaign in any way coordinated with Russia. Though that is one part of the panel’s investigation, Burr and Warner have decided to focus on less controversial issues where all members agree.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Even in surrender, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is going out fighting. When he steps down Friday, the former Navy SEAL officer will be conceding political defeat amid allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign violations while still defiantly asserting that he’s done nothing worthy of being forced out of office. He’s even hinted at a possible political comeback, declaring during his resignation announcement Tuesday that “this is not the end of our fight.” But political analysts say the man who had aspirations of becoming president could find a political revival challenging, especially in a #MeToo environment where he would be vulnerable to attack for allegedly taking a compromising photo of a woman during an extramarital affair in 2015. Greitens’ resignation comes just two weeks after a speech in which he recalled his grueling SEAL training and asserted he would never stop fighting. But his departure was days in the making, as Greitens wrestled with mounting legal bills and the emotional pressures of defending against possible impeachment and a criminal trial. On Wednesday, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner dismissed a felony charge accusing Greitens of tampering with computer data for providing his political fundraiser with the donor list of a veterans’ charity he founded. The dropped charge was the result of a deal proposed Saturday by Greitens’ defense attorneys offering his resignation in exchange, said Gardner spokeswoman Susan Ryan. The governor on Saturday also called Republican consultant Jeff Roe, who headed Greitens’ aggressive public relations campaign, to inform Roe that he had decided to resign. Greitens’ legal bills had grown to a couple of million dollars, and his campaign staffers also were facing legal bills because of subpoenas from a House investigation. Though Greitens had believed he could beat both a criminal charge and impeachment, “he couldn’t see the end without an immense financial and personal price to pay,” Roe told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Even though he’s quitting amid scandal, some Greitens voters said they still like him. Retiree Wilma Nelson said she would be open to voting for Greitens again if he sought to re-enter politics. “I can’t fault him for giving up. So much money, so much stress, such strain on his young family. You can’t deal with such hate,” said Nelson, of Platte City. Political science professor Jeremy Walling, of Southeast Missouri State University, said Greitens’ pledge to keep fighting seemed to be “some face-saving.” Walling said several factors would make a political revival tougher for Greitens than for other scandal-plagued politicians. He said Greitens lacks deep support among Missouri’s Republican power brokers, and his acknowledged extramarital affair included claims of sexual misconduct. The allegations also extended to political fundraising violations. “I think a comeback is going to be kind of difficult for this guy,” Walling said. Gardner, the St. Louis prosecutor, said her decision to drop the data-tampering charge against Greitens was no indication that she believed he was innocent. “I remain confident we have the evidence required to pursue charges against Mr. Greitens, but sometimes pursuing charges is not the right thing to do for our city or our state,” said Gardner, a Democrat. Had the governor been convicted, Gardner said, it was unlikely that he would be sentenced to prison, given the type of charge he faced and the fact that he would be a first-time offender. Jim Martin, an attorney for Greitens, acknowledged reaching out to Gardner to resolve the issue. A St. Louis judge approved the agreement, which has seven stipulations, two of which are sealed and unavailable to the public. One of the open stipulations states that Greitens has agreed to release Gardner and everyone in her office from civil liability. Former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Wolff said the agreement between Greitens’ attorneys and Gardner’s office is highly unusual because it protects Gardner and her staff from being sued for their actions and because Greitens did not have to plead guilty to any lesser charge. “Here’s a guy who gets to get out of a felony charge just by agreeing to quit his job,” Wolff said. “Most people don’t get this deal.” Jean Paul Bradshaw II, a former U.S. attorney for western Missouri, said the agreement to drop the case represents a “fair resolution” because Greitens’ resignation accomplished “the greatest public benefit” possible. The governor also was indicted on an invasion-of-privacy charge in February in St. Louis for allegedly taking the photo of the woman who had been his hairdresser during their affair in 2015, before he was elected. That charge was dropped earlier this month, but a special prosecutor is considering whether to refile it. Martin said he expected the remaining charge to be resolved soon, but he offered no details. “I think what folks need to know is it’s now time to leave the governor alone and let him and his family heal,” Martin said. Though Greitens had apparently decided to resign days earlier, he began the week as though he would continue his fight. On Monday, he spoke with attorney Catherine Hanaway about her legal defense of Greitens’ campaign, which already had turned over thousands of documents to a House investigatory committee. On Tuesday morning, a Cole County judge ordered the campaign and a pro-Greitens group called A New Missouri to comply with a House subpoena seeking more records about potential coordination between the nonprofit organization, Greitens and his campaign. The judge said the names of any donors to A New Missouri could be redacted. House Speaker Todd Richardson said Wednesday that he didn’t know whether the House still has the power or desire to enforce the subpoena now that Greitens is resigning. Hanaway described the judicial ruling as “pretty innocuous,” adding that she did not think the order “had any effect on the decision” to resign. Roe said Greitens had been prepared for a two-stage fight. He was first focused on the invasion-of-privacy charge, which was dropped during jury selection. Greitens had hoped to be acquitted, which Roe said would have allowed him to mount a full defense against the potential House impeachment proceedings. But the specter of those charges being refiled hampered what Greitens could say and do on both fronts, Roe said. Roe also said it appeared likely that the House would vote to impeach Greitens, a step that would have prolonged his fight for several more months until a trial could be held on whether to remove him from office. “The human and financial toll was too great,” Roe said. “And it was going to go on for too long.” ___ Salter reported from St. Louis. Associated Press writers Blake Nelson in Jefferson City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

HONOLULU (AP) — A former Hawaii state worker who sent a false missile alert last month said Friday he’s devastated about causing panic but was “100 percent sure” at the time that the attack was real. The man in his 50s spoke to reporters on the condition that he not be identified because he fears for his safety after receiving threats. He says an on-duty call that came in on Jan. 13 didn’t sound like a drill. However, state officials say other workers clearly heard the word “exercise” repeated several times. “Immediately afterward, we find out it was a drill and I was devastated. I still feel very badly about it,” he said. “I felt sick afterward. It was like a body blow.” He’s had difficulty eating and sleeping since, he said: “It’s been hell for me the last couple weeks.” The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency fired him after the incident. The man’s superiors said they knew for years that he had problems performing his job. The worker had mistakenly believed drills for tsunami and fire warnings were actual events, and colleagues were not comfortable working with him, the state said. His supervisors counseled him but kept him for a decade in a position that had to be renewed each year. The ex-worker disputed that, saying he wasn’t aware of any performance problems. While starting a Saturday shift at the emergency operations center in a former bunker in Honolulu’s Diamond Head crater on Jan. 13, the man said, a co-worker took a phone call over the U.S. Pacific Command secure line that sounded like a real warning, he said. “When the phone call came in, someone picked up the receiver instead of hitting speaker phone so that everyone could hear the message,” he said. The man said he didn’t hear the beginning of the message that said, “exercise, exercise, exercise.” “I heard the part, ‘this is not a drill,'” he said. “I didn’t hear exercise at all in the message or from my co-workers.” Federal and state reports say the agency had a vague checklist for missile alerts, allowing workers to interpret the steps they should follow differently. Managers didn’t require a second person to sign off on alerts before they were sent, and the agency lacked any preparation on how to correct a false warning. Those details emerged Tuesday in reports on investigations about how the agency mistakenly blasted cellphones and broadcast stations with the missile warning. It took nearly 40 minutes for the agency to figure out a way to retract the false alert on the same platforms it was sent to. “The protocols were not in place. It was a sense of urgency to put it in place as soon as possible. But those protocols were not developed to the point they should have,” retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who wrote the report on Hawaii’s internal investigation, said at a news conference. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi resigned as the reports were released. Officials revealed that the employee who sent the alert was fired Jan. 26. The state did not name him. The agency’s executive officer, Toby Clairmont, said Wednesday that he stepped down because it was clear action would be taken against agency leaders after the alert. Another employee was being suspended without pay, officials said. The incident “shines a light” on the state’s system failures, the man who sent the alert said, adding that he believes the federal government should handle such alerts. Testing of the alert system began in November and protocols were constantly changing, he said. “As far as our level of training was concerned, I think it was inadequate,” he said. Hawaii state Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Col. Charles Anthony declined to comment on what the former worker said. Officials said the man refused to cooperate with state or federal investigations beyond providing a written statement. He wasn’t trying to impede any investigations, he said: “There really wasn’t anything else to say.” ___ This story has been corrected to say a co-worker took the call, not the man who sent the alert.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two film industry leaders told theater owners Tuesday that are optimistic about the movie and theatrical exhibition business despite concerns about declining attendance and competition from streaming services. New MPPA chief Charles Rivkin and John Fithian, the president and CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners, delivered a state of the industry speech at CinemaCon, saying the strength of the movies being released will dictate box-office sales. “Our business rises or falls on the movies in our cinemas,” Fithian said. CinemaCon is an annual gathering of theater owners and exhibitors, during which they get a look upcoming films from major Hollywood studios and a preview of some of the latest and greatest in theatrical technologies and even concession options. Rivkin, who recently took over the position at the MPAA from Christopher Dodd, said that 263 million people went to the movies at least once in North America in 2017 — more than three quarters of the North American population. He noted that while the box office was slightly down from the record in 2016, it was on par with the 2015 record. He says he believes the market will always move between record-high or near record years. He also stressed that he would continue to fight to protect intellectual property with anti-piracy efforts. Film and television account for $16.5 billion in exports, he said, and that the industry supports 2.1 million jobs and $139 billion in wages every year. Rivkin was previously the president and CEO of The Jim Henson Company and also served as the U.S. Ambassador to France and as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs. “Let’s always deliver on the promise of our creative industry: high quality stories that speak to the hopes and dreams of our audience, and will continue to do so for generations to come,” Rivkin said. Fithian also applauded filmmakers and distributors for “taking significant steps to achieve more diversity and positive representation on the big screen,” which he says their consumers are “demanding.” “We are optimistic that 2017 and 2018 will one day be viewed as a turning point on this front,” Fithian said. Fithian also spoke to some of the major fears of the movie business and said that younger audiences are still passionate moviegoers. According to comScore, moviegoers ages 18-44 constituted 63% of the total box office in 2017_up from 61% in 2016. Fithian said that disruption, whether it’s streaming or shortened periods where films are show exclusively in theaters, will not kill the theatrical business. He wondered if “Black Panther,” ”Get Out” or “Wonder Woman” would have been cultural landmarks had they gone straight to streaming. “I have worked with (theater owners) for 26 years. I can’t begin to tell you how often reporters have asked me if the movie theater industry is dying. Every downturn in admissions is a sign of secular decline, every innovation or improvement is intended to ‘save’ the movie theater business,” he said. “There has been a lot of hype about the next ‘disruption,'” he said, listing off advancements ranging from VHS to the advent of films releasing in theaters and home services the same day. “Yet we never die but remain a strong business in the face of disruption everywhere else in the entertainment landscape.” ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

NEW YORK (AP) — A top Federal Reserve official suggested Monday that the Fed will likely announce next month that it will begin paring its bond portfolio — a step that could lead to slightly higher rates on mortgages and other loans. In an interview with The Associated Press, William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said he thinks the Fed has adequately prepared investors for a reduction in the portfolio, which swelled after the 2008 financial crisis as the Fed bought bonds to reduce long-term rates. With the economy now much healthier, the Fed is ready to begin selling some of those bonds. Dudley also said that he would favor a third increase this year in the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate if the economy remained strong. Many investors expect a modest rate hike in December, to follow the Fed’s previous increases in March and June this year. Speaking of the Fed’s likely September announcement that it will begin shrinking its $4.5 trillion bond portfolio, Dudley expressed confidence that investors would react calmly to the prospect of modestly higher rates on some consumer and business loans. He noted that the Fed spelled out to investors months ago the system it plans to use to reduce the portfolio gradually. “The plan is out there,” he said during an interview at the New York Fed. “It’s been generally well-received and fully anticipated. People expect it to take place.” As president of the Fed’s New York regional bank, Dudley is an influential voice on interest-rate policy. He is vice chairman of the central bank’s policy panel that sets interest rates and is a longtime close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen. His interview with the AP comes at a time when the Fed has essentially met one of its two mandates: To maximize employment. The unemployment rate is at a 16-year low of 4.3 percent, and job growth remains consistently solid. Yet the Fed has so far failed to meet its second objective of keeping prices stable. Inflation has stayed chronically below the Fed’s 2 percent target rate — a problem because consumers often delay purchases when they think prices will stay the same or even decline. In its latest reading, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge was just 1.4 percent year over year. Dudley said Monday that he still thinks inflation will rise toward the Fed’s target level as the job market strengthens further and sluggish wage growth begins to pick up. On other topics, Dudley: — Suggested that Gary Cohn, who leads President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council and is close to Trump, would be a “reasonable candidate” to succeed Yellen as Fed chair if Trump chooses not to re-nominate Yellen when her term ends early next year. Dudley, who worked with Cohn as top officials at Goldman Sachs, said Cohn “knows a lot about financial markets,” and “I don’t think you have to have a Ph.D. in economics” to lead the Fed. In a recent interview, Trump said he was considering both Yellen and Cohn for the top Fed job, along with some other candidates he would not name. — Expressed confidence that the Fed’s political independence, long considered essential for it to carry out its functions, would remain respected during a Trump presidency. Trump may have the opportunity to install up to five members of the Fed’s seven-member board over the next year, and the president has shown a tendency to expect loyalty from some people he has named to key positions. Trump had offered a harsh judgment of the Fed and of Yellen during the presidential campaign but has since avoided making critical comments. Dudley noted that the Trump administration has so far been “very hands-off” toward the Fed, “very respectful of monetary policy.” — Said that even as stock prices set record highs and other assets surge as well, he isn’t concerned that any potentially devastating asset bubbles might be forming, akin to the subprime mortgage bubble that triggered the 2008 crisis. Dudley said asset prices “are pretty consistent with what we are seeing in terms of the actual performance of the economy,” which he said has been evolving without much volatility. The Fed’s announcement that it will start paring its bond portfolio is expected to come after its next policy meeting ends Sept. 20. The meeting after that, in December, is when many Fed watchers expect the next increase in its key short-term rate, which remains in a still-low range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent. Yellen and other Fed officials have attributed the persistently low inflation rate, which slowed further in recent months, to such transitory events as a sharp drop in cellphone fees. Dudley said that if the economy evolves during the rest of 2017 as he expects, with inflation rebounding, “I would be in favor of doing another rate hike later this year.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Anthem is countering Cigna a day after its smaller rival sued to terminate a $48 billion buyout agreement. Anthem on Wednesday sought a restraining order to block that maneuver and force it to comply with the deal, which has already been blocked by a federal judge. The rapid-fire consolidation in the health care industry appears to be hitting a wall. On Tuesday, Aetna said it was abandoning its $34 billion acquisition of Humana. That was followed by the Cigna lawsuit. Both deals drew in the Justice Department and separate federal courts ruled the deals could hurt consumers. Cigna Corp. is seeking a $1.85 billion termination fee from Anthem and more than $13 billion in damages. Anthem Inc. said Wednesday that Cigna doesn’t have a right to terminate the agreement.

CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James scored 40 points as part of his third triple-double in four games and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 124-117 on Monday night as coach Tyronn Lue began his leave of absence to address health issues. Lue said Monday in a statement he been dealing with chest pains and loss of sleep, and that tests have offered no conclusion about what the issue is. Associate head coach Larry Drew will run the team in Lue’s absence. James scored 17 points in the third quarter and finished with 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his 16th triple-double this season and 71st of his career. The four-time MVP took over in the third beginning with back-to-back 3-pointers. After not getting a foul called on a third attempt, he finished Cleveland’s next possession with a massive dunk. He was fouled attempting another dunk and made both free throws the following time down. Milwaukee cut a 17-point lead to 117-109, but James drove the length of the floor for a dunk with just over a minute left. Cavaliers All-Star forward Kevin Love returned after missing six weeks because of a broken left hand and scored 18 points in 25 minutes. He sparked a 10-0 run in the second quarter with two 3-pointers Giannis Antetokounmpo had 37 points and went 11 for 11 at the foul line for Milwaukee, which is seventh in the Eastern Conference. Khris Middleton had 30 points, making 11 of 16 from the field. Milwaukee guard Jason Terry was given a Flagrant-1 foul for hitting Ante Zizic in the face with an open hand while the rookie center was putting up a shot in the lane. Zizic made both free throws, helping spark a run that built a double-figure lead. Lue, 40, led Cleveland to the 2016 NBA championship after taking over for David Blatt midway through that season. The Cavaliers (41-29) are third in the Eastern Conference and have endured roster shake-ups, injuries and other distractions as they try to reach the NBA Finals for the fourth straight time. No timetable has been given for when Lue will return. He missed the second half Saturday, the second time this season he left a game because he wasn’t feeling well. Lue also sat out a game against Chicago at home in December. GOING OUT ON A HIGH NOTE The Cavaliers honored former Browns tackle Joe Thomas, who attended the game after holding a retirement press conference Monday. James embraced Thomas, who received a standing ovation in an on-court tribute during a timeout. TIP-INS Bucks: Antetokounmpo picked up his second foul at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter and went to the bench. He scored 10 points in the second, including a one-handed dunk off an alley-oop pass from Eric Bledsoe. … C Tyler Zeller (sore ribs) missed his second straight game. Cavaliers: G Kyle Korver scored 12 points after missing Saturday’s game because of a family matter. He’s also been dealing with a sore right foot. … Drew hopes F Tristan Thompson, who hasn’t played since March 3 because of a sprained right ankle will return this week. … Larry Nance Jr. (sore right hamstring), Rodney Hood (strained lower back) and Cedi Osman (strained left hip flexor) are also out. UP NEXT Bucks: Host Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. Cavaliers: Host Toronto on Wednesday. ___ More AP basketball: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Clergy in robes. A woman handing out flowers. Black Lives Matter activists. Armed militia members. Students. Angry anti-fascist protesters. The diverse group of people who came to oppose a weekend gathering of white nationalists in this Virginia college town seemed to outnumber the rally-goers. The counter-protesting groups didn’t organize collectively. Instead, it was a largely organic effort among groups who shared the same mission: showing that hate wasn’t welcome. “They just wanted to come out and say no. They wanted to come out and show a robust love for community and what America is meant to stand for,” said Lisa Woolfork, a University of Virginia professor and 17-year Charlottesville resident. “And I find that very heartening, very encouraging.” Officials have not provided a crowd estimate, but there appeared to be at least 500 people supporting the rally sparked by Charlottesville’s decision to remove a Confederate monument. At least twice as many appeared to be there to oppose them. The violence between the groups erupted well before the event was supposed to start. Neo-Nazis, skinheads, Ku Klux Klan members other white supremacists made their way to the park at the same time as counter-protesters, and the two sides clashed. People threw punches, screamed, set off smoke bombs, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays. Some came prepared for a fight, with body armor and helmets. Others darted around, trying to avoid the chaos. “I’ve never seen that kind of hatred up front. It was pretty raw, pretty coarse,” scholar and activist Cornel West, one of the most high-profile counter-protesters, told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. There were pockets of peaceful resistance, too. One woman quietly handed out flowers. A group stood in a circle, hands uplifted, singing hymns. One man toted a tuba. Volunteer medics bobbed in and out of the fray, helping people who had been sprayed with chemicals, and others passed out water and snacks. Walt Heinecke, another University of Virginia professor, obtained city permits for events in two nearby parks, and counter-protesters used the sites as a place of respite. Heinecke said he was surprised to see members of an armed leftist group who stationed themselves nearby, providing protection for people there. Meanwhile, many of the rally attendees stood behind barriers officials had put up, waiting for the event to get underway. But the speakers never got the chance. As the chaos grew, authorities declared it an unlawful assembly and forced the crowd to disperse. The rally leaders, including organizer Jason Kessler — a local right-wing blogger and activist — urged supporters to go home. Kessler blamed the violence on police, saying they didn’t do enough to maintain order and protect his group’s right to free speech. About two hours later, pockets of counter-protesters who had been marching through town converged on a downtown street. Hundreds were streaming along, cheering, and waving flags. “There was a real feeling like we had driven them out of the town,” said Ross Mittiga, a UVA researcher who recently ran an unsuccessful campaign for the state House of Delegates. That was quickly shattered when a car plowed into the crowd, hurling people into the air. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 others were injured. Just hours later, a state police helicopter that had been deployed as part of the response crashed in a field outside of town, killing two. In blog posts after the violence, the Daily Stormer, a leading white nationalist website that promoted the Charlottesville event, pledged to hold more events “soon.” Opponents said they’d be ready. “We have got to keep fighting, keep the love in it, keep sacrificing for justice,” West said. “We have no choice at this point.” ___ Associated Press reporter Josh Replogle contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate for the third time in six months, providing its latest vote of confidence in a slow-growing but durable economy. The Fed also announced plans to start gradually paring its bond holdings later this year, which could cause long-term rates to rise. The increase in the short-term rate by a quarter-point to a still-low range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent could lead to higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses and slightly better returns for savers. The central bank chose to raise rates again despite an economic slowdown at the start of 2017, which it predicts will prove temporary. It foresees one additional rate hike this year, unchanged from its previous forecast. It gave no hint of when that might occur. The latest Fed rate hike, announced in a statement after a policy meeting, comes as the U.S. economy is growing only sluggishly. Even so, many of the barometers the Fed monitors most closely have given it the confidence to keep gradually lifting still-low borrowing rates toward their historic norms. Though it assesses the overall economy, the Fed’s mandates are to maximize employment and stabilize prices. And hiring in the United States remains solid if slowing, with employment at a 16-year-low of 4.3 percent — even below the level that the Fed associates with full employment. Inflation has been more problematic, having long stayed below the central bank’s 2 percent target rate. Recent data have suggested that inflation may even be slowing further. But Fed officials have said they think inflation will soon pick up along with the economy. That said, no one expects the Fed’s rate hikes to turn aggressive. If nothing else, the chronically low inflation and the political fights and uncertainty in Washington — over investigations into Russia’s ties to President Donald Trump’s campaign, health care legislation, tax-cut plans and about whether Congress will raise the nation’s borrowing limit and pass a new budget — could lead the Fed to raise rates more slowly than it otherwise would. Uncertainty also surrounds the membership of the Fed’s own policy committee. Trump is expected soon to fill three vacancies on the Fed’s influential board, and those new members, depending on who they are, could alter its rate-setting policy. Fed officials have concluded that the economy, now entering its ninth year of expansion, no longer needs the ultra-low borrowing rates they supplied beginning in the Great Recession. The central bank kept its benchmark rate at a record low near zero starting in late 2008 to try to boost consumer and business borrowing and lift the country out of the worst downturn since the 1930s. It finally raised the rate modestly in December 2015, then waited a year do so again. It acted again in March. At the depths of the recession, the Fed began buying Treasury and mortgage bonds to try to depress long-term loan rates. That effort resulted in a five-fold increase in its portfolio to $4.5 trillion. The Fed said Wednesday that it would eventually allow a small amount of bonds to mature without being replaced — an amount that would gradually rise as markets adjusted to the process. Some news reports have mentioned leading candidates to fill the three vacancies on the Fed’s seven-member board. They include Randal Quarles, a top Treasury official in two past Republican administrations, for the vice chairman’s job of overseeing bank regulation. Marvin Goodfriend, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University, has been mentioned for another board spot, and Robert Jones, chief executive of Old National Bancorp in Indiana, reportedly is a candidate for a board seat designated for a community banker. The betting is that the administration will choose officials who will tilt the Fed toward a more “hawkish” stance. Hawks tend to worry that rates kept too low for too long could escalate inflation or fuel asset bubbles. By contrast, “doves” favor the direction taken under Chair Janet Yellen, favoring relatively low rates to maximize employment. Yellen, the first woman to lead the Fed, is serving a term that will end in February. So far, Trump has sent conflicting signals about whether he plans to nominate her for a second term.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — The Latest on the Alabama Senate race (all times local): 9:45 a.m. An official has quit the Republican National Committee over the GOP’s support of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces accusations of sexual assault and harassment. Joyce Simmons, the GOP national committeewoman from Nebraska, emailed the 168-member governing body Monday to inform them that she had tendered her resignation. She writes: “I strongly disagree with the recent RNC financial support directed to the Alabama Republican Party for use in the Roy Moore race.” Simmons adds that she wishes she could have continued her service “to the national Republican Party that I used to know well.’ The RNC had pulled support from Moore after the allegations surfaced against him last month. But the organization re-entered the race once President Donald Trump endorsed Moore, citing the need for a Republican in the seat. ___ 3:35 a.m. Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones are making their final pushes ahead of Tuesday’s special Senate election in Alabama. Jones and Democrats are framing the election as a way for Alabama to reject its history of politicians with baggage that hampers the state. Republicans say its about keeping a conservative hold on Alabama and not giving Democrats any opportunity to derail President Donald Trump’s agenda before the 2018 midterms. In truth, the matchup is a mix of Alabama’s history and the partisan divides plaguing Washington. Jones says it would be disastrous to elect Moore after the former judge was accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. Moore denies the charges. Moore and other Republicans say Jones would be a puppet of liberal Democratic leaders out of step with Alabama.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City health department says one person has died and two others have become severely ill after they contracted a rare disease transmitted by rats. The three cases occurred in the last two months in a Bronx neighborhood. City officials say it’s the first time a cluster of cases has been identified. The disease is called leptospirosis (lehp-toh-spuhr-ROH’-sihs). Infections commonly occur through exposure to rat urine. The disease is rarely spread from person to person. It can be treated with antibiotics. The city says it’s reducing the rat population in the area and educating residents about the disease. The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/2lOMiA9 ) says that from 2006 to 2016, 26 cases were reported in the city; the Bronx had the highest number with eight. ___ Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins wore their perfect season uniforms, and for at least one game in 2017, they looked the part. Tom Brady was intercepted twice by Xavien Howard and held without a third-down conversion Monday night, and Miami snapped the New England Patriots’ eight-game winning streak with a surprising 27-20 victory. The Dolphins (6-7) were 11-point underdogs at home, but they kept the Patriots (10-3) from clinching their ninth consecutive AFC East title — at least for another week. “It was a bad night,” Brady said. “We’ve had a lot of good nights this year. This was a bad night.” Brady went 24 for 43 for 233 yards and one touchdown. Miami sacked him twice and hit him five times, and held the Patriots to 25 yards rushing. New England was 0 for 11 on third down. “Our focus every game is to hit the quarterback as hard as we can and make him uncomfortable,” defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. “I think we did a pretty good job of it.” The Dolphins’ Jay Cutler threw for 263 yards and three scores, including two to Jarvis Landry. Kenyan Drake had 114 yards rushing and 79 receiving. A Brady touchdown pass cut the deficit to 10 points with 13 minutes left, but the Patriots’ next three possessions netted 5 yards. After a New England field goal, Miami sealed the victory by recovering an onside kick with 53 seconds to go. “This gives us a boost,” Cutler said. “Winning is what keeps you in this game. The locker room after a game, there’s nothing like it.” The Dolphins wore their 1972 uniforms, and for the first time in four prime-time appearances this season, they rose to the occasion. Miami tried to turn the game into a laugher in the third quarter when Landry caught a touchdown pass and then set the ball down in the end zone and pumped it repeatedly — a reference to the Patriots’ Deflategate scandal. “It’s all about taking the air out of the ball,” Landry said. Coach Adam Gase beat New England for the first time in four tries. His team snapped the Patriots’ 14-game road winning streak, second-best ever behind San Francisco’s 18 in a row from 1988-90. Gase threw a lot of wrinkles at the Patriots early, with tight end MarQueis Gray and receivers Landry and Jakeem Grant taking turns lining up in the backfield. “We used a lot of guys,” Cutler said. “We were mixing it up. Adam was dialing it up well.” Cutler spun out of the grasp of blitzing safety Jordan Richards to throw a completion that kept Miami’s first touchdown drive going. The 5-foot-7 Grant made a leaping catch against Malcolm Butler for his first career touchdown reception, a 25-yarder. Meanwhile, the Patriots sputtered without tight end Rob Gronkowski, who served a one-game suspension for a late hit to the head of an opponent. “We got beat in all three areas of the game,” coach Bill Belichick said. BALL HAWK Brady underthrew an open Brandin Cooks deep, and Howard closed for the interception and a 29-yard return to set up a touchdown. Howard also had two interceptions a week ago against Denver. Brady came into the game with only four interceptions all season. SLOW START The temperature was 55 degrees at kickoff — frosty by Miami standards — and the Patriots were sluggish from the outset. They were outgained 123 yards to 2 in the first quarter, when Brady went 0 for 4 with an interception. ANTHEM The Dolphins’ Kenny Stills, Michael Thomas and Julius Thomas knelt in protest during the national anthem, as they’ve done for most of the season. Stills was nominated by his teammates last week for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. INJURIES Patriots DT Alan Branch left the game with a knee injury. Starting S Patrick Chung limped off in the final minute. UP NEXT The Patriots visit AFC North champion Pittsburgh on Sunday in a possible playoff preview. The Dolphins play the Bills in two of their final three games, including Sunday at Buffalo. ___ More AP NFL: http://pro32.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian media are reporting that a tunnel-boring machine has caught fire at the construction site of a railway tunnel under the Alps that will link Austria with Italy. Public broadcaster ORF reported Monday that about 50 workers were in the tunnel at the time the fire broke out. It said 18 of them whom officials initially were unable to contact are believed to have taken shelter in a container inside the tunnel. It said the blaze has apparently been extinguished. The Brenner tunnel is supposed to be completed in 2025, cutting journey times between Innsbruck and northern Italy.

NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian company that is partnering with the Trump Organization on an office tower project outside New Delhi has been accused of running an elaborate real estate swindle that cheated investors out of nearly $150 million. Documents obtained by The Associated Press make no mention of the Trump Organization, and focus largely on two real estate deals that began years before the organization signed a 2016 agreement with IREO to partner on an office tower outside of New Delhi. Ramesh Sanka, the former CEO of the real estate firm IREO, says he saw “various acts of cheating, fraud and misappropriation of money,” creating “huge wrongful gains” for the company’s managing director and his associates. Top IREO officials could not be reached for comment.

LONDON (AP) — A bronze statue of women’s rights campaigner Millicent Fawcett was unveiled Tuesday outside Britain’s Parliament — the first woman to be commemorated there alongside statues of 11 men including Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Fawcett was president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and a key campaigner in the movement that secured British women over 30 the right to vote in 1918. She lived to see women get the same voting rights as men 10 years later, dying in 1929 aged 82. The statue by artist Gillian Wearing shows the campaigner holding a banner proclaiming “Courage calls to courage everywhere,” a phrase from one of her speeches. The statue was erected in Parliament Square after a petition was started by feminist activist Caroline Criado Perez, who previously led a successful campaign for Jane Austen to be depicted on a British banknote. At an unveiling ceremony attended by senior lawmakers, Prime Minister Theresa May said that “I would not be standing here today as prime minister … were it not for one truly great woman: Dame Millicent Garret Fawcett.” “History has many authors. In our own small way we each help to shape the world in which we live,” May said. “But few of us can claim to have made an impact as significant and lasting as Dame Millicent, and it is right and proper that, today, she takes her place at the heart of our democracy.”

Kyle Lowry said something had to change in Toronto. Serge Ibaka is on his way to try to make that happen. The Raptors acquired the veteran power forward from Orlando on Tuesday for Terrence Ross and a 2017 first round draft pick. Orlando general manager Rob Hennigan said Tuesday evening the trade of Ibaka for Ross was necessary for the Magic to have a chance of salvaging a season that has gone drastically off course. The Raptors made the move with the postseason and possible championship run in mind. Toronto started the day in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, having lost 10 of its previous 14 games. The latest ugly performance came on Sunday when the Raptors gave up a 16-point lead to start the fourth quarter and lost to the Detroit Pistons. After the game, the Raptors’ All-Star point guard didn’t pull any punches on the state of a team that made the Eastern Conference finals last season but has lost to the Magic twice, the Pistons, Timberwolves and Suns during this latest swoon. “Keep getting in the same situations over and over and not being successful,” Lowry said after the 102-101 loss. “Something’s got to give, something’s got to change.” Raptors coach Dwane Casey has said all season long that the something is defense. Toronto ranks 17th in the NBA in defensive efficiency, allowing 106.2 points per 100 possessions. Casey knows that won’t be close to good enough when they get into the playoffs to try to build off of last year’s run to the Eastern Conference finals. “Until we start collectively doing our job on each possession instead of saying, ‘My bad,'” Casey said after the Raptors shot 53 percent and lost to the Timberwolves last week. “‘My bads’ get you beat. That’s kind of what we’re adding up right now. We’ve got to have seven, eight guys. If we can’t play nine, we can’t play nine. But seven or eight guys are going to play hard together.” Ibaka averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds for the Magic this season. He has long been considered a rugged defensive power forward, and his experience making deep playoff runs with the Thunder should be a tremendous asset to the Raptors. He will be a free agent this summer after being acquired from Oklahoma City on draft night last summer for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the first-round draft pick that became Domantas Sabonis. Now Ibaka will slide between DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas in the Raptors frontcourt, a significant upgrade for Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, who has long been a fan of Ibaka’s defensive tenacity and ability to stretch the floor on offense. The Raptors parted with Ross, who is in the first year of a three-year, $31 million contract, and a pick to get the deal done. Ross averaged 10.4 points and 2.6 rebounds, but the high flier has never been able to provide Toronto with the consistency they were looking for from him. “I think if you watch our team play there is no secret that we struggle to make shots and I think his ability can do just that,” said Hennigan, who still believes his team has a shot at making the Eastern Conference playoffs despite a 21-36 record. Ross’ “play, his age and his contract are all things we feel are positives and strengths for us.” The Magic made the move in part to try to get something back for Ibaka before risking losing him on the open market this summer. Hennigan made the deal with OKC on draft night in hopes that Ibaka’s defense and veteran leadership would help a team with a young core including Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Elfrid Payton. But Orlando created a logjam in the frontcourt with Ibaka, Gordon, Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo, and pieces just never fit together. The Magic have the second-worst record in the East. With Ross joining the team, the Magic can now shift Gordon back to his more natural power forward spot, leaving Evan Fournier and Ross to play the wing positions in coach Frank Vogel’s scheme. “I think we will certainly look at that and try that, but that will be Frank’s call ultimately,” said Hennigan, who hopes Ross will be in uniform Wednesday night against the Spurs. “But it’s something that Frank and I have been discussing and certainly discussed even more today.” ___ AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds and Associated Press Writer Terrance Harris contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A jump in traffic fatalities last year pushed deaths on U.S. roads to their highest level in nearly a decade, erasing improvements made during the Great Recession and economic recovery, a leading safety organization said Wednesday. Fatalities rose 6 percent in 2016, reaching an estimated 40,200 deaths compared to 37,757 deaths the previous year, according the National Safety Council. The group gets its data from states. The last time there were more than 40,000 fatalities in a single year was in 2007, just before the economy tanked. There were 41,000 deaths that year. The increase came as Americans drove more last year — a 3 percent increase in total miles. The council cited continued lower gasoline prices and an improving economy as key factors. Following an increase in fatalities in 2015, the United States has had the sharpest two-year increase in traffic deaths in 53 years, the council said. Americans have come to accept large numbers of traffic deaths as inevitable instead of than taking actions that would prevent them, said Deborah Hersman, the council’s president. “Motor vehicle fatality numbers have been ringing the alarm for two years,” she said. “Unfortunately, we have been tone-deaf to the data and the carnage on our roadways. If we fail to take action, the death toll will continue to rise.” Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety offices, said state officials continue to point to three predominant factors in traffic deaths — “belts, booze and speed.” In the last three years, 13 states have raised speed limits on at least some portion of their interstate highways. “Additionally, driver distraction and our society’s addiction to electronic devices is likely playing a role in the increase in deaths,” Adkins said. The estimated annual mileage death rate last year was 1.25 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles, an increase of 3 percent from the 2015 rate. Traffic deaths began dropping in 2008 and reached their lowest point in six decades in 2011 at 32,000 deaths. They fluctuated slightly over the next two years, but started climbing in the last quarter of 2014. As the economy recovered, people not only began driving more, but they also increased more risky types of driving “like going out on the weekends or taking long trips on unfamiliar roads,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Teens, who have the highest fatal crash rates, are also back on the road after the recession when many of them couldn’t afford to drive as much, he said. The surge in fatalities comes as cars and trucks have more safety features than ever. Nearly all new cars and light trucks now have electronic stability control and rearview cameras, for example. Automakers are also beginning to equip more cars with sophisticated safety technology like adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency-braking and blind-spot monitoring that are designed to prevent crashes rather than merely make them survivable. Other important safety advances are also on the horizon, including vehicle-to-vehicle communications that allow cars to wirelessly warn each other of their movements in time to avoid collisions and self-driving cars that hold the potential to eliminate human error, a factor in more than 90 percent of crashes. The council’s fatality estimates differ slightly from those of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The government counts only deaths that occur on public roads, while the council includes fatalities that occur in parking lots, driveways and private roads. Last month, NHTSA reported that traffic deaths surged about 8 percent in the first nine months of 2016. ___ Follow Joan Lowy at http://twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — More is the key word for the 2018 Essence Festival as it gears up for fans planning to descend upon New Orleans over the 4th of July holiday weekend for its 24th cultural explosion. Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc., said since the first festival was held in 1994 organizers have sought to expand the free daytime programming aimed at empowering women and men, finding solutions to problems within urban communities, and dealing with issues of health, wealth, entrepreneurship, beauty and style and technology. “This year, we are formalizing the branding of our daytime expo experience,” Ebanks said. “It’s going to be larger than ever with programming tracks in eight areas.” This year, the festival has asked guests to register for the daytime programming to help with crowd control and expedite entry into the experience. Here’s a link for registration: https://essencefest2018.fishsoftware.com/register/ . So far, Ebanks said, more than 70,000 people have registered for one of the eight conference tracks. “We’re over the moon about that,” she said. Ebanks said it’s the first time in 24 years that the city’s hotel space has sold out. “The rooms are gone. The city is sold out and there’s very little short-term rental inventory,” she said. “This is on track to be the largest festival experience in our history.” The 2017 festival drew more than 470,000 attendees to its nightly concert series inside the Superdome and the free workshops and entertainment at New Orleans’ convention center. Ebanks said this year they’ve expanded the footprint inside the convention center from 750,000-square-feet to 900,000-square feet. “Our beauty and style experience has doubled, becoming an animal until itself. We’ve taken over an entire hall. Our beauty and style editor, Julie Wilson, has brought in a number of influencers and partners giving us more opportunities for makeovers, fest fashion moments and game shows. There’s also an expanded beauty bungalow where people can buy a pass and get treated to an exclusive, luxurious experience.” In addition, Ebanks said the festival is expanding off the convention center campus. A variety of events will be held at the Ace Hotel and the debut of “E-Suites” — focused conversations with women executives and entrepreneurs — at the International House. “Folks will be able to come and network, get informed and just learn tips and tools to develop their businesses and careers,” Ebanks said. The “E-Suites” concept, she said, will be held throughout the year in different cities attached to specific events such as Super Bowl or Oscar weekend. For more information on the festival’s Daytime Experience visit: https://www.essence.com/festival . Doors open at 10 a.m. Ebanks said the Essence Festival continues to be a “party with a purpose.” “It’s been quite a journey over these 24 years,” she said. “We were looking over our shoulders a bit when other events similar to ours came into being. But we decided then not to focus on what anyone else was doing but to focus on Essence and what Essence is doing. And that’s working for us. We’re excited about focusing on programing that appeals to every demographic — millennials, moms, families. “We have tremendous momentum and believe there’s also excitement around Essence being black-owned again. We’re redoubling programs about entrepreneurs. We know that black women are the fastest group of growing entrepreneurs but they’re having the least success in sustaining business and attracting capital. This is a great networking opportunity.” ___ DAY OF SERVICE Essence Festival continues its tradition of giving back to the City of New Orleans with a “Day of Service” scheduled Thursday in the Central City neighborhood. Event organizers say the day will include beautification projects at a youth center, restoration of a historic mural on one of the neighborhood’s main streets and empowerment and entrepreneurship workshops for women and girls. Ebanks said this event is “such an incredible part of the festival and one we look forward to each year.” She encourages volunteers to join in the activities, which will also include a traditional New Orleans second-line parade with participation by Mayor LaToya Cantrell. For a full schedule of events visit https://festival.essence.com/festival/conference-expos/community-culture/day-of-service/ . ___ THE MUSIC High-energy performances inside the Superdome are often associated with the festival and 2018 is no different. Janet Jackson returns to close out the festival on Sunday, which also will see a New Jack Swing reunion featuring Teddy Riley, Blackstreet, Guy and SWV followed by a performance by Fantasia. Friday’s opening event headliners include Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott on the main stage. On Saturday, Queen Latifah takes to the festival’s main stage for the first time, celebrating her 40th year in the industry with a “Ladies First” tribute including special appearances by MC Lyte, Missy Elliott, Remy Ma, Nikki D and more. Mary J. Blige is that night’s closer. “Fans are glad to have Janet back,” Ebanks said. “We’ve grown up with her. We’ve seen her journey and we want to re-live our ‘rhythm nation’ moment.” She also said fans are excited about Queen Latifah’s appearance, which comes on the heels of the movie “Girls Trip,” which featured four friends, who reconnected with the festival as the backdrop. “Our hearts broke with her when she lost her mom and for her to choose Essence as a place to celebrate her longevity and love of culture, that’s powerful. There will be a lot going on. Something for everyone. I can’t wait!,” Ebanks said.

BOONE, N.C. (AP) — Two people are dead in North Carolina after a home they were in collapsed. News outlets report that the Boone Police Department confirmed the deaths. Rescuers responded to the scene about 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The victims have not been identified. Outlets report that the collapse is believed to have been caused by severe weather in the area. Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for his hard-hit mountain counties, saying the forecast for the rest of the week calls for isolated heavy rain storms that could instantly cause flooding in areas that have had 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain in the past 15 days. Cooper said, “This storm isn’t yet over. I’m urging people to keep a close eye on forecasts.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 3-year-old birthday boy was in his pajamas, about to go to sleep on a cot inside a shelter packed with hundreds of evacuees affected by a damaged California dam. With just three hours left on his big day, a group of California Highway Patrol officers showed up at the Chico shelter with a makeshift celebration: an ice cream cake, a balloon, a Captain America figurine, and of course, a song. “We decided you needed a cake on your birthday. Happy birthday!” Officer Logan Callahan tells the boy as he places a cardboard crown on his head, according to a Facebook Live video that’s gotten more than 61,000 views and 1,100 shares since it was posted Monday night. The video wasn’t part of the plan, said Callahan, a public information officer in CHP’s Chico office. It was taken by a community member who happened upon the scene and started shooting. Callahan realized it was the boy’s birthday earlier in the day Monday when he was walking around handing out stickers to children staying at the shelter. The boy’s father mentioned that he and his wife had planned to make their son a cake. “I’ve got a son that’s 2-and-a-half, and this young man is turning 3,” Callahan said. “I figured, ‘What would I want for my kid if he were in that situation?’ “ Mike Wrobel, who took the video, said other evacuees joined in singing “Happy Birthday” and seemed touched by the moment. “It sure was a bleak setting. But I was grinning ear to ear, as was everyone else,” Wrobel said. “It was a little bit of joy in a situation filled with a lot of sadness.” Neither Wrobel nor Callahan know much about the boy or his parents, just that the boy’s name is Junior. Wrobel was hoping to reconnect with them Tuesday to show them the video he took and how many people were enjoying it. Nearly 200,000 people were ordered evacuated Sunday over fears that a damaged spillway at a Lake Oroville dam could fail and unleash a wall of water. The evacuees were allowed to return home Tuesday after two nights of uncertainty, but they were warned they may still have to again flee to higher ground on a moment’s notice if hastily made repairs to the battered structure don’t hold.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transgender recruits will be allowed to enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1, the Pentagon said, as President Donald Trump’s ordered ban suffered more legal setbacks. The new policy divulged Monday reflects the difficult hurdles the federal government would have to cross to enforce Trump’s demand earlier this year to bar transgender individuals from the military. Three federal courts have ruled against the ban, including one Monday in Washington state. In October, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly barred the Trump administration from proceeding with its plan to exclude transgender people from military service. Part of the effect of the ruling was that the military would be required to allow transgender people to enlist beginning Jan. 1. The government had asked Kollar-Kotelly to put the Jan. 1 date on hold while it appealed her full ruling but she declined Monday, reaffirming the Jan. 1 start date. The Department of Justice is now asking a federal appeals court to intervene and put the Jan. 1 requirement on hold. Potential transgender recruits will have to overcome a lengthy and strict set of physical, medical and mental conditions that could make it difficult for them to join the armed services. Maj. David Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, said the enlistment of transgender recruits will begin next month and proceed amid legal battles. The Defense Department also is doing a review, which is expected to carry into 2018. Eastburn told The Associated Press on Monday that the new guidelines mean the Pentagon can disqualify potential recruits with gender dysphoria, a history of medical treatments associated with gender transition and those who underwent reconstruction. But such recruits are allowed in if a medical provider certifies they’ve been clinically stable in the preferred sex for 18 months and are free of significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas. Transgender individuals receiving hormone therapy must be stable on their medication for 18 months. The requirements make it challenging for a transgender recruit to pass. But they mirror concerns President Barack Obama’s administration laid out when the Pentagon initially lifted its ban on transgender service last year. “Due to the complexity of this new medical standard, trained medical officers will perform a medical prescreen of transgender applicants for military service who otherwise meet all applicable applicant standards,” Eastburn said. Aaron Belkin, director of the California-based Palm Center, an independent institute that has conducted research on sexual minorities in the military, said the 18-month timeline is fair. “It’s a good standard because the Pentagon is treating gender dysphoria according to the same standards that are applied to all medical conditions,” he said. However, Elaine Donnelly, president for the Center For Military readiness, said Trump “has every right to review, revise, or repeal his predecessor’s military transgender policies, which would detract from mission readiness and combat lethality.” Court judges, she said, are not qualified to run the military. The Pentagon move Monday signals the growing sense within the government that authorities are likely to lose the legal fight. “The controversy will not be about whether you allow transgender enlistees, it’s going to be on what terms,” said Brad Carson, who was deeply involved in the last administration’s decisions. “That’s really where the controversy will lie.” Carson worried, however, that the Defense Department could opt to comply with a deadline on allowing transgender recruits, but “under such onerous terms that practically there will be none.” Carson, who worked for Ash Carter as the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel, said requiring 18 months of stability in the preferred sex is a reasonable time. “It doesn’t have any basis in science,” he said, noting that experts have suggested six months is enough. “But as a compromise among competing interests and perhaps to err on the side of caution, 18 months was what people came around to. And that’s a reasonable position and defensible.” Sarah McBride, spokeswoman for Human Rights Campaign, praised the court’s ruling, saying that it affirms “there is simply no legitimate reason to forbid willing and able transgender Americans from serving their country.” ___ Associated Press Writer Jessica Gresko in Washington contributed to this report.

LONDON (AP) — Serena Williams’ recent marriage has shined a spotlight on one of Wimbledon’s many quirky traditions. Suddenly “Miss Williams” has become “Mrs. Williams” in the words of chair umpires — a small change that has led to bigger-picture questions about whether the All England Club is too old-fashioned. Only the women at the grass-court Grand Slam are addressed with a title before their names to reflect their marital status. In other words, when a chair umpire announces that Serena has won a game, it’s, “Game, Mrs. Williams.” For her sister Venus, it’s, “Game, Miss Williams.” And for Roger Federer, it’s simply: “Game, Federer.” It’s a difference that is in contrast to other moves in the name of gender equality in tennis. Since 2007, there is equal prize money for men and women at all Grand Slam tournaments. And over the first three days this week, there were more women’s matches scheduled for Centre Court than men’s — something that decades ago just wouldn’t happen. However, the players themselves seem rather indifferent — or even unaware — when it comes to how they are addressed. “They call Serena ‘Mrs. Williams’?” Venus asked after her second-round victory when the subject was raised. “That’s cool. I mean, I remember Janet Jackson had that song and she said, ‘Miss Jackson.’ I like that. I am Miss Williams, so … .” The “Miss” or “Mrs.” used to be included on scoreboards as well, but that tradition was dropped in 2009. Federer said he hadn’t realized that the women are addressed differently depending on their marital status. He’s also perfectly fine with chair umpires not using a “Mr.” in front of his and other male players’ names. “For me, I’m happy if they say whatever they say, as long as it is ‘game’ and my name somewhere, and not ‘game’ and the other name,” Federer said with a laugh Wednesday. “That makes sense, right?” This is Serena’s first Wimbledon since she married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November. That union has given her a new place in Wimbledon’s official fact book as well — in the list that details the marriages of all past women’s champions, runners-up and semifinalists. There are no such marriage lists for the men. “I actually never knew they had that,” Williams said after her second-round victory on Centre Court. “It will be interesting to know why it’s not for both sexes.” The tournament fact book shows multiple marriages as well — 1923 doubles runner-up Joan Austin had four husbands, for instance — although Williams is confident that will never apply to her. “Hopefully,” she said, “it will be just one.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the weekend’s violence and death in Charlottesville, Virginia (all times local): 9:20 a.m. The CEO of the nation’s third largest pharmaceutical company is resigning from the President’s American Manufacturing Council citing “a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.” President Donald Trump lashed out almost immediately Monday at Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier on Twitter, saying Frazier “will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Frazier’s resignation comes shortly after a violent confrontation between white supremacists and protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one person dead and 19 injured. He said in a tweet on Monday that the country’s leaders must “honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.” Trump responded to Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville by blaming bigotry on “many sides.” He has not explicitly condemned the white supremacists. ___ 9:15 a.m. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is telling ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, “does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute.” Sessions said the Justice Department is pursuing the case “in every way.” He added: “You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation towards the most serious charges that can be brought, because this is an unequivocally unacceptable and evil attack that cannot be accepted in America.” Sessions also says he is meeting with President Donald Trump and officials from the FBI on Monday to discuss the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. ___ 7:00 a.m. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says “too much has been read into” President Donald Trump’s statement Saturday amid violence at a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, related to the removal of a Confederate monument. In several television interviews on Monday, Sessions said Trump had “explicitly condemned” violence and that “he totally opposes” the values espoused by white supremacy organizations. Trump referenced violence “on many sides.” He tells NBC News that Trump ” will be speaking to the people today” although he isn’t sure what Trump will say. Sessions added: “He’s been firm on this from the beginning. He is appalled by this.” ___ 3:44 a.m. As President Donald Trump remained out of sight and silent, pressure mounted from both sides of the aisle for him to explicitly condemn white supremacists and hate groups involved in deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump, who has been at his New Jersey golf club on a working vacation, was set to make a one-day return to Washington on Monday to sign an executive action on China’s trade practices. But he will likely be unable to escape questions and criticism for his initial response to the Saturday’s violence, for which he blamed bigotry on “many sides.” The White House tried to stem the damage on Sunday. Senior aides were dispatched to the morning news shows, yet they struggled at times to explain the president’s position. A new White House statement on Sunday explicitly denounced the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups, but it was attributed to an unnamed spokesperson and not the president himself.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang appealed to Washington on Tuesday to “act rationally” and avoid disrupting trade over steel, technology and other disputes. He promised Beijing will “open even wider” to imports and investment. “No one will emerge a winner from a trade war,” said Li, the No. 2 Chinese leader, at a news conference held during the meeting of China’s ceremonial legislature. Li made no mention of a possible Chinese response in the event U.S. President Donald Trump raises import barriers over trade complaints against Beijing, but other officials say President Xi Jinping’s government is ready to act. Trump’s government already has raised import duties on Chinese-made washing machines and other goods to offset what it says are improper subsidies and is investigating whether Beijing pressures foreign companies to hand over technology, which might lead to trade penalties. That has prompted fears of Chinese retaliation. “What we hope is for us to act rationally rather than being led by emotions,” said Li. “We don’t want to see a trade war.” Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said on March 11 that China will “resolutely defend” its interests. He gave no details but business groups say Beijing might target U.S. exports of jetliners, soybeans and other goods for which China is a major market. Asked whether Beijing might use its large holdings of U.S. government debt as leverage, the premier said its investments are based on market principles and “China will remain a responsible long-term investor.” Li promised more market-opening and other reforms as Xi’s government tries to make its cooling, state-dominated economy more productive. He said Beijing will make it easier to start a business and will open more industries to foreign and private competition. The ruling Communist Party promised in 2013 to give a bigger role to market forces and entrepreneurs who generate most of China’s new jobs and wealth. Reform advocates complain they are moving too slowly, but hope Xi, who took power in 2012, might accelerate changes after focusing during his first five-year term as party leader on cementing his status as China’s most dominant figure since at least the 1980s. “If there is one thing that will be different from the past, that will be that China will open even wider,” said Li. Beijing plans to “further bring down overall tariffs,” with “zero tariffs for drugs, especially much-needed anti-cancer drugs,” the premier said. Li repeated a promise he made March 5 at the opening of the legislature to “fully open the manufacturing sector” to foreign competitors. “We will also fully open the manufacturing sector,” the premier said. “There will be no mandatory requirement for technology transfers and intellectual property rights will be better protected.” The government has yet to say how that might change conditions for automakers and other manufacturers that are required to work through Chinese partners, which requires them to give technology to potential competitors. In a sign of Li’s reduced status as President Xi Jinping amasses power, the premier was flanked by eight newly promoted economic officials, in contrast to previous years when he appeared alone at the annual news conference. They included Liu He, a Harvard-trained Xi adviser who was named a vice premier Monday and has told foreign businesspeople he will oversee economic reform. Neither Liu nor any of the other officials spoke at the event. The premier traditionally is China’s top economic official but Xi has stripped Li of his most prominent duties by appointing himself to lead ruling party bodies that oversee economic reform and finance policy.

NEW YORK (AP) — Banks and energy companies are surging Wednesday, restoring nearly all of the ground the market lost a day earlier, as investors hope Italy might be able to avoid a new round of elections. Banks are rising along with bond yields after outsize losses a day ago and energy companies are breaking out of a five-day losing streak as oil prices rise. Smaller companies are climbing after they suffered only modest losses the day before. KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index gained 36 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,725 as of 3:15 p.m. Eastern time. It lost 1.2 percent Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 316 points, or 1.3 percent, to 24,677. The Nasdaq composite added 70 points, or 1 percent, to 7,466. The Russell 2000 index leaped 26 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,649 and was on pace for another record close. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite are on pace to recover their losses from Tuesday, with room to spare. The Russell fell less than the rest of the market Tuesday and has fared better than other indexes in recent weeks. It closed at an all-time high on May 21. ITALY IN FOCUS: Stocks in the U.S. and Europe sank Tuesday as investors worried that Italy would have new elections in a few months and that the vote would become a referendum on whether Italy, the third-largest economy in Europe, would stay in the euro. On Wednesday, premier-designate Carlo Cottarelli said there were “new possibilities” to form a government. Italy’s FTSE MIB stock index climbed 2.1 percent after a 2.7 percent drop a day earlier. Prices for Italian government bonds also rose, sending yields down following a huge surge the day before. The euro rose to $1.1648 from $1.1531 a day earlier, which was its lowest level in almost a year. The dollar rose to 108.85 yen from 108.24 yen. Germany’s DAX climbed 0.9 percent while the FTSE 100 index in Britain rose 0.7 percent. The CAC 40 in France lost 0.2 percent. THE QUOTE: JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade, said the market often reacts irregularly to political events like the uncertainty in Italy or tensions between the U.S. and North Korea: stocks often fall fast and then recover in quick fashion. That process can sometimes repeat itself weeks or months later. If there’s no follow-up news, they tend to come back near where they started,” he said. “I wouldn’t count on it being done for the summer.” BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.84 percent from 2.79 percent. Interest rates rose and bank stocks recovered about half of their losses from Tuesday. When rates rise, banks can make more money on mortgages and other types of loans. TRADE WOES: After the U.S. renewed a threat to raise duties on a $50 billion list of Chinese goods, China’s government said the administration is going back on an agreement from mid-May, and added that the Trump administration is hurting its credibility by acting erratically. China also said it will respond in kind if the tariffs are implemented. It previously threatened to raise tariffs on beef, soybeans, and other imports from the U.S. Multinational companies have had a rough ride lately as investors reacted to trade tensions. They have moved money into smaller and more U.S.-focused companies in response. “Much of their business is done domestically, so the tariffs shouldn’t affect them as badly,” said Kinahan. “But even if the tariffs don’t happen, many of those stocks are performing well.” ENERGY: Energy companies rose as U.S. crude oil climbed 2.2 percent to $68.21 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 2.8 percent to $77.50 a barrel in London. Oil prices fell 7.6 percent in five days following reports OPEC countries and Russia might start producing more oil soon. Those countries cut production at the start of 2017, which helped take U.S. crude from about $50 a barrel in late 2016 to more than $70 this month. They had agreed to keep production at its current levels until the end of this year, but upheaval in Venezuela and new sanctions on Iran could change their plans. Wholesale gasoline rose 1.9 percent to $2.18 a gallon. Heating oil gained 2.1 percent to $2.23 a gallon. Natural gas slid 0.6 percent to $2.89 per 1,000 cubic feet. EARNINGS: Dick’s Sporting Goods soared 25.9 percent to $38.37 after it raised its annual profit forecast. Its first-quarter report was better than expected thanks in part to strong online sales. Its decision to stop selling assault rifles and cease selling guns to people under 21 didn’t appear to affect its business. Clothing company Chico’s FAS plunged 18.7 percent to $8.13 after its profit fell short of expectations and luxury retailer Michael Kors dropped 12 percent to $60.04 following a disappointing forecast for the year. METALS: Gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,301.50 an ounce. Silver added 1 percent to $16.54 an ounce. Copper gained 0.2 percent to $3.07 a pound. ASIA: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index dropped 1.5 percent and the Kospi of South Korea dropped 2. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.4 percent. ____ AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A lawsuit claims Iowa’s new voter identification law violates the state constitution. Priorities USA Foundation says the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Polk County District Court in Des Moines. The national group, which is covering legal costs, provided a copy of the lawsuit. It’s the first legal challenge against the new ID requirement and its provisions. Parts of the law will be in effect for Iowa’s upcoming June 5 primary, though a requirement to show ID to cast a regular ballot won’t be in place until 2019. The lawsuit’s plaintiffs are the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa and an Iowa State University student. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is named as a defendant in the suit. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

WYOMING, Ohio (AP) — The father of an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea and was returned to his home state of Ohio in a coma says the family is “adjusting to a different reality.” Fred Warmbier told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that his son, Otto, was “terrorized and brutalized” during his 17-month detention and has been in a coma for more than a year. “The day after he was sentenced, he went into a coma,” the father said in an interview scheduled to air Thursday night. He said he and his wife, Cindy, only learned of their son’s condition last week. The 22-year-old University of Virginia student was medically evacuated from North Korea and arrived in Cincinnati late Tuesday. He was then taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman did not provide an update on his condition, but said his parents planned to hold a Thursday morning news conference. Their public appearance will be at Wyoming High School, one of Ohio’s top-rated schools. Warmbier graduated from there in 2013 as class salutatorian and had played soccer. Residents of the northern Cincinnati suburb tied blue-and-white ribbons, the school colors, to trees near the family’s home. Joy at his release was mixed with concern over his condition. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said there should be an investigation into what happened to Warmbier leading to this “tragic situation.” Richardson, a Democrat, credited the Department of State with securing Warmbier’s return from North Korea without any preconditions but said a forceful response from the U.S. government would be required “if its determined that there was a cover-up and Otto’s condition was not disclosed and he didn’t get proper treatment.” City councilwoman Jenni McCauley said the tight-knit community was “thrilled” to have Warmbier back. “Even though they’re saddened by his condition, they’re just glad for the family that he is home,” McCauley said. “For any parent, this is their worst nightmare. … We’re hoping that he will be OK.” Warmbier was serving a 15-year prison term with hard labor in North Korea after he tearfully confessed that he tried to steal a propaganda banner while visiting the country. Such detentions in the totalitarian nation have added to tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. Three Americans remain in custody. The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that his department was continuing “to have discussions” with North Korea about the release of the other three imprisoned American citizens. When asked by Fox News what he would tell the families of those detained, Fred Warmbier said, “I wouldn’t know what to say to them. This is, I’ve been told, not precedented.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island company is going to build a wind farm that will be 10 times the size of the nation’s first offshore wind farm. Deepwater Wind says the new 400-megawatt wind farm will also create more than 800 jobs and result in $250 million in investments in Rhode Island. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo and other officials visited the Port of Providence on Wednesday for the announcement. Massachusetts and Rhode Island announced offshore wind projects last week aimed at delivering a combined 1,200 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 600,000 homes. Deepwater Wind also built the nation’s first offshore wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island. It has five turbines. With this latest project, the company plans to build up to 50 turbines south of Martha’s Vineyard. “It is an enormous clean energy machine,” Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski said. “It will displace about 650,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. It is one of the most consequential clean energy projects in the history of the northeast United States. And we’re going to build it and deliver that at low cost.” Grybowski said he couldn’t say exactly what the price of the energy will be because Deepwater Wind must negotiate a contract with utility company National Grid. He said it would be competitive with traditional sources of fuel and a “game changer” in replacing those sources. The company says it will take about 800 people and roughly $1 billion to build the wind farm. Another 50 permanent jobs will be created. The $250 million investment in Rhode Island includes $40 million in port infrastructure improvements to position the state for future offshore wind projects. Raimondo called it a fantastic day for Rhode Island because of the amount of clean energy that will be produced and the number jobs created. She said Rhode Island can be an epicenter for the offshore wind industry. She said she thinks some of the companies that make turbines will eventually move to the state. “This is big. This is about as big as it gets,” she said. Deepwater Wind didn’t ask for tax credits for the project, called Revolution Wind. Both the Rhode Island and Massachusetts wind farms, which the states describe as a collaborative effort, will be located south of Martha’s Vineyard. The Vineyard Wind project will be Massachusetts’ first offshore wind farm. Local construction on the Revolution Wind project could start in Rhode Island in 2020 with commercial operations by 2023. The turbines are expected to generate enough energy to power more than 200,000 homes, or about half the homes in Rhode Island. The wind farm will be in a 256-square-mile federal lease area. Deepwater Wind plans to build 15 turbines in that same area to supply renewable energy to Long Island, New York.

NBA great Ray Allen tells the “AP Sports Weekly” podcast that the players who step up to take the big shots in the playoffs do so because they refuse to be overwhelmed by the moment. Allen propelled Miami to an NBA title in 2013 with a 3-pointer in Game 6 of the Finals against San Antonio that is regarded as one of the greatest clutch shots eve. He says hard work and experience is why some players want the ball at the biggest moments. “Those great players in the league will do that consistently,” Allen told podcast co-hosts Jim Litke and Tim Dahlberg. “They continue to do their jobs and don’t let the circumstances get the better of them.” Allen also talks about his new autobiography “‘From the Outside: My Journey through Life and the Game I Love” and gives his opinion of the playoffs so far. Also joining Litke and Dahlberg is football guru Ross Tucker, who talks about the NFL draft and who he thinks will be the first quarterback selected. NCAA chief Mark Emmert talks to the AP’s Ralph Russo about the Rice commission report that will be released this week, while the co-hosts debate the state of college athletics under Emmert. Tucker returns to talk press box food (think bratwurst in Green Bay) and his belief that the better teams serve the media better meals.

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Symphony Orchestra is returning to its seasonal home at Tanglewood. Music director Andris Nelsons will conduct works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky as the renowned orchestra kicks off its 2018 outdoor season on Friday evening at the western Massachusetts venue. Superstar pianist Lang Lang will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor. This summer’s season, which runs through Sept. 2, continues the BSO’s yearlong homage to Leonard Bernstein. The Massachusetts-born conductor and composer would have turned 100 on Aug. 25. He died in 1990 at age 72 in New York City. Bernstein was a fixture at the annual summer music festival at Tanglewood for half a century.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas on Wednesday began two days of friendly basketball games in Pyongyang in their latest goodwill gesture amid a diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. Female players from North and South Korea were mixed into two teams that competed against each other at Pyongyang’s Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium. The men’s mixed teams play later in the day. The South Koreans will play against the North Korean men’s and women’s teams on Thursday before returning home on Friday. The games will precede a planned three-day visit to North Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for meetings over the future of the North’s nuclear program. It wasn’t immediately clear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a noted basketball fan, would attend any of the games. The South Korean delegation, including 50 players and government officials, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday on two military aircraft. The exchanges are the latest result of a diplomatic outreach to the South that Kim announced during his annual New Year’s speech. That led to the North’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February and two summits between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim has also met with China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump. The inter-Korean summits have facilitated a slew of goodwill gestures between the Koreas, which have also agreed to field combined teams at the Jakarta Asian Games in August. Basketball diplomacy has something of a history in North Korea. Former NBA player Dennis Rodman arranged a game in Pyongyang in 2014 for Kim’s birthday. South Korea’s Hyundai business group built a basketball stadium in Pyongyang during a previous era of rapprochement between South and North, and a joint game was played there in 2003. Two rounds of inter-Korean basketball games were held before that, in 1999.

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma State avenged its loss to Alabama from four years ago while blasting the Crimson Tide to win the NCAA men’s golf championship on its home course Wednesday. Vitkor Hovland never trailed in the opening match against Lee Hodges in a 4-and-3 victory. Zach Bouchou won five straight holes, holing out a bunker shot on his way to an 8-and-7 victory over Jonathan Hardee. Matthew Wolff delivered the clinching point, a 4-and-3 victory over Davis Riley, and the celebration was on at Karsten Creek Golf Club. The Cowboys had the home crowd on their side, and they gave their orange-clad fans plenty to cheer. Oklahoma State won its 11th NCAA title, second only to Houston’s 16. Its previous championship was in 2006 when it was stroke play. Since switching to match play in 2009, the Cowboys have been runner-up twice. One of those years was to Alabama in 2014 at Prairie Dunes in Kansas, about a three-hour drive north of Stillwater. Alabama won big for back-to-back titles. The Tide advanced to the championship match by sweeping the five matches against Duke in the semifinals. Alabama fell behind big in three matches against Oklahoma State, and trailed in all five matches when Wolff clinched it. The final score was 3-2 because the other two matches, which no longer mattered, ended where they were.

Malaysian police say a Vietnamese woman has been arrested in the death of North Korean leader’s half brother

The Dodgers are going to be without their red-headed slugger on opening day, and possibly for a while after. Justin Turner has a broken left wrist after being hit by a pitch during Los Angeles’ 3-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night. Turner was struck by a pitch from right-hander Kendall Graveman in the first inning. Turner grunted and winced as he jogged away from the plate toward the dugout, his hand hanging limp at his side. He was quickly visited by a trainer and replaced by Donovan Solano. “I was hoping obviously the X-rays would be negative, but there’s a small non-displaced fracture,” Turner said. “We’ll just play it by ear, see how it goes.” General manager Farhan Zaidi said the team didn’t know yet how long Turner would be out, but it should be a matter of at least a few weeks. Turner says he’ll visit the doctor again Tuesday to hopefully learn more. Los Angeles seems likely to slide Logan Forsythe to third base in Turner’s absence, with Chase Utley or someone else assuming regular duty at second base. “We’re not as good of a team without J.T.,” Zaidi said, adding “We do feel good about our internal options. There are guys who can move around.” The 33-year-old Turner hit .322 with 21 homers and 71 RBIs last season. He also led the team and finished third in the majors by getting plunked 19 times. Graveman and Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood went on to duel for five scoreless innings. Both struck out seven, with Graveman pitching two-hit ball without a walk over 5 1/3 innings and Wood allowing four hits and two walks in five frames. ELSEWHERE AROUND THE GRAPEFRUIT AND CACTUS LEAGUES Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke will start this season in the dugout. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said Monday that Greinke won’t pitch on opening day because of what’s perceived to be a minor health issue. Greinke exited his latest start after one inning because of tightness in his groin. He’s scheduled to pitch again in spring training Wednesday. The Diamondbacks don’t want to push him to be ready for their first game March 29 at home against Colorado. Without this wrinkle, Lovullo said Greinke would’ve started the opener for the third straight year. “Every staff has a No. 1 and he fit the bill perfectly,” Lovullo said. “He won 17 games last year. He was our staff ace.” Lovullo said he wasn’t ready to say who would start against the Rockies. The likely candidate is Robbie Ray, who went 15-5 with a 2.89 ERA last year. RED SOX 6, PHILLIES 5 Boston ace Chris Sale gave up four runs on five hits and three walks in five innings. He also struck out six. Mookie Betts hit two doubles and Xavier Bogaerts homered for the Red Sox. Aaron Altherr homered for Philadelphia. MARLINS 9, NATIONALS 1 Washington ace Max Scherzer was tagged for three homers and six runs in six innings. Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon each had two hits for the Nationals. Miami starter Trevor Richards worked four innings and allowed one run. ASTROS 2, METS 0 Justin Verlander pitched seven shutout innings and Carlos Correa homered for Houston. Steven Matz struck out nine in six innings for New York. ORIOLES 4, TIGERS 2 Baltimore starter Chris Tillman allowed one run in five innings. Detroit starter Michael Fulmer struck out five in five innings and gave up two runs. Dixon Machado doubled twice for the Tigers. PIRATES 11, TWINS 8 Miguel Sano, who had three hits, and Brian Dozier homered for Minnesota. Josh Bell, Jose Osuna and Christopher Bostick connected for Pittsburgh. BRAVES 6, BLUE JAYS 0 Julio Teheran pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings, striking out five and allowing four hits. The Atlanta ace has an 0.87 ERA this spring. Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez allowed two hits over 6 1/3 innings. INDIANS 5, GIANTS 4 Yonder Alonso hit two home runs off San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto. Alonso had three hits and drove in four runs. Cueto allowed four runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. University of Virginia alum Jarrett Parker, dogged by retriever jokes from his teammates after his Cavaliers were ousted from the NCAA tournament by the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers, hit his third spring training home run in his bid to make the 25-man roster. The Indians released outfielder Melvin Upton Jr., who hit .189 in 18 spring games. The 33-year-old spent last year in the minors, seeing limited action for the Giants’ Triple-A team while slowed by injuries. WHITE SOX 15, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Matt Davidson, who homered, and Adam Engel each had three hits for Chicago and leadoff man Yoan Moncada got two hits and drove in three runs. Carson Fulmer pitched four hitless innings for the White Sox. Arizona relievers Neftali Feliz and Kris Medlen both got roughed up. RAYS 4, YANKEES 2 Tampa Bay starter Blake Snell struck out nine and only allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings. The Rays scored all their runs on a pair of ninth-inning homers. David Hale pitched three innings of one-hit ball for the Yankees and Aaron Judge had a double in four plate appearances. ROCKIES 5, RANGERS 1 Colorado ace Jon Gray threw 85 pitches, striking out nine in 6 1/3 scoreless innings. David Dahl hit a two-run double for his club-leading 16th RBI, scoring on Ryan McMahon’s home run. Adrian Sampson took the loss, allowing five runs in three innings, and Elvis Andrus went 1 for 3. ANGELS 8, MARINERS 4 Justin Upton opened the scoring with his 11th RBI and Albert Pujols was one of five Angles with a run-scoring single during a seven-run fifth inning. Mike Trout went 2 for 3 and Pujols was perfect in three place appearances. Seattle first baseman Daniel Vogelbach hit his fifth home run of the spring. CUBS 5, REDS 4 Jon Lester exited after 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and a second-inning RBI single for the Cubs. Addison Russell added a two-RBI single and Albert Almora Jr. drove home a run. Cincinnati designated hitter Scooter Gennett was 3 for 3 with a double and run scored.

A look at what’s happening all around the majors today: ___ STREAKING STANTON Giancarlo Stanton has homered in five straight games for the Marlins and leads the majors with 43. He’s already set the Miami record for homers in a season, topping Gary Sheffield’s 42 in 1996. Stanton has hit 22 home runs in his last 34 games. He takes aim on the Giants once again when the series continues at Marlins Park. PORCELLO TRIO? Boston righty Rick Porcello tries to win his third straight start when the Cardinals visit Fenway Park. At 6-14 with a 4.63 ERA, Porcello hasn’t been able to duplicate the success he enjoyed last year in taking the Cy Young Award. The AL East-leading Red Sox are hoping he can recapture some of that winning form down the stretch. VERLANDER QUARTET? Justin Verlander is trying to win four straight starts for the first time in four years. The Tigers star, who is scheduled to start at Texas, allowed one run over eight scoreless innings against Pittsburgh last Wednesday. He has given up only two runs over 21 innings his last three starts (Houston, Baltimore and the Pirates). The last time the 2011 AL Cy Young and AL MVP winner won four straight starts was midway through the 2013 season. Verlander is 4-1 with a 3.19 ERA in six road starts against the Rangers. He beat them in Detroit earlier this season with seven solid innings. HEADY HODGES It will be Gil Hodges Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium when Los Angeles hosts the Chicago White Sox. Hodges played in seven World Series for the Dodgers — six times in Brooklyn and also in 1959 when they beat the White Sox for their first championship in LA. An eight-time All-Star, the first baseman hit 370 home runs and, having also managed the 1969 Miracle Mets to their first title, has several supporters who believe he should be posthumously voted into the Hall of Fame. Alex Wood (14-1) starts for the Dodgers. At 83-34, a win would put them 50 games over .500.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A district attorney ruled Monday that state police acted properly a year ago when they shot and killed a man they suspected of murdering a state trooper in a rural area of central Pennsylvania. Huntingdon County District Attorney David Smith issued his decision in the Dec. 31 death in Hesston of 32-year-old Jason Robison. The two-page report said troopers searching for Robison found him inside a camper not far from where Trooper Landon Weaver had been killed. Smith said the investigators retreated and secured the area, and a short time later, Robison appeared at the camper door, holding a pistol. “Troopers at the scene ordered Robison numerous times to drop his gun, which he refused to do,” Smith wrote. “Robison moved as if to advance from the camper while still holding the pistol in his hand. After Robison began to move, members of the state police fired shots at Robison, who was struck in the head, torso, arms and legs.” A .32-caliber Beretta pistol was recovered beside Robison’s body. It contained eight live rounds, and there were two other bullets in the pocket of his jacket. The prosecutor deemed the killing as justified and said authorities will not the release the names of troopers involved. Investigators said earlier this year they recovered 22 spent rounds from the scene, none that matched Robison’s gun. Weaver had gone to Robison’s home to investigate an alleged violation of a protective order for texting his ex-girlfriend. Robison’s mother, Sherry Lou Robison, told investigators her son pulled a handgun out of his pants and walked toward the trooper. She then heard a popping sound and saw Weaver fall to the floor, bleeding. Weaver, 23, had been with the state police for about a year. He had been married about six months before his murder. .

NEW YORK (AP) — Lidl, the German no-frills supermarket chain, is opening its first wave of stores in the U.S. this summer ahead of schedule, with plans to open up to 100 locations across the East Coast within a year. The details of the expansion, announced Wednesday, come as Wal-Mart and traditional grocery chains already are seeing a stronger threat from German low-priced retailer Aldi, which has been aggressively expanding. Both offer low prices by focusing on store-label products rather than name brands. Aldi has also been adding items to include gluten-free products and fresh produce. Lidl’s first 20 U.S. stores will be opening in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, where the company established its first U.S. headquarters in 2015. Originally, it planned to open its first batch of U.S. stores no later than 2018. Lidl operates about 10,000 stores in 27 countries. Both Lidl and Aldi have been aggressively expanding in Europe. In the United Kingdom, a fierce price war has hurt Wal-Mart’s Asda business as well as traditional local retailers. Aldi, which opened its first store in the U.S. in 1976, now has more than 1,600 stores in the U.S. and plans to increase that to nearly 2,000 by the end of 2018. It announced earlier this month that it’s spending $1.6 billion on remodeling more than 1,300 of them.

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — A senior European Union official said Tuesday that a summit next month will reaffirm the “European perspective” of the Western Balkans, a region with fresh memories of war and a long history with Russia. European Council President Donald Tusk’s comments came as he started a weeklong tour to prepare for the May 17 summit of EU and Western Balkan leaders. The agenda of the event, to be held in Bulgaria, is status talks on making Balkan countries EU members. Last week, the European Commission said enough progress had been made for Albania and Macedonia’s accession to begin. Tusk said the road to EU membership would be tough, but “worth the effort.” “The process will resemble more a hurdles race than a motorway. But full integration remains our common destiny,” Tusk said at a news conference with his host, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. The 28 EU member states must agree unanimously for any country to become a member. The process of joining the EU has been a powerful driver of political and democratic reform in post-communist countries. “I have no doubt that it’s in the best interest of the EU and Albania that the entire Western Balkans region is fully integrated,” Tusk said. The summit will also be an occasion to discuss common security challenges, such as migrant smuggling, terrorism and organized crime, he said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Europe’s door must remain open, and that he didn’t want to see a return to war “in this extremely complicated region.” Nevertheless, French President Emmanuel Macron has ruled out any expansion of the EU until Brussels itself undergoes reforms. Meanwhile, leaders from Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia met Tuesday in the Romanian capital to discuss regional issues, including ways to bring the Western Balkans “back to the European family where they belong,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said. Bulgaria, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, together with fellow EU members Bulgaria and Greece support Serbia joining the bloc. The four leaders also discussed Kosovo’s status as a country independent of Serbia. Kosovo declared independence a decade ago, but Serbia and some of its allies don’t recognize it as a country. “Without (a solution for) Kosovo, the Western Balkans can’t move forward,” Borissov warned. ___ Raf Casert from Brussels and Alison Mutler from Bucharest, Romania contributed to this report. ___ Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter https://twitter.com/lsemini

BEIJING (AP) — China announced Monday it will cut off imports of North Korean coal, iron ore and other key goods in three weeks under U.N. sanctions imposed over the North’s nuclear program. China, the isolated North’s main trading partner, has been reluctant to push leader Kim Jong Un’s regime too hard for fear it might collapse. But Beijing is increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang and joined in approving a U.N. Security Council ban on Aug. 5 on coal and other key goods. The Chinese customs agency said it will stop processing imports of North Korean coal, iron and lead ores and fish at midnight on Sept. 5. The latest sanctions are intended to block exports valued at more than $1 billion — a significant loss to total exports valued at $3 billion last year.

PHOENIX (AP) — President Donald Trump says he may grant a pardon to former Sheriff Joe Arpaio following his recent conviction in federal court, prompting outrage among critics who say the move would amount to an endorsement of racism. The longtime sheriff in metro Phoenix was booted out of office in November and was found guilty of a misdemeanor count for disobeying orders to stop immigration traffic patrols that a federal judge said resulted in racial profiling against Latinos. The Fox News report that Trump is considering a pardon for Arpaio was welcome news for the former sheriff. But it angered immigrant rights activists who find it to be a troubling signal from the president at a time when the nation is reeling over the race-fueled violence in Virginia.

MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s live call-in show (all times local): 12:35 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the U.S. Senate move to tighten sanctions against Moscow is part of efforts to contain Russia. The Republican-led Senate voted Wednesday to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 election by approving a wide-ranging sanctions package that targets key sectors of Russia’s economy and individuals who carried out cyberattacks. Putin, speaking Thursday during a live call-in show televised nationwide, deplored the Senate’s move but added that the Western sanctions against Moscow also have hurt the West itself. He said that the sanctions have given Russia an incentive to shed its dependence on oil and gas exports and “switch on our brains and talents” to develop other industries. Putin noted that electronics, aerospace industries and agriculture have all received a boost. ___ 12:25 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia’s economy has overcome a recession. Putin said during Thursday’s live call-in show televised nationwide that the “crisis is over,” pointing at an economic growth over the past nine months. He also pointed at low inflation and rising hard currency reserves. The Russian economy had plunged into recession under the impact of a drop in global oil prices and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Putin acknowledged that the Russian economy hasn’t yet shed its dependence on exports of raw materials, but noted that non-energy exports have been growing.

TORONTO (AP) — The Latest on the incident in which a van plowed down a Toronto sidewalk, killing and injuring several people (all times local): 9:25 a.m. The president of Invesco Canada says one of the financial company’s employees was among those killed in when a van plowed into pedestrians in Toronto. Peter Intraligi says the company’s “thoughts and prayers” were with “all those impacted by this tragic event.” The company had earlier issued a statement saying two of its employees were affected. A new statement from Intraligi says “I can now confirm that unfortunately one of our employees has succumbed to her injuries.” He added: “Out of respect for her and her family, we will not be providing any further comments.” Police are trying to determine why a driver plowed a rented van along a crowded sidewalk in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15 in what many said seemed a deliberate attack. ___ 8:55 a.m. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says authorities see no national security element in the seeming attack on pedestrians in Canada’s largest city. Trudeau says the incident “hasn’t changed the overall threat level in Canada,” though it occurred as Cabinet ministers from the G7 nations are meeting in Toronto. Trudeau says Canada will do whatever it can to keep its citizens safe, while staying true to its values. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, he said, “We cannot as Canadians choose to live in fear every single day as we go about our daily business.” Police are trying to determine why a driver plowed a rented van along a crowded sidewalk in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15 in what many said seemed a deliberate attack.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Official figures show that a big jump in energy prices has pushed inflation across the 19-country eurozone back to the European Central Bank’s goal in May. Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said consumer prices were up by an annual rate of 1.9 percent in May, way ahead of April’s 1.2 percent. The sharp rise means inflation is now at the ECB’s goal of just below 2 percent. The main reason behind the increase has been the sharp rise in oil prices. Energy prices, according to Eurostat, were up 6.1 percent in the year to May, more than double April’s 2.6 percent. However, underlying inflation remains benign. After stripping out the volatile items of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, inflation only rose to 1.1 percent from 0.7 percent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation (all times local): 2:25 p.m. The White House is continuing to deny that President Donald Trump is looking to oust special counsel Robert Mueller. Spokesman Hogan Gidley tells reporters aboard Air Force One that, “there are no conversations or discussions about removing” Mueller. And he says Trump’s recent tweets criticizing Mueller’s team are part of his “well-established frustration for more than a year this has been going on.” Trump this weekend lashed out at Mueller on Twitter for the first time by name. Some congressional Republicans feared that was a signal Trump might be considering firing Mueller. On Monday Trump called the probe “a total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!” Gidley says Trump “believes this is the biggest witch hunt in history.” Trump cannot directly fire Mueller. Any dismissal would have to be carried out by deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. __ 1:24 a.m. The White House says President Donald Trump isn’t thinking or talking about firing special counsel Robert Mueller. That’s the word from White House lawyer Ty Cobb in a statement late Sunday after a series of Trump tweets revived chatter that the frustrated president may be preparing to have Mueller fired. Mueller is investigating whether Trump’s actions, including last year’s ouster of FBI Director James Comey, amount to obstruction of justice. Trump believes the probe is biased against him, a point he made clear in weekend tweets that jabbed Mueller directly. Cobb says: “In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.”

PHOENIX (AP) — A record number of women are on track to run for the U.S. Senate, though it will be a challenge to capture those seats and help make the chamber more diverse. Many face uphill campaigns and two Democratic incumbents in particular among the 23 women in the Senate are seen as politically vulnerable in the November election. In Wisconsin, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican state Sen. Leah Vukmir were expected to file for the race on Wednesday. If so, 42 Republican and Democratic women — the most ever — would have qualified to 19 Senate seats. That’s according to an Associated Press analysis of data collected by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University and candidate qualifying information released by states. In 2016, 40 women ran for the Senate. “It’s not going to be a huge gain,” said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. But, she said, the Senate “is a body more open to incremental changes.” For more than two centuries, men have dominated the Senate, which has seated only 52 female members in its history. Adding women or even holding the line can mean maintaining pressure on the Senate to act on issues important to female voters, such as health care and family economic policies. A potent force behind the surge in female participation is the #MeToo movement, ignited by allegations of sexual misconduct by men in entertainment, politics, journalism and other sectors. There’s also the criticism of President Donald Trump’s policies and his alleged conduct toward women. “All of these sparks are working in different ways, and one of the giant sparks has been the #MeToo movement,” said former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, among four women elected in 1992. That tripled their Senate ranks, due in part, she said, to a backlash by female voters against the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. He had been accused of sexual harassment. In Arizona, odds are a woman will succeed retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. Six women are running in the August primaries. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who filed her candidate petitions Tuesday, demurred when asked about the role that gender plays in her candidacy. “For me, my public service has never been about my gender or really any other characteristic,” Sinema told The Associated Press. In a recent ad, Sinema credits her single mother for shepherding her family through tough times, echoing themes of family security, a priority for some female voters. In Wisconsin, Baldwin could face Vukmir, who faces a competitive August primary. The biggest hurdle for female candidates is the electoral map. Of the 13 Democratic women seeking re-election, four are in states that Trump won in 2016 and where he is expected to weigh in heavily. Seen as most vulnerable are first-term Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, which Trump carried by almost 36 percentage points in 2016, and second-term Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, which Trump won by more than 18 percentage points. At the same time, women stand a chance of picking up a seat in Nevada, where Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen is challenging Republican Sen. Dean Heller. In Tennessee, Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Trump devotee whom the president raised money for Tuesday night in Nashville, faces former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, for the seat being vacated by the retiring GOP Sen. Bob Corker. Limited opportunities for women to make gains are nothing new. But the 1992 election helped usher in changes championed by female senators, including the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Violence Against Women Act. Given the challenges to women hoping to increase their numbers in the Senate this year, the election can be as much about defending policy achievements, said Kelly Dittmar of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers. “It’s not just about advancing. We need to hold the line,” she said. “We need to prevent a backslide on these policies.” The early cadre of women in the Senate began meeting for dinner at each other’s homes. The social bonds defied political differences by including the then-lone Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, helping “create a community” that the Senate’s women today are building upon, said former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, an Illinois Democrat who in 1992 was the first African-American woman elected to the Senate. In April, the Senate took an incremental but noteworthy step that reflects the changes, sometimes slow-moving, that women in the Senate have achieved. Senators voted unanimously to allow babies of members on the Senate floor. That change was inspired by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who gave birth to a girl in April. The move, Duckworth said at the time, helps “bring the Senate into the 21st Century.” To Braun, “the march toward gender equity in the Senate is inexorable. It’s a matter of attitude, and sends the message to young women they can do whatever they want or can.” ___ Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Christina Almeida Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — The CEO of the nation’s third largest pharmaceutical company is resigning from the President’s American Manufacturing Council citing “a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.” President Donald Trump lashed out almost immediately Monday at Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier on Twitter, saying Frazier “will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Frazier’s resignation comes shortly after a violent confrontation between white supremacists and protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one person dead and 19 injured. Frazier said in a tweet on Monday that the country’s leaders must “honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.” Trump is being criticized for not explicitly condemning the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville.

HONOLULU (AP) — The hottest and fastest-moving lava of Kilauea volcano’s latest eruption spread across new parts of the Big Island Wednesday, forcing officials to order evacuations in two coastal neighborhoods over fears that the rapidly advancing flows could cut off dwindling escape routes. Overnight, the lava was moving fast enough to cover about six football fields an hour, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientist Wendy Stovall. “Hawaii County Civil Defense decided to evacuate all of lower Puna to ensure that people would be able to get out,” Stovall said. Lava gushed across and then along a roadway that leads from the commercial center of Pahoa toward smaller towns and rural farmlands to the east. About two dozen recent fissures in that area have created towering lava fountains and bone-rattling explosions throughout the eruption. The lava that is currently coming to the surface is the hottest and most fluid to date. “This is the hottest lava that we’ve seen in this eruption, even just a matter of 50 degrees centigrade makes a big difference in how quickly lava flows can move and how they behave once the magma exits the vent,” Stovall said. In fact, the current lava eruptions in Puna are as hot as Hawaii’s lava will ever get. “It can’t get hotter than where we are,” Stovall added. “We are pretty much tapping mantle temperatures right now.” One fissure was observed early Wednesday morning spouting lava over 200 feet (61 meters) into the air. Hawaii County officials said lava destroyed the electric utility’s equipment on the highway, which knocked out power to Vacationland and Kapoho Beach Lots. “You are at risk of being isolated due to possible lava inundation,” the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency advised the public. There were several small earthquakes at Kilauea’s summit Wednesday, where the vent inside the volcano’s Halemaumau Crater has grown along with a series of explosive eruptions that have sent rock and ash thousands of feet into the sky. The U.S. Geological Survey released drone footage Wednesday of another fast-moving lava flow that trapped a man in Leilani Estates over the weekend. As lava rushed past the property, a USGS crew that was flying the drone used the aircraft to lead rescue teams to the stranded person. The person was safely evacuated. A man was arrested in Leilani Estates after police say he fired a gun and assaulted another man after demanding that the man and his friends leave the area Tuesday. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park remains closed because of the volcanic activity at the summit and the ongoing eruptions on Kilauea’s eastern flanks. Park officials said that crews are working on clearing another roadway on the south side of the park that was covered by lava from previous eruptions. They hope the roadway will provide an alternative escape route if lava cuts off more roads to the north. Strands of volcanic glass called as Pele’s hair was accumulating on the ground in Leilani Estates and surrounding neighborhoods, and winds may blow lighter particles farther away, scientists said. The strands can cause irritation and respiratory problems when it comes in contact with people. Pele, known as the goddess of volcanoes and fire, is an important figure in Hawaiian culture. Volcanic gas emissions remain high from the eruption. Wind conditions for Wednesday were forecast to result in widespread vog — or volcanic smog— over the Big Island. ___ Follow AP’s complete coverage of the Hawaii volcano here: https://apnews.com/tag/Kilauea Follow AP’s Hawaii correspondent Caleb Jones on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalebAP