LONDON (AP) — Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who dominated politics in Scotland for almost a decade, was arrested and questioned for several hours on Sunday by police investigating the finances of the governing, pro-independence Scottish National Party.

Police Scotland said a 52-year-old woman was detained Sunday morning “as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.”

She was “released without charge pending further investigation” about six hours later, the force said. British police do not identify suspects until they are charged.

Sturgeon said after her release that her arrest had been “both a shock and deeply distressing.”

“Obviously, given the nature of this process, I cannot go into detail,” she said in a statement on social media. “However, I do wish to say this, and to do so in the strongest possible terms. Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.”

The SNP said the party had been “cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so. However, it is not appropriate to publicly address any issues while that investigation is ongoing.”

Scottish police opened an investigation in 2021 into how more than 600,000 pounds ($754,000) designated for a Scottish independence campaign was spent.

Two former SNP officials, Colin Beattie, who was treasurer, and Peter Murrell, who was chief executive, were previously arrested and questioned as part of the investigation. Like Sturgeon, both were released pending further inquiries.

Murrell is Sturgeon’s husband, and police searched the couple’s home in Glasgow after his arrest in April.

It is highly unusual for a leader or former leader of a UK political party to be arrested. The last such case also concerned the Scottish Nationalists: Sturgeon’s predecessor as first minister, Alex Salmond, was arrested in 2019 and charged with a series of sexual offenses, including attempted rape. He was acquitted on all 13 charges after a trial in January 2020.

Before that, in 1979, the former Liberal party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, went on trial, accused of conspiracy and incitement to murder. The man he was charged with trying to kill claimed they had a sexual relationship at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Thorpe denied his claim and was acquitted.

Sturgeon unexpectedly resigned in February after eight years as Scottish National Party leader and first minister of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government. She said then that she knew “in my head and in my heart” that it was the right time for her, her party and her country to make way for someone else.

The first female leader of Scotland’s devolved government, Sturgeon led her party to dominance in Scottish politics and refashioned the SNP from a largely one-issue party into a dominant governing force with liberal social positions.

She guided her party during three U.K.-wide elections and two Scottish elections, and led Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic, winning praise for her clear, measured communication style.

But Sturgeon left office amid divisions in the SNP and with her main goal — independence from the U.K. for the nation of 5.5 million people — unmet.

Scottish voters backed remaining in the U.K. in a 2014 referendum that was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision. The party wants a new vote, but the U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that Scotland can’t hold one without London’s consent. The central government has refused to authorize another referendum.

Sturgeon’s departure unleashed a tussle for the future of the SNP amid recriminations over the party’s declining membership and divisions over the best path towards independence. Opinion polls suggest support for the party has sagged, though it remains the most popular in Scotland.

An acrimonious leadership contest to replace her saw contenders feud over tactics and Sturgeon’s legacy, particularly a bill she introduced to make it easier for people to legally change gender. It was hailed as a landmark piece of legislation by transgender rights activists, but faced opposition from some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women

First Minister Humza Yousaf, who won the party contest in March, told the BBC before Sturgeon’s arrest that the SNP had been through “some of the most difficult weeks our party has probably faced, certainly in the modern era.”

“I know there will be people, be it our opposition, be it the media, that have somehow written the SNP off already,” he said. “They do that at their own peril.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance — done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee — that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company — this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did not feel left out of the party in France — a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left — that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 — I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

But, as the saying goes, when it rains it pours.

And it poured all over the FBI when it was announced that former FBI Agent Robert P. Hanssen, 79, “the most damaging spy in (FBI) history,” was found dead in his prison cell at the supermax U.S. Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado Monday.

Hassen had been serving life without parole after pleading guilty in 2001 to selling classified information to the Russians for $1.4 million in cash, bank funds and diamonds.

Among the information he sold was that the U.S. had dug a Cold War tunnel beneath the Soviet embassy in Washington for eavesdropping purposes. Another was that he provided Moscow with the names of three KGB officers who were spying for the U.S., two of whom were later executed.

Paul J. McNulty, the U.S. attorney who prosecuted Hanssen, said Hanssen’s crimes “cannot be overstated. They will long be remembered for being among the most egregious betrayals of trust in U.S. history. It was both a low point and an investigative success for the FBI.”

It was “an investigative success.” But what McNulty failed to add was that Hanssen operated as a Russian spy for 20 years before he was caught. And he was even surprised that he got away with it for so long.

Adding to the fallen image of the FBI was the arrest and indictment earlier this year of one of its former top counterintelligence agents.

That is Charles F. McGonigal, formerly head of the New York counterintelligence office, who was charged with selling access to Russian and Albanian officials in exchange for $240,000.

McGonigal, who is awaiting trial, was once considered an agency rockstar, who had access to some of the most sensitive information in the FBI’s possession.

FBI Director Wray at the time pointed out that like Hanssen, it was the FBI that initiated the McGonigal investigation, even though he did not say for how long McGonigal had been rogue.

Wray said the charges against McGonigal demonstrated “the FBI’s willingness as an organization to shine a bright light on conduct that is totally unacceptable, including when it happens from one of our own people, and to hold those people accountable.”

That “bright light” comment may come as a surprise to former FBI officials who have become persona non grata by the FBI after becoming whistleblowers and testifying on FBI wrongdoing before Congress.

It will also come as a surprise to Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Both repeatedly pressed Wray to publicly release unclassified documents — including with a subpoena — that allege that Joe Biden took a $5 million bribe from a foreign national to affect public policy when he was vice president.

While Wray provided an hour-long, closed-door briefing for Comer and ranking Democrat committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin, Comer said Wray still refused to turn over the documents to the committee.

However, upon the threat of contempt, Way finally caved.

No matter the outcome, McCarthy, Comer and the Republicans in the House appear determined to punish the FBI by withholding funds from the FBI for its $4 billion proposed new office building complex until it changes its ways, including stopping the politicization of the agency and ending its campaign against conservatives.

McCarthy said that the unwanted proposed structure would even be bigger than the Pentagon.

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, head of a subcommittee on public buildings, said all agencies that “have been weaponized” against the American people need to be scrutinized.

Republican Rep.  Andy Harris of Maryland, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said, “I think that the FBI building’s funding this year is in definite jeopardy. We should not fund the new FBI headquarters until we get to the bottom of what’s going on.”

If you don’t build it, they will not come.

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.

Hours later, the dad opened up to reporters for more than 20 minutes outside the federal courthouse in Worcester about how he believes the feds are entrapping his son, whom he repeatedly called a “loyal American.”

Mateo Ventura was arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges that he allegedly provided support to terrorism in the form of a string of gift cards to a supposed ISIS agent for resale on the dark web, according to federal authorities.

Paul Ventura said it was all a shock.

“He is a soft-hearted kid. He wants to help people,” Paul Ventura said of Mateo. “He’s not afraid to tell me anything. If he did something wrong, he would’ve said ‘Dad, I did something wrong.’ If he did it, he did it unintentionally.”

Mateo Ventura was charged with one count of concealing terrorist financing by the US. Attorney’s office in Boston.

Ventura provided  “multiple gift cards to an individual he believed was an ISIS supporter,” but in reality, he was communicating with an undercover FBI agent, according to federal documents.

The feds say Ventura provided a total of  $1,670 in gift cards to the agent: $965 as a juvenile and $705 after his 18th birthday, according to court documents. The gift cards ranged from Google Play cards to Gamestop, Amazon and Dick’s Sporting Goods, charging documents state.

Paul Ventura said he’s unsure where his son “got the money,” but explained “I give him a card for when I’m not home because I’m a single dad. He has a card that he (uses) for food and stuff. He’s home all the time.”

The father continued, “So, it’s almost like I think they put something in front of him and sucked him in. He is not a terrorist. He is a loyal American, 100%.”

Mateo was born premature and has developmental challenges, Paul Ventura said. He claimed his son was bullied throughout his childhood, and school officials never addressed the family’s concerns.

Mateo is fascinated by history, Paul Ventura said, adding he doesn’t know what religion his son practices.

“Everything with him is history; all of the wars, all of the things going on, everything. It’s just history, history, history.”

Atmosphere and climate scientists with the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute used a forecast model to predict how the smoke would travel through the atmosphere.

The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1, and observations in southern Norway have recorded increasing concentrations of aerosolized particles, the independent research institution said.

“We may be able to see some haze or smell smoke,” Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior NILU researcher, said. “However, we do not believe that the number of particles in the air here in Norway will be large enough to be harmful to our health.”

Kjetil Tørseth, research director with NILU, said that with “the increasing temperatures due to climate change, forest fires are likely to be more common and of a larger magnitude.

“So I think these kind of episodes are to be more common in the future. And they do, of course, have an impact on climate,” he told The Associated Press. “We are especially interested to see the effects on the Arctic, where soot deposition onto snow and ice might actually increase the local warming.”

Canada and the east coast of the U.S. have experienced hazardous levels of pollution from the Canadian wildfires, mainly in the eastern province of Quebec. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as the U.S. Midwest. The smoke has affected millions of people, led to flight delays at major airports, caused the postponement of Major League Baseball games and prompted people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.

Canada has asked for help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis underwent successful surgery Wednesday to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, the latest maladies to befall the 86-year-old pontiff who had part of his colon removed two years ago.

The Vatican said there were no complications during the three-hour surgery, which required Francis to be under general anesthesia. The pontiff was expected to remain at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days, and all papal audiences were canceled through June 18.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of abdominal and endocrine sciences at Gemelli, who also performed Francis’ 2021 colon surgery, said the operation was successful. A short time later, the pope was awake, alert and even joking.

“When will we do the third one?” he quoted Francis as saying.

During the operation, doctors removed adhesions, or internal scarring, on the intestine that had caused a partial blockage, as well as pain in recent months. Alfieri revealed that Francis had undergone previous undisclosed abdominal surgeries sometime before 2013 in Argentina, which had also caused scarring.

To repair the hernia that had formed over a previous scar, a prosthetic mesh was placed in the abdominal wall, Alfieri said. He added that the pope was suffering from no other pathologies, that the tissue removed was benign and that after he recovers, he should be fine.

A feared protrusion, or bulging of the intestine through the hernia tear, was apparently not found.

“It appears they operated on him in a timely fashion with no compromise to his intestine,” said Dr. Walter Longo, chief of colon and rectal surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, who did not participate in the surgery and commented after consulting the Vatican statement on the procedure.

Hernia operations are rarely performed on an emergency basis, and Alfieri said the surgery had been planned. While unannounced publicly, it appeared timed so Francis would have ample time for recovery ahead of a busy travel schedule later this summer.

At three hours, the pope’s procedure was considerably longer than the standard 60 to 90 minutes doctors say a hernia operation usually takes, but Alfieri noted that the scar tissue from the previous surgeries was completely removed.

Spending more time under anesthesia, coupled with being on a ventilator for so long — in someone who has lost part of one lung as a young man — could put the pontiff at risk of breathing complications or a longer-than-expected recovery time, experts said.

Francis remained in charge of the Vatican and the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church, even while unconscious and in the hospital, according to canon law.

In July 2021, Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his large intestine. In an interview with The Associated Press in January, Francis said the diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, that prompted that surgery had returned.

After that surgery, Francis lamented that he hadn’t responded well to the general anesthetic. That reaction in part explained his refusal to have surgery to repair strained knee ligaments that have forced him to use a wheelchair and walker for over a year.

However, Alfieri said Francis had no adverse reactions to the anesthesia in 2021 or Wednesday.

“Clearly no one likes to be operated on and put to sleep because the moment we’re put under, we lose consciousness,” he told an evening news conference at the hospital with the Vatican spokesman by his side. “But there was no physiological problem two years ago or today.”

Dr. Manish Chand, a professor of surgery at University College London who specializes in colorectal surgery, said the greatest issue afterwards would be pain management and making sure the wound heals properly.

“In the first six weeks after this type of surgery, you’re at risk of getting a recurrence again,” he said. To avoid that, patients are advised not to do anything strenuous.

Dr. Robin Phillips, an emeritus professor of colorectal surgery at Imperial College London, pointed out that abdominal surgery can also compromise lung function.

The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. In late March, Francis spent three days at Gemelli for bronchitis and was treated with intravenous antibiotics. He emerged April 1 saying “Still alive!”

“I suspect they are doing it now because they are worried it might become more complicated and result in an emergency operation, which would carry an even bigger risk than leaving it alone or operating now,” Phillips said.

After celebrating his weekly general audience Wednesday, the pope was driven in his Fiat 500 out of the Vatican shortly after 11 a.m. and arrived at the Gemelli some 20 minutes later, escorted by police.

“The stay at the health facility will last several days to allow for the normal post-operative course and full functional recovery,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The pope had appeared in good form Wednesday morning at his audience in St. Peter’s Square, zipping around the square in his popemobile greeting the faithful. He also had two meetings beforehand, the Vatican said.

Francis has had a packed schedule of late, with multiple audiences each day. The Vatican recently confirmed a travel-filled August, when the Holy See and Italy are usually on vacation. He has a four-day visit to Portugal scheduled for the first week of August and a similarly long trip to Mongolia starting Aug. 31.

In a sign that the trips were still on, the Vatican on Tuesday released the planned itinerary for Francis’ visit to Portugal for World Youth Day events from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6. The busy schedule includes all the protocol meetings of an official state visit plus multiple events with young people and a day trip to the Marian shrine at Fatima.

___

Cheng reported from London.

The collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and emptying of its reservoir on the Dnieper River added to the misery the region has suffered for more than a year from artillery and missile attacks.

With humanitarian and ecological disasters still unfolding, it’s already clear that tens of thousands of people have been deprived of drinking water, many are homeless, crops are ruined, land mines have been displaced, and the stage is set for long-term electricity shortages.

Some residents of Russia-occupied areas hit by high water complained that help was slow in arriving, with some stranded on roofs and streets passable only by boat in scenes more like natural disasters than wars. Others refused to leave.

The first report of casualties from the disaster emerged, with a mayor reporting three dead. At least 4,000 people have been evacuated from both the Russian and Ukrainian-controlled sides of the river, officials said, with the true scale of the disaster yet to emerge in an affected area that was home to more than 60,000 people. Russia-appointed authorities in the occupied parts of the Kherson region reported 15,000 flooded homes.

The dam and reservoir, essential for fresh water and irrigation for southern Ukraine, lies in the Kherson region that Moscow illegally annexed in September and has occupied for the past year. The reservoir is also critical for water supplies to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukraine holds the Dnieper’s western bank, while Russia controls the low-lying eastern side, which is more vulnerable to flooding.

The high water could wash away this season’s crops, while the depleted Kakhovka reservoir would deny adequate irrigation for years. The reservoir’s loss also complicates any efforts to rebuild and restart the destroyed hydroelectric power station and ensure cooling water for any future attempts to restart the shut-down Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

A day after the dam’s collapse, the cause remained unclear, with both sides blaming each other. Some experts cited wartime damage and neglect, although others argued that Russia might have destroyed it for military reasons. Either way, concluded analyst Michael Kofman, “Russia is responsible, either by virtue of action or by virtue of the fact that it controlled the dam.”

“It’s going to lead to lasting damage to agriculture, provision of drinkable water. And it’s going to wipe out entire communities,” Kofman — who is with the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. research group — told “PBS NewsHour.”

Many residents had fled the region because of the fighting, but clear estimates of those remaining weren’t available.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with officials on how to provide drinking water to residents, as well as assess damage to wetlands, farms and other property from what he called “a crime of ecocide” and “a man-made strike on the environment, after which nature will have to recover for decades.”

Speaking in English in a video posted on YouTube, Zelenskyy said it was impossible to predict how much of the chemicals and oil products stored in flooded areas will end up in rivers and the sea.

Ukraine’s agriculture ministry warned, “The fields in the south of Ukraine next year can turn into deserts.”

In the Moscow-controlled city of Oleshky, Lera, 19, told The Associated Press the first floor of her home was flooded.

“Everything around us is floating. People are standing on rooftops and asking for help, but no one is evacuating them,” said Lera, who declined to give her last name for fear of reprisals.

Most Russian troops fled Oleshky shortly after the dam incident, Lera said, although a military checkpoint remains, and boats with people trying to leave have come under fire from soldiers. Her claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Mayor Yevhen Ryschuk, who left the city after the Russians took control last year, reported three dead and said hundreds of residents need to be evacuated from their roofs. He said 90% of Oleshky is flooded and facing a humanitarian crisis without electricity, potable water and food, as well as possible groundwater contamination.

Animals weren’t spared, with some pets trapped. Officials said the Kazkova Dibrova Zoo in Nova Kakhovka was under water and that “only swans and ducks could escape.”

The PGA Tour abruptly dropped its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf venture on Tuesday and instead announced a stunning merger that creates a global operation featuring the world’s top players backed by the Saudis’ massive wealth.

As part of the deal merging the PGA Tour and European tour with Saudi Arabia’s golf interests, the sides immediately are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf.

From the golf side, still to be determined is how players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson can rejoin the PGA Tour after defecting last year for signing bonuses reported to be in the $150 million range.

From the commercial side, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund joins the PGA Tour board of directors and leads the new business venture as chairman, though the PGA Tour will have a majority stake.

News of the deal came as a surprise to many watchers of the lawsuits and Saudi Arabia’s inroads into U.S. politics, sports and culture.

“This is a huge development and obviously upends a world of golf, which has been perhaps more tradition-bound in the past,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Houston’s Baker Institute.

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has made a point of seeking out investments, like LIV, where it could shake up existing industries, Ulrichsen said.

“That’s sort of one of their mantras, is to try to be disruptive and to take on the status quo,” he said. “And in this case, they seem to have succeeded.”

The announcement comes a year after LIV Golf began. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was at the Canadian Open that week and said pointedly about any player who joined LIV or was thinking about it: “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Now they are partners, giving Saudi Arabia a commercial voice in golf’s premier organization.

“I recognize everything I’ve said in the past. I recognize people will call me a hypocrite,” Monahan said in a conference call Tuesday evening. “Any time I’ve said anything, I’ve said it with the information I had, and I said it with someone trying to compete with our tour and our players.”

Most PGA Tour players were bewildered by the shocking turnaround. It didn’t help that a news outlet broke the embargoed announcement before Monahan could send a memo to the players. Most learned of the development on social media.

“I love finding out about morning news on Twitter,” two-time major champion Collin Morikawa tweeted.

Many were not happy. Wesley Bryan tweeted, “I feel betrayed, and will not … be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA Tour for a very long time.”

Byeong Hun An added on Twitter: “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”

“They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

“We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”

Monahan held a player meeting at the Canadian Open, though most top players are not there. He described the meeting as “intense, certainly heated.”

And while this likely will only lead to greater riches in golf, there still was explaining to do on why the tour would merge with a group that tried to take away some of the PGA Tour’s best players and was seen as the latest example of “sportswashing.”

The deal was in the works for the last seven weeks, when Monahan first met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund. Players typically approve changes to the schedule and other competition matters. On this one, they were left out.

“No one had word of this,” Monahan said. “Our players expect us to operate in the best interests of the tour.”

Instead, he cited guidance from corporate members of the PGA Tour board.

Still, Monahan has his toughest work ahead of him.

He sought loyalty from his players against a league accused of taking part in sportswashing, an attempt by Saudi Arabia to shift focus away from its human rights abuses, such as the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Now the very group that posed such a threat is the commercial partner of the PGA Tour and European tour.

“The divisiveness is now over, and two years of disruption and distractions … is over and now we can concentrate on building our respective tours,” said Keith Pelley, CEO of the European tour. “And we are building it with PIF, who is clearly committed to the game.”

Along the way, PGA Tour players also got rich. The tour raised prize money at elite events to $20 million, the same purse for LIV’s individual competition. The 2024 schedule has been reshaped for roughly 16 tournaments like that.

“In the short term, I expect a lot of questions and criticism,” Monahan said. “In the long run, players who stayed with the PGA Tour will see they benefited in many ways.”

The agreement combines the Public Investment Fund’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights — including LIV Golf — with those of the PGA and European tours. The new entity has not been named.

Al-Rumayyan will join the board of the PGA Tour, which continues to operates its tournaments. The PIF will invest in the commercial venture.

“From the very beginning, the whole initiative was how to grow the game of golf,” Al-Rumayyan said. “And I think what was achieved today was exactly that.”

Augusta National and the Royal & Ancient welcomed the news because it ends a bitter feud. Augusta National said the deal “represents a positive development in bringing harmony to men’s professional golf.” R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said it would help golf “move forward in a collaborative, constructive and innovative fashion.”

As for the new role of Greg Norman, Al-Rumayyan said only that Norman is LIV Golf’s commissioner and details of his future role would be announced in the coming weeks.

Monahan’s memo to players indicated a strong Saudi Arabian presence. He said PIF would make a financial investment to become a “premier corporate sponsor” of the PGA Tour, the European tour and other international tours.

The PIF initially will be the exclusive investor in the new entity and will have the exclusive right to further invest, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested.

Al-Rumayyan has been spotted wearing a “MAGA” hat during LIV events at courses owned by former President Donald Trump.

Trump predicted last July that a merger was inevitable and said anyone not signing with the Saudi league would be losing out. He weighed in Tuesday and called it a “glamorous deal for the wonderful world of golf.”

Monahan said the merger came together the last seven weeks, with PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne responsible for bringing together Monahan and Al-Rumayyan. Dunne and Ed Herlihy, chairman of the PGA Tour’s board, will serve on the board of the commercial venture.

Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau were among 11 players who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour last August. LIV joined as plaintiffs, and the PGA Tour countersued.

The concern for PIF was whether its leaders could be deposed, which Saudi Arabia wanted to avoid. Being open to depositions would leave the kingdom’s leaders more vulnerable to legal action, including lawsuits demanding they reveal business deals in the United States.

A federal judge had ruled the PIF could not claim immunity from the Foreign Service Immunity Act because of its commercial work with LIV Golf in the U.S.

The PIF appealed the ruling to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was likely to extend the lawsuit deep into 2024 if not longer.

___

Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas in Stockholm contributed to this report.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Kim West, a partner at Ashcroft Law Firm in Boston, was recently selected as the Specialist Prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, Netherlands.

West was one of the high-profile local lawyers who were being looked at as the replacement for Andrew Lelling to lead the Bay State U.S. Attorney’s Office. Rollins, the Suffolk County district attorney at the time, was later picked as U.S. Attorney — and she recently resigned following bombshell investigative reports from two federal watchdog agencies.

Instead of the experienced and accomplished West running the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office, she’s now heading to the European Union-backed court.

“I am extremely grateful to the European Union for selecting me for this position,” West said in a statement. “My colleagues at Ashcroft Law Firm know that my passion has long been centered around international investigations. They recognized that this is an opportunity of a lifetime, and have all been very supportive.

“This new role allows me to continue working with victims, witnesses, and the international community to ensure that perpetrators of war crimes are brought to justice,” West added.

She began her legal career as assistant district attorney in Plymouth County. Then after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she joined the Anti-Terrorism and National Security Unit at the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Later, she served for five years as a trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, where she prosecuted Radovan Karadzic — who was found guilty of directing the genocide of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in the worst massacre on European soil since the Holocaust.

Then as chief of the Criminal Bureau for the Attorney General’s Office in Massachusetts, West supervised a team of more than 120 professionals responsible for investigating and prosecuting a range of financial, fraud, public corruption, narcotics, gaming, human trafficking, and other offenses.

West at Ashcroft Law Firm has focused on white-collar cases, primarily representing international clients.

“We are immensely proud of her achievements and grateful for the contributions she has made to our firm,” said Michael Sullivan, managing partner of Ashcroft Law Firm’s Boston office. “People from around the world have sought her help because of her empathy and commitment to international justice and accountability. Those same characteristics will guide her in her new position.”

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, the firm’s founder and chairman, said of West, “Her appointment to the European Union-backed court is not at all surprising because her career has been defined by a dedication to justice on a global scale. We are sad to be losing Kim as our colleague, but by selecting her for this key position, the international community has chosen the ideal steward to oversee the important responsibilities of investigating war crimes in Kosovo.”

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 struck southern Haiti early Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 36 others, authorities said.

The quake struck before dawn near the southwestern coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“I thought the whole house was going to fall on top of me,” Eric Mpitabakana, a World Food Program official in Jeremie, told The Associated Press by phone.

Two homes collapsed in the quake, and a key route that connects Jeremie and Les Cayes was blocked, according to Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.

Three of the fatal victims were from the same family and were found under a collapsed house where rescuers were searching for more people, Frankel Maginaire, with Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency in Jeremie told the AP.

He said that several children were hospitalized with injuries they received after they panicked and ran.

A crowd of people gathered around one home that collapsed as they tried to search for survivors in the rubble. They carried out at least one victim wrapped in a sheet.

Mpitabakana said things fell around his house and that he and other colleagues are contemplating sleeping outdoors if there are strong aftershocks.

“There were so many people out on the street, and a lot of panic,” he recalled of the moments after the quake struck.

Claude Prepetit, a geologist and engineer with Haiti’s Bureau of Mines and Energy, told Radio Caraibes that smaller earthquakes that occurred earlier this year in southern Haiti led to the bigger one that struck Tuesday.

The earthquake struck almost two years after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti and killed more than 2,200 people, with Les Cayes sustaining the most damage. Some people who lost their homes last August are still living in camps.

Allen Joseph, a program manager with global aid organization Mercy Corps, said in a phone interview that schools, banks and other institutions in Jeremie remained closed on Tuesday and that rescue teams had been searching for survivors in the rubble earlier.

He said the organization was still evaluating the situation to determine what help might be needed.

“There was a lot of panic,” he said. “Everyone was rushing to get outside…The neighbors were yelling, ‘Go, go, go!’”

Paul Pierre, a driver for a nongovernmental organization based in Jeremie, told the AP in a phone interview that he was barely waking up when he felt the house rocking.

“Everyone ran outside with their children, their babies,” he said. “There were some houses that collapsed.”

Pierre said he remained calm and sought shelter until the earth stopped moving, adding that he’s used to earthquakes.

In 2010, a magnitude 7 quake near the densely populated capital, Port-au-Prince, killed at least 200,000 people and caused widespread devastation to buildings.

Tuesday’s earthquake comes as Haiti struggles to recover from heavy floods over the weekend that killed at least 51 people, injured 140 and flooded nearly 31,600 homes. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has requested international assistance.

“Disasters keep hitting Haiti, left and right,” said Dr. Didinu Tamakloe, Haiti director for Project Hope, a U.S. aid organization. “People have not had sufficient time to recover from previous disasters, only to be hit by flash floods, an earthquake and landslides in a matter of days.”

They are specifically calling out PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan for flip-flopping.

“PGA Tour leaders should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed,” said 9/11 Families United Chair Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died in the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

“Our entire 9/11 community has been betrayed by Commissioner Monahan and the PGA as it appears their concern for our loved ones was merely window-dressing in their quest for money – it was never to honor the great game of golf,” she added.

Her stinging pushback comes just hours after the PGA and LIV Golf announced a blockbuster marriage and the end of lawsuits. The Associated Press reports linking the two will create a powerful commercial entity.

The governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund joins the PGA Tour board of directors and leads the new business venture as chairman, though the PGA Tour will have a majority stake, the AP added. 

The  9/11 Families United group and others who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks have dogged LIV Golf for its ties to the Saudis in what appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

“Our entire 9/11 community has been betrayed,” Strada added in a statement shared with the Herald.

Strada has also sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting an investigation into Saudi Arabian foreign agents for alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Politico is reporting.

As the Herald has reported, no public trial over Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has ever been held — though many fought for one — and the “last best hope” is playing out in federal court in Manhattan.

The 9/11 families want to expose how 19 al-Qaeda hijackers — 15 of them Saudi nationals — crashed four jets, killing nearly 3,000 in one day, and got financial help. They are suing Saudi Arabia to force some type of admission.

declassified FBI documents state “Omar Albayoumi was paid a monthly stipend as a cooptee of the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency.” That redacted FBI “electronic communication” shared with the Herald goes on to state the support for that foreign agent came “via then Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan Alsuad.”

Prince Bandar was Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. from 1983 to 2005.

Omar Albayoumi was a California-based Saudi spy, declassified FBI documents state, according to multiple reports. The 9/11 Commission never knew this.

It is alleged Albayoumi helped 9/11 hijackers Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar, who were the first to arrive in the U.S. when they landed in Los Angeles in January 2000. That Southern California terror cell was exposed years later in an FBI report titled “PENTBOMB.”

Those first two hijackers would move on to San Diego where they attempted to train as pilots — not needing to know how to take off or land — and then ultimately, with a lot of help, boarded Flight 77, slamming it into the Pentagon on 9/11 killing 64 people on the plane and 125 in the Pentagon.

The three other hijacked jets — Flight 11 and Flight 175 out of Logan International Airport in Boston and Flight 93 out of Newark International Airport — slammed into the Twin Towers and a field in Shanksville, Pa., respectively, on 9/11 in the first act of mass murder.

As part of the deal, the sides are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf against each other effective immediately.

Still to be determined is how players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, who defected to Saudi-funded LIV Golf for nine-figure bonuses, can rejoin the PGA Tour after this year.
Also unclear was what form the LIV Golf League would take in 2024. Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a memo to players that a thorough evaluation would determine how to integrate team golf into the game.

The agreement combines the Public Investment Fund’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights — including LIV Golf — with those of the PGA and European tours. The new entity has not been named.

“They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

“We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, will join the board of the PGA Tour, which continues to operates its tournaments. Al-Rumayyan will be chairman of the new commercial group, with Monahan as the CEO and the PGA Tour having a majority stake in the new venture.

The PIF will invest in the commercial venture.

Monahan said the decision came together over the last seven weeks.
___

A small U.S. carrier was lost in the Pacific, “underground leaders” in Europe were told to report to their leaders “with speed,” and Nazi propagandists announced a D-Day playlist for the invading troops.

The joke would be on them, history tells.

“All the GIs were running like crazy so they wouldn’t get killed. That was a sad scene,” Richard Egan, an Army reconnaissance driver with the 296th Engineers, said in 2019 of that morning on Omaha Beach.

“These memories keep going on and on forever,” he told this reporter. He did urge all never to forget this day.

“The eyes of the world are upon you,” Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Order of the Day” states, according to the National Archives, adding: “The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!”

Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy today 79 years ago with 50,000 German soldiers waiting for them.

“Operation Overlord,” as the D-Day assault was code-named, turned the tide of the war in Europe.

The assault on five beaches — Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword, and Juno — commenced at dawn local time. Paratroopers had already dropped inland hours earlier.

The cost was high: 4,414 Allied troops were killed; more than 5,000 were wounded.

“It was tough,” 99-year-old D-Day veteran Robert Gibson said on Omaha Beach yesterday, the Associated Press reported. “We had almost run over bodies to get in the beach. Never forget we were only 18, 19 years old. … I’m glad I made it.”

Jake Larson, on a TikTok feed, said yesterday from the same beach: “How come I’m alive today? … Don’t remember me! Rember all those guys that sacrificed their lives for freedom that we all enjoy today.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to end a battlefield stalemate and punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday, in what may herald the start of a long-anticipated counteroffensive after 15 months of war.

Russian officials seemed to be trying to portray the Ukrainian attacks as the start of the counteroffensive, saying that Moscow’s forces foiled at least one assault. While not explicitly confirming such a large-scale effort, Kyiv authorities said their forces were indeed increasing offensive operations and making gains, but suggested some of the Russian announcements were misinformation.

Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russia-backed administration of Ukraine’s partly occupied Zaporizhzhia province, said fighting resumed on its border with the eastern Donetsk province on Monday after Russian defenses beat back a Ukrainian advance the previous day.

“The enemy threw an even bigger force into the attack than yesterday (Sunday),” and the new attempt to break through the front line was “more large-scale and organized,” Rogov said, adding: “A battle is underway.”

Rogov interpreted the Ukrainian military movements as part of an effort to reach the Sea of Azov coast and sever the land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Analysts have long viewed that strategy as likely because it would cut the Russian forces in two and severely strain supplies to Crimea, which has served as a key Russian military hub in the war that started Feb. 24, 2022.

Rogov’s comments came after Moscow also said its forces thwarted large Ukrainian attacks in Donetsk province, near its border with the Zaporizhzhia province.

Reacting to Russia’s declarations that it repelled Ukrainian offensives, a U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters: “We have no reason to believe any Russian action has had any spoiling effect on pending or ongoing Ukraine operations.”

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said the Ukrainian military has scored gains.

“Despite fierce resistance and attempts of the enemy to hold the occupied lines and positions, our units moved forward in several directions during the fighting,” she said.

Malyar drew no distinctions between phases of the war, insisting that Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion “contains everything, including counter-offensive actions.” She acknowledged that Kyiv’s forces “in some areas … are shifting to offensive operations.”

Sir Richard Barrons, a general who is a former commander of the U.K. Joint Forces Command, said that Ukraine was “clearly in the preliminary phase” of its counteroffensive and would probe Russian defenses to find weak spots, then focus its resources to ram through them and hold ground. Barrons, now co-chair of the U.K.-based strategic consulting firm Universal Defence & Security Solutions, told The Associated Press the Ukrainians are “trying to increase the chances of surprise about when you do it, where you do it and how you do it.”

Commenting on the Russian military’s assertion that it thwarted a big Ukrainian attack, he said it could be part of Ukrainian efforts to probe Russian defenses and test its units in combat. He added that Moscow could have exaggerated the scale of the fighting and claimed victory to assuage its domestic Russian audience.

Barrons predicted that the Ukrainian counteroffensive would involve a series of moves and take weeks.

“It’s a process, not an event,” he said.

Ukraine often waits until the completion of its military operations to confirm its actions.

A Ukrainian Defense Ministry video showed soldiers putting a finger to their lips in a sign to keep quiet. “Plans love silence,” it said on the screen. “There will be no announcement of the start.”

Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk are two of the four provinces that President Vladimir Putin claimed as Russian territory last fall and which Moscow partially controls.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had pushed back a “large-scale” assault Sunday at five places in Donetsk province. The announcement couldn’t be independently verified, and while Ukrainian officials reported fighting in that area, they didn’t confirm a retreat.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in an unusual overnight video that 250 Ukrainian personnel were killed in the fighting in Donetsk province, and 16 Ukrainian tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armored combat vehicles were destroyed.

In response, the Center for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces were “stepping up their information and psychological operations.”

“To demoralize Ukrainians and mislead the community (including their own population), Russian propagandists will spread false information about the counteroffensive, its directions and the losses of the Ukrainian army. Even if there is no counteroffensive,” a statement on Telegram read.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russians overreacted to its latest push.

“We see how hysterically Russia perceives every step we take there, every position we take,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

Ukrainian officials have said for months that a spring campaign with advanced weapons supplied by Western allies to reclaim territory seized by Russia during the war was planned, but they have kept quiet about when, how and where it might start, or whether it had already been launched.

Recent military activity, including drone attacks on Moscow, cross-border raids into Russia and sabotage and drone attacks on infrastructure behind Russian lines, has unnerved Russians. Analysts say those actions may represent the start of the counteroffensive.

In other disruption, TV and radio broadcasts in several regions of Russia were hacked Monday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. A fake broadcast featured a voice impersonating Putin and stated that Ukrainian forces had invaded the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions of Russia.

Those Russian regions have occasionally been targeted in cross-border strikes during the war.

The impersonator announced that martial law was declared in those regions, where people were urged to evacuate, and all Russians eligible for military duty were being mobilized.

The Russian military said Monday it repelled the latest Ukrainian incursion into the Belgorod region, on the border in Ukraine. Russians who purport to be fighting alongside Ukrainian forces said they attacked on Sunday. They were driven back by airstrikes and artillery fire, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

At least two factors have been at play in the counteroffensive’s timing: better ground conditions for the movement of troops and equipment after the winter, and the deployment of more advanced Western weapons and training of Ukrainian troops to use them.

Ukraine’s Western allies have sent the country more than 65 billion euros ($70 billion) in military aid to help its defense. Driving out the Kremlin’s forces is a daunting challenge for Kyiv’s planners. Russia has built extensive defensive lines, including trenches, minefields and anti-tank obstacles.

After months of a battlefield stalemate, with neither side making significant gains and suffering losses of personnel and weapons, Ukraine could launch simultaneous pushes in different areas of the front line that stretches for around 1,100 kilometers (nearly 700 miles), analysts say.

In the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, the site of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, Malyar, the deputy defense minister, said Ukrainian forces are advancing and “occupy dominating heights.” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, “Bakhmut direction — well done, warriors!”

The leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin — a frequent critic of his country’s military brass whose statements are sometimes unreliable — said that Russian forces lost control of part of the village of Berkhovka outside Bakhmut. Prizoghin said last month that his forces had seized all of the city of Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces remaining in control of many surrounding areas.

___

Danica Kirka contributed to this story from London.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The millennial of the UNESCO World Heritage site and key Normandy tourism magnet is being celebrated until November with exhibits, dance shows and concerts. And now a presidential visit.

French President Emmanuel Macron went there Monday and delivered a speech in which he called on the French to “push themselves further” in global and existential challenges like that of climate change. He drew a comparison with the abbey that has stood strong over time and embodies the “French spirit” of “resilience” and “resistance.” It was veiled rhetoric, coming one day before another protest against his contested pension reform law that has been passed.

Ever since former President François Mitterrand in 1983, France’s leaders have flocked to this symbolically important site to send out political messages. In 2007, former President Nicolas Sarkozy even launched his presidential campaign there.

Macron’s presidential advisers had said of this visit that the “walls and the eternity of the Mount” seem to carry “the notions of resistance and resilience” of the D-Day landings that are being commemorated this week in the same region.

Macron also visited a new exhibit tracing the Romanesque abbey’s history via 30 objects and pieces, including a restored statue of Saint Michael. Legend has it that the archangel Michael appeared in 708, duly instructing the bishop of nearby Avranches to build him a church on the rocky outcrop.

The exhibit, two years in the making, opened last month. It covers the complex process of building what is considered an architectural jewel on a rocky island linked to the mainland only by a narrow causeway at high tide.

Four crypts were constructed on the granite tip along with a church on top. The exhibit explains how the original structure, built in 966, became too small for pilgrims, spurring on the builders to create the 11th-century abbey that stands to this day.

France has spent more than 32 million euros ($34 million) over 15 years to restore the building, and the work is nearing completion. Authorities have also tried in recent years to protect the monument’s surrounding environment from the impact of mass tourism.

One of the most popular French destinations outside Paris, Mont-Saint-Michel island attracted 2.8 million visitors last year, including 1.3 million for the abbey. It was not closed to visitors for the presidential visit, but local authorities were taking measures to make it go as smoothly as possible.

LONDON (AP) — A broken thumb, a back injury, dabbling with drugs and dating girls.

No event in the life of a young Prince Harry was too trivial or private for the journalists of Mirror Group Newspapers to resist, and the demand for such scoops led to the use of illegal means to dig up dirt, his lawyer said Monday in the opening of his phone hacking lawsuit.

“Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds and there was no protection from these unlawful information-gathering methods,” attorney David Sherborne said.

But a defense lawyer said it would have been foolish to spy on a figure like Harry with such tight security, and he rejected allegations that Mirror Group reporters ever eavesdropped on his phone’s voice messages.

“There is simply no evidence capable of supporting the finding that the Duke of Sussex was hacked, let alone on a habitual basis,” attorney Anthony Green said. “Zilch, zero, nil, nada, niente, nothing.”

Harry’s highly anticipated showdown with the publisher of the Daily Mirror in his battles with the British press got off to an anticlimactic start when the star failed to show up — to the chagrin of the judge and defense lawyer.

Harry was unavailable to testify that afternoon because he’d taken a flight Sunday from Los Angeles after the birthday of his 2-year-old daughter, Lilibet, Sherborne said.

“I’m a little surprised,” said Justice Timothy Fancourt, noting he had directed Harry to be prepared to testify.

Green said he was “deeply troubled” by Harry’s absence.

The case against Mirror Group is the first of the prince’s several lawsuits against the media to go to trial, and one of three alleging tabloid publishers unlawfully snooped on him in their cutthroat competition for scoops on the royal family.

When he enters the witness box, Harry, 38, will be the first member of the British royal family in more than a century to testify in court. He is expected to describe his anguish and anger over being hounded by the media throughout his life, and its impact on those around him.

Harry’s fury at the U.K. press — and sometimes at his own royal relatives for what he sees as their collusion with the media — runs through his memoir, “Spare,” and interviews conducted by Oprah Winfrey and others.

He has blamed paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and said harassment and intrusion by the U.K. press, including allegedly racist articles, led him and his wife, Meghan, to flee to the U.S. in 2020 and leave royal life behind.

While Harry’s memoir and other recent media ventures have been an effort to reclaim his life’s narrative, which had largely been shaped by the media, he will have no such control when he faces cross-examination in a courtroom full of reporters taking down every word.

Green said he plans to question the Duke for a day and a half.

Stories about Harry were big sellers for the newspapers, and some 2,500 articles had covered all facets of his life during the time period of the case — 1996 to 2011 — from injuries at school to experimenting with marijuana and cocaine to the ups and downs with girlfriends, Sherborne said.

Harry said in court documents that he suffered “huge bouts of depression and paranoia” over concerns friends and associates were betraying him by leaking information to the newspapers. Relationships fell apart as the women in his life – and even their family members – were “dragged into the chaos.”

He says he later realized the source wasn’t disloyal friends but aggressive journalists and the private investigators they hired to eavesdrop on voicemails and track him to locations as remote as Argentina and an island off Mozambique.

Sherborne suggested that a 2003 article about row with older brother, Prince William, heir to the throne, about confronting their mother’s former butler about spilling secrets, had planted the seeds of discord between the two.

“Brothers can sometimes disagree,” Sherborne said. “But once it is made public in this way and their inside feelings revealed in the way that they are, trust begins to be eroded.”

Mirror Group said it used documents, public statements and sources to legally report on the prince — with one exception.

The publisher admitted and apologized for hiring a private eye to dig up dirt on one of Harry’s nights out at a bar, but the resulting 2004 article headlined “Sex on the beach with Harry” is not among the 33 in the trial.

Sherborne, however, said phone hacking and unlawful information-gathering were carried out on such a widespread scale by Mirror Group that it was implausible it was only used once against Harry.

In the absence of concrete evidence, Sherborne said the judge to make inferences of skullduggery based on the type of information being reported, the murkiness of the sourcing, and whether the writer of an article was known to have relied on unlawful means in the past.

But Green said there was little to no evidence to support Harry’s case.

Hacking that involved guessing or using default security codes to listen to celebrities’ cellphone voice messages was widespread at British tabloids in the early years of this century. It became an existential crisis for the industry after the revelation in 2011 that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a slain 13-year-old girl.

Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper and several of his executives faced criminal trials.

Mirror Group has paid more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims, and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015.

Judges are deciding whether Harry’s two other phone hacking cases will proceed to trial.

Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, have argued the cases should be thrown out, because Harry failed to file the lawsuits within a six-year deadline.

Harry’s lawyer has argued that he should be granted an exception to the time limit, because the publishers lied and deceived to hide the illegal actions.

BANGKOK (AP) — The United States military released video Monday of what it called an “unsafe” Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait on the weekend, in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the U.S. vessel to slow to avoid a collision.

The incident occurred Saturday as the American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a so-called “freedom of navigation” transit of the strait between Taiwan and mainland China.

China claims the democratic self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its own territory, and maintains the strait is part of its exclusive economic zone, while the U.S. and its allies regularly sail through and fly over the passage to emphasize their contention that the waters are international.

During the Saturday transit, the Chinese guided-missile destroyer overtook the Chung-Hoon on its port side, then veered across its bow at a distance of some 150 yards (137 meters), according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The American destroyer held its course, but reduced speed to 10 knots “to avoid a collision,” the military said.

The video released Monday shows the Chinese ship cutting across the course of the American one, then straightening out to start sailing in a parallel direction.

The Indo-Pacific Command said the actions violated maritime rules of safe passage in international water.

The Chinese ship did not attempt a similar maneuver on the Canadian frigate, which was sailing behind the American destroyer.

“Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the combined U.S.-Canadian commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the Indo-Pacific Command said. “The U.S. military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin defended the maneuver, saying it was undertaken “in accordance with the law.”

“China’s military actions are completely justified, lawful, safe and professional,” he told reporters in Beijing. “It is the U.S. that should deeply reflect upon itself and correct the wrongdoings.”

The U.S. recently accused China of also performing an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” in the air, saying a Chinese J-16 fighter jet late last month flew directly in front of the nose of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.

The close-calls have raised concerns of a possible accident that could lead to an escalation between the two countries’ militaries at a time when tensions in the region are already high.

The incident in the Taiwan Strait came on a day when both U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu were in Singapore for an annual defense conference.

Li on Sunday suggested that the U.S. and its allies have created the danger with their patrols, and was intent on provoking China.

“The best way is for the countries, especially the naval vessels and fighter jets of countries, not to do closing actions around other countries’ territories,” he said through an interpreter. “What’s the point of going there? In China we always say, ‘Mind your own business.’”

Austin had invited Li to talk on the sidelines of the conference; Li refused.

BALASORE, India (AP) — The derailment in eastern India that killed 275 people and injured hundreds was caused by an error in the electronic signaling system that led a train to wrongly change tracks and crash into a freight train, officials said Sunday.

Authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two passenger trains that derailed Friday night in Balasore district in Odisha state in one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters in decades.

An Odisha government statement revised the death toll to 275 after a top state officer put the number at over 300 on Sunday morning. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Jaya Verma Sinha, a senior railway official, said the preliminary investigations revealed that a signal was given to the high-speed Coromandel Express to run on the main track line, but the signal later changed, and the train instead entered an adjacent loop line where it rammed into a freight loaded with iron ore.

The collision flipped Coromandel Express’s coaches onto another track, causing the incoming Yesvantpur-Howrah Express from the opposite side also to derail, she said.

The passenger trains, carrying 2,296 people, were not overspeeding, she said. Trains that carry goods are often parked on an adjacent loop line so the main line is clear for a passing train.

Verma said the root cause of the crash was related to an error in the electronic signaling system. She said a detailed investigation will reveal whether the error was human or technical.

The electronic interlocking system is a safety mechanism designed to prevent conflicting movements between trains. It also monitors the status of signals that tell drivers how close they are to a next train, how fast they can go and the presence of stationary trains on the track.

“The system is 99.9% error free. But 0.1% chances are always there for an error,” Verma said. To a question whether the crash could be a case of sabotage, she said “nothing is ruled out.”

On Sunday, a few shattered carriages, mangled and overturned, were the only remnants of the tragedy. Railway workers toiled under the sun’s glare to lay down blocks of cement to fix the broken tracks. A crew with excavators was removing mud and the debris to clear the crash site.

At one of the hospitals nearly 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the site, survivors spoke of the horror of the moment of the crash.

Pantry worker Inder Mahato could not remember the exact sequence of events, but said he heard a loud bang when the Coromandel Express crashed into the freight. The impact caused Mahato, who was in the bathroom, to briefly lose consciousness.

Moments later when he opened his eyes, he saw through the door that was forced open people writhing in pain, many of them already dead. Others were frantically trying to get out from the twisted wreckage of his rail car.

For hours, Mahato, 37, remained stuck in the train’s bathroom, before rescuers scaled up the wreckage and pulled him out.

“God saved me,” he said, lying on the hospital bed while recuperating from a hairline fracture in his sternum. “I am very lucky I am alive.”

Mahato’s friends weren’t so lucky. Four of them died in the crash, he said.

Meanwhile, many desperate relatives were struggling to identify the bodies of their loved ones because of the gruesomeness of the injuries. Few others were searching hospitals to check whether their relatives were alive.

In the same hospital where Mahato was recovering from his injuries, Bulti Khatun roamed outside the premises in a dazed state, holding an identity card of her husband who was onboard the Coromandel Express and traveling to southern Chennai city.

Khatun said she visited the morgue and other hospitals to look for him, but was unable to find him.

“I am so helpless,” she said, sobbing.

Fifteen bodies were recovered on Saturday evening and efforts continued overnight with heavy cranes being used to remove an engine that settled on top of a rail car. No bodies were found in the engine and the work was completed on Sunday morning, said Sudhanshu Sarangi, director-general of fire and emergency services in Odisha.

The crash occurred at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focusing on the modernization of the British colonial-era railroad network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country with 1.42 billion people. Despite government efforts to improve safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.

Modi visited the crash site on Saturday and talked to rescue officials. He also visited a hospital to inquire about the injured, and spoke to some of them.

Modi told reporters he felt the pain of the crash victims. He said the government would do its utmost to help them and strictly punish anyone found responsible.

In 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in one of the worst rail accidents in India. In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.

Most such accidents in India are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.

About 22 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.

___

Saaliq and Sharma reported from New Delhi.

___

This story corrects the death toll reported in a government statement.

In his first international public address since becoming defense minister in March, Gen. Li Shangfu told the Shangri-La Dialogue that China doesn’t have any problems with “innocent passage” but that “we must prevent attempts that try to use those freedom of navigation (patrols), that innocent passage, to exercise hegemony of navigation.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the same forum Saturday that Washington would not “flinch in the face of bullying or coercion” from China and would continue regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to emphasize they are international waters, countering Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims.

That same day a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate were intercepted by a Chinese warship in the strait dividing the self-governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, and mainland China. The Chinese vessel overtook the American ship and then veered across its bow at a distance of 150 yards (about 140 meters) in an “unsafe manner,” according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Additionally, the U.S. has said a Chinese J-16 fighter jet late last month “performed an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while intercepting a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, flying directly in front of the plane’s nose.

Those and previous incidents have raised concerns of a possible accident occurring that could lead to an escalation between the two nations at a time when tensions are already high.

Li suggested the U.S. and its allies had created the danger, and should instead should focus on taking “good care of your own territorial airspace and waters.”

“The best way is for the countries, especially the naval vessels and fighter jets of countries, not to do closing actions around other countries’ territories,” he said through an interpreter. “What’s the point of going there? In China we always say, ‘Mind your own business.'”

In a wide-ranging speech, Li reiterated many of Beijing’s well-known positions, including its claim on Taiwan, calling it “the core of our core interests.”

He accused the U.S. and others of “meddling in China’s internal affairs” by providing Taiwan with defense support and training, and conducting high-level diplomatic visits.

“China stays committed to the path of peaceful development, but we will never hesitate to defend our legitimate rights and interests, let alone sacrifice the nation’s core interests,” he said.

“As the lyrics of a well-known Chinese song go: ‘When friends visit us, we welcome them with fine wine. When jackals or wolves come, we will face them with shotguns.'”

NATO wants to bring Sweden into the fold by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and other allied leaders meet in Lithuania on July 11-12, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the move. All 31 member countries must ratify a candidate’s accession protocol for it to join the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient on terror organizations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt. Hungary has also delayed its approval, but the reasons why haven’t been made publicly clear.

“President Erdogan and I agreed today that the permanent joint mechanism should meet again in the week starting on June 12. Membership will make Sweden safer, but also NATO and Turkey stronger,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Istanbul.

The permanent joint mechanism was set up to address Turkey’s concerns about Sweden and Finland, the latter of which became the 31st member of NATO in April.

“Sweden has fulfilled its obligations,” for membership, Stoltenberg said. He noted that the country has amended its constitution, strengthened its anti-terror laws, and lifted an arms embargo on Turkey since it applied to join NATO just over a year ago.

Fearing they might be targeted by Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella.

As Stoltenberg held talks in Istanbul, hundreds of people, including dozens of pro-Kurdish protesters, gathered in Stockholm to demonstrate against Sweden’s planned NATO membership. Up to 500 people took part in the action titled “No to NATO — no Erdogan Laws in Sweden.”

They rallied under the banner of the “Alliance Against NATO,” an umbrella for a mix of Kurdish organizations, leftist groups, anarchists, youth and climate activists and people opposed to Sweden’s new anti-terror laws, which took effect on June 1, as well as those calling for free media.

In January, a protest in Stockholm involving the burning of a copy of the Quran brought Sweden’s membership talks at NATO to a grinding halt, after Erdogan suspended the meetings. The incident led to anti-Sweden demonstrations around the Muslim world.

“We know that Erdogan is watching this and … he has been very angry at these things in the past, so most likely we will have the same response from him and delay the Swedish NATO accession even further,” Alliance Against NATO spokesperson Tomas Pettersson said.

Stoltenberg appeared to suggest that the protests might have been raised during his talks.

“I understand it is hard to see demonstrations against Turkey and against NATO in Sweden,” Stoltenberg said. “But let me be clear, freedom of assembly and expression are core values in our democratic societies. These rights must be protected and upheld.”

He also said that it’s important to “remember why these demonstrations are taking place. The organizers want to stop Sweden from joining NATO. They want to block Sweden’s counterterrorism cooperation with Turkey, and they want to make NATO weaker. We should not allow them to succeed.”

A first spill was reported on the westbound side of the Storebaelt bridge at 6.35 a.m., police spokesman Kenneth Taanquist said. The bridge connects the island where the capital, Copenhagen, is located to the rest of Denmark.

A similar incident happened on the eastbound side a short time later, Tanquist added.

”It looks weird,” he said. “We are working on two hypotheses: it is either an accident or it is something that has been done deliberately.”

Police said the roads had become slippery and urged drivers to drive slowly. According to the Danish Road Directorate, lines of vehicles were reported on either side of the roughly 11 mile bridge and tunnel link between the islands of Funen, where Odense — Denmark’s third largest city — is located, and Zealand, where Copenhagen sits.

A third incident of potatoes on the road was reported near the town of Kolding on the Jutland peninsula. Kolding is near the Storebaelt bridge.

Danish public broadcaster DR noted that the potato spills occurred on the same day as the Danish parliament passed a law to tax diesel trucks transporting heavy loads.

The new measure has drawn protests from truck drivers. In recent weeks, they peacefully blocked highways and main roads throughout the country, claiming the tax will make their livelihoods unsustainable. A majority in the Danish parliament argue it is vital as the continued use of gas and diesel-fueled trucks is environmentally unsustainable.

As of 2025, the drivers of gas and diesel-fueled vehicles over 3.5 tons will be taxed $0.19 per kilometer driven.

Torben Dyhl Hjorth, a spokesman for the protesting truckers, said on Facebook that they “strongly distance themselves from today’s ‘stunts’.” He added that they plan protest at a later stage which ”can be felt but without risk to people’s lives and well-being.”

The move underlines the intensifying animosity between Russia and countries that have imposed sanctions connected to the fighting in Ukraine or that have criticized Moscow.

The June 14-17 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has for decades been Russia’s vehicle for touting its development and seeking investors. Putin’s appearances at the forum have been highly visible and he often used the occasion to hold roundtable discussions with international news executives.

“Yes, indeed. It was decided not to accredit media outlets from unfriendly countries to the SPIEF this time,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as telling state news agency Tass.

Russia formally designates scores of countries including the United States, Canada, European Union members and Australia as “unfriendly” in connection with sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s attempt to put its first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise.

After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after it learns what went wrong. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled.

South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents in some areas to take shelter after the launch.

The South Korean military said it was salvaging an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket in waters 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo. Later, the Defense Ministry released photos of a white, metal cylinder it described as a suspected rocket part.

A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from conducting any launch based on ballistic technology. Observers say North Korea’s previous satellite launches helped improve its long-range missile technology. North Korean long-range missile tests in recent years demonstrated a potential to reach all of the continental U.S., but outside experts say the North still has some work to do to develop functioning nuclear missiles.

The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket was launched at 6:37 a.m. at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite. The rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

South Korea’s military said the rocket had “an abnormal flight” before it fell in the water. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no object was believed to have reached space.

North Korean media said the country’s space agency will investigate what it calls “the serious defects revealed” by the launch and conduct a second launch as soon as possible.

“It is impressive when the North Korean regime actually admits failure, but it would be difficult to hide the fact of a satellite launch failure internationally, and the regime will likely offer a different narrative domestically,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “This outcome also suggests that Pyongyang may stage another provocation soon, in part to make up for today’s setback.”

Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the U.S. National Security Council, said in a statement that Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions and risked destabilizing security in the region and beyond.

The U.N. imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its previous satellite and ballistic missile launches but has not responded to recent tests because China and Russia, permanent Security Council members now locked in confrontations with the U.S., have blocked attempts to toughen the sanctions.

Seoul’s military said it boosted military readiness in coordination with the United States, and Japan said it was prepared to respond to any emergency. The U.S. said it will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and the defense of South Korea and Japan.

After the launch was detected, the South Korean government sent cellphone text messages urging residents of a front-line island off the west coast to move to safer places. Officials in Seoul, the capital, issued similar phone messages to city residents, but the country’s Interior and Safety Ministry later said the Seoul alerts were sent in error. Seoul’s mayor apologized for causing public confusion.

Japan activated a missile warning system for Okinawa prefecture in southwestern Japan, in the rocket’s suspected path. “Please evacuate into buildings or underground,” the Japanese alert said.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan plans to keep missile defense systems deployed in its southern islands and in southwestern waters until June 11, the end of North Korea’s announced launch window.

KCNA didn’t provide details of the rocket or the satellite beyond their names. Experts earlier said North Korea would likely use a liquid-fueled rocket as most of its previously tested long-range rockets and missiles have done.

Though it plans a fuller investigation, the North’s National Aerospace Development Administration attributed the failure to “the low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to (the) carrier rocket” and “the unstable character of the fuel,” according to KCNA.

On Tuesday, Ri Pyong Chol, a top North Korean official, said the North needs a space-based reconnaissance system to counter escalating security threats from South Korea and the United States.

However, the spy satellite shown earlier in the country’s state-run media didn’t appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery. Some outside experts said it may be able to detect troop movements and large targets such as warships and warplanes.

Recent commercial satellite imagery of the North’s Sohae launch center showed active construction indicating North Korea plans to launch more than one satellite. In his Tuesday statement, Ri also said North Korea would test “various reconnaissance means” to monitor moves by the United States and its allies in real time.

With three to five spy satellites, North Korea could build a space-based surveillance system that allows it to monitor the Korean Peninsula in near real-time, according to Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

The satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to introduce. Other weapons on his wish list include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile. In his visit to the space agency in mid-May, Kim emphasized the strategic significance of a spy satellite in North Korea’s standoff with the United States and South Korea.

Easley, the professor, said Kim likely increased pressure on his scientists and engineers to launch the spy satellite after rival South Korea successfully launched its first commercial-grade satellite aboard its domestically built Nuri rocket earlier this month.

South Korea is expected to launch its first spy satellite later this year, and analysts say Kim likely wants his country to launch its spy satellite before the South to reinforce his military credentials at home.

After repeated failures, North Korea successfully put its first satellite into orbit in 2012 and a second one in 2016. The government said both are Earth observation satellites launched under its peaceful space development program, but many foreign experts believe both were developed to spy on rivals.

Observers say there has been no evidence that the satellites have ever transmitted imagery back to North Korea.

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Wednesday that it has told Russia to close four out of its five consulates general in Germany in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow set a limit for the number of staff at the German Embassy and related bodies in Russia.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin that the measure was intended to create a “parity of personnel and structures” between the two countries.

Russia has consulates in Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich, with Moscow deciding which four they will close and which one they will keep open.

The Russian government recently said that an upper limit of 350 German government officials, including those working in cultural bodies and schools, can remain in Russia. Burger said that this means Germany will have to shut its consulates in Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Kaliningrad by November. Only the embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg will remain open, he said.

He said that Russia will be allowed to continue operating the embassy in Berlin and one further consulate after the end of the year.

The move reflects a new low in relations between Moscow and Berlin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Burger said that the move was regrettable, but added that the war meant there was “simply no basis” for numerous bilateral activities between the two countries anymore.

“But it is the behavior of the Russian side that has brought us into this situation,” he said.

Burger said Germany’s decision to concentrate its remaining staff in the embassy and a key consulate will “preserve the diplomatic presence in Russia.”

DeSantis hosted 9/11 Families over the Memorial Day weekend just as Trump National in Washington, D.C., was the site of the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament.

“The juxtaposition is stark,” said Brett Eagleson, who was 15 years old when his dad, Bruce, died while working at the Twin Towers on 9/11. “I don’t know if DeSantis will beat Trump, but the fact is he wants to talk to us about the Saudis.”

Eagleson said he attended a barbecue in Florida hosted by DeSantis who told 9/11 loved ones he understands their “frustration” over the full story of the terror attacks being suppressed by the U.S. government.

The Herald has reached out to the Trump campaign seeking comment, with one regional adviser saying they were more focused on the New Hampshire primary.

Trump is destroying DeSantis in Republican presidential primary polls — 53.2% to 22.4%, according to a Real Clear Politics national average. Nikki Haley is far back at 4.4% among likely GOP voters; Vivek Ramaswamy, the other declared rival, sits at 2.6%.

But Eagleson said many Republicans still want justice when it comes to the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 heroes who took on the hijackers crashing into a field in Pennsylvania likely saving lives in the Capitol.

“People are finally paying attention and we’re seeing Republicans willing to walk away from Trump on the Saudi 9/11 issue,” Eagleson added.

Eagleson is part of the 9/11Justice group along with others who are suing Saudi Arabia in a Manhattan federal court for alleged ties to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks — a murderous strike launched from Logan Airport in Boston.

American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 — both out of Boston — slammed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan 18 minutes apart beginning at 8:45 a.m. on 9/11.

Of all the 19 hijackers, 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia. They were all affiliated with al-Qaeda and hijacked four jets, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Eagleson has said the legal battle is not “moving as fast as we all want it to,” but he added it will “succeed someday.”

Terry Strada with 9/11 Families United, whose husband Tom died in the World Trade Center’s North Tower, pointed out Trump’s golf club is just 30 miles from the Pentagon where 184 lives were lost on 9/11.

She also called out the American golfers participating in the tournament.

“What do they tell their children on September 11th? That we worked for the regime that killed these people? It’s just so awful,” Strada said in an email.

No public trial over the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has ever been held — though many fought for one — and the “last best hope” is playing out in federal court in Manhattan now.

The 9/11 families want to expose how the hijackers reportedly received financial help. They are suing Saudi Arabia to force some type of admission.

Eagleson said DeSantis “made no promises — he can’t yet. But he seemed genuine.”

The entire 9/11 group — 1,600 strong — includes many families from New England.

President Biden has signed an executive order to declassify 9/11 evidence.

It now appears DeSantis is seizing on a potential wedge issue to use as a debate zinger when he faces Trump, if and when they do debate. So far, only the harshly criticized CNN town hall featuring only Trump has been held.

As for LIV Golf, Harold Varner III won Sunday by one shot over Branden Grace of South Africa.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A rare drone attack jolted Moscow early Tuesday, causing only light damage but forcing evacuations as residential buildings were struck in the Russian capital for the first time in the war against Ukraine. The Kremlin, meanwhile, pursued its relentless bombardment of Kyiv with a third assault on the city in 24 hours.

The Russian Defense Ministry said five drones were shot down in Moscow and the systems of three others were jammed, causing them to veer off course. President Vladimir Putin called it a “terrorist” act by Kyiv.

The attack, while causing only what Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said was “insignificant damage” to several buildings, brought the war home to civilians in Russia’s capital. Two people received treatment for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalization, Sobyanin said, adding that residents of two high-rise buildings damaged in the attack were evacuated.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the wider Moscow region, said some of the drones were “shot down on the approach to Moscow.”

Ukraine made no direct comment on the attack, which would be one of its deepest and most daring strikes into Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 15 months ago.

Putin said Moscow’s air defense “worked in a satisfactory way,” but added it was “clear what we need to do to plug the gaps” in the system.

“The Kyiv regime … attempts to intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and strikes at civilian buildings,” he said during a public event. “It is, of course, a clear indication of terrorist activity.”

Putin charged that Ukraine launched Tuesday’s attack in response to Russia striking Ukraine’s military intelligence headquarters in Kyiv over the weekend. But Andrii Cherniak, a Ukrainian intelligence representative, said the Kremlin’s forces failed to hit the building because its missiles were shot down.

Asked by The Associated Press whether there was high-level concern that the invasion of Ukraine was endangering Russian civilians, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said only that attacks on Russia reinforced the need to prosecute what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation.”

Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Endowment said the Kremlin’s policy is to play down the attacks, reflecting Putin’s belief voiced more than once that the Russian people were patient enough to “understand everything and endure everything.”

Moscow residents reported hearing explosions before dawn. At one site of a crashed drone in Moscow southwest, police fenced off an area near a residential building and put the drone debris in a cardboard box before carrying it away.

At another site, apartment windows were shattered and there were scorch marks on the building’s front.

It was the second reported strike on Moscow since May 3, when Russian authorities said two drones targeted the Kremlin in what they portrayed as an attempt on Putin’s life. Ukraine denied it was behind that attack.

Last week, the Russian border region of Belgorod was the target of one of the most serious cross-border raids since the war began, with two far-right pro-Ukrainian paramilitary groups claiming responsibility. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said a man was killed and two others were seriously wounded Tuesday by the Ukrainian shelling of a building hosting temporarily displaced residents of the region.

Officials in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar near annexed Crimea said two drones struck there on Friday, damaging residential buildings.

Other drones have reportedly flown deep into Russia multiple times. In December, Moscow claimed it had shot down drones that targeted military air bases in the Saratov and Ryazan regions in western Russia.

Ukrainian military analysts, though unable to confirm Kyiv had launched the drones against Moscow, said the attack may have involved UJ-22 drones, which are produced in Ukraine and have a maximum range of about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

Analyst Oleh Zhdanov said some UJ-22s are capable of reaching “Moscow and beyond,” although he noted they can fly only half as far and carry half the payload of the Iranian-made Shahed drones used in the war by Russia.

Even so, Zhdanov told AP that “the myth has been dispelled” of the Russian capital’s invulnerability.

Since February, when a UJ-22 crashed 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Moscow, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly approached the Russian capital.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday the U.S. was still gathering information about the drone strike but reiterated that “as a general matter” the U.S. administration does not support Ukraine using American weaponry in Russian territory.

“We do not support the use of U.S.-made equipment being used for attacks inside of Russia,” she said. ”We’ve been very clear about that, and we’ll continue to do that. And we have been clear not just publicly but privately clear with the Ukrainians.”

She declined to comment on whether administration officials have spoken to Ukraine officials about the Moscow incident.

Jean-Pierre also noted that Russia on Tuesday launched its 17th round of airstrikes on the capital of Kyiv this month, noting that “Russia started this unprovoked aggression, this unprovoked war against Ukraine.”

A U.S. defense official said the drone strikes would not not affect the weapons aid packages the U.S. is providing Ukraine to include drone ammunition. The official said the U.S. has committed to supporting Ukraine in its effort to defend the country and Ukraine had committed to not using the systems inside Russia, so the aid would likely continue unchanged. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Ukrainian officials said Tuesday’s pre-dawn air raid on Kyiv killed at least one person, wounded 11 others and sent residents scrambling into shelters again.

At least 20 Shahed drones were destroyed by air defense forces in Kyiv in the latest attack. Overall, Ukraine shot down 29 of 31 drones, mostly in the Kyiv area, the air force said.

Before daylight, buzzing drones could be heard in the city, followed by loud explosions as they were taken down by air defense systems.

The heavy destruction in Kyiv contrasted with what was seen in Moscow. In the Ukrainian capital, burned-out cars, glass and debris littered the street outside a building where apartments were wrecked; in Moscow, only a few broken windows and scorched outer walls were evident, with repairs and repainting being done quickly to affected buildings.

A woman in Kyiv’s Holosiiv district was killed when she went onto her balcony “to look at drones being shot down,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post.

A high-rise in the same district caught fire after being hit by debris either from drones or interceptor missiles. The building’s upper two floors were destroyed, and people were feared buried in the rubble, the Kyiv Military Administration said. More than 20 people were evacuated.

Resident Valeriya Oreshko told AP that even though the immediate threat was over, the attacks had everyone on edge.

“You are happy that you are alive, but think about what will happen next,” the 39-year-old said.

A resident who gave only her first name, Oksana, said the whole building shook when it was hit, advising others: “Go to shelters, because you really do not know where (the drone) will fly.”

___

Associated Press writers Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine; David Rising in Bangkok; Tara Copp in Washington and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed. Kozlowska reported from Tallinn.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Certainly the reverse is true for the modern-day carpenters using medieval-era skills. Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tons of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame’s new roof has, for them, been like rewinding time. It’s given them a new appreciation of their predecessors’ handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope back in the 13th century.

“It’s a little mind-bending sometimes,” says Peter Henrikson, one of the carpenters. He says there are times when he’s whacking mallet on chisel that he finds himself thinking about medieval counterparts who were cutting “basically the same joint 900 years ago.”

“It’s fascinating,” he says. “We probably are in some ways thinking the same things.”

The use of hand tools to rebuild the roof that flames turned into ashes in 2019 is a deliberate, considered choice, especially since power tools would undoubtedly have done the work more quickly. The aim is to pay tribute to the astounding craftsmanship of the cathedral’s original builders and to ensure that the centuries-old art of hand-fashioning wood lives on.

“We want to restore this cathedral as it was built in the Middle Ages,” says Jean-Louis Georgelin, the retired French army general who is overseeing the reconstruction.

“It is a way to be faithful to the (handiwork) of all the people who built all the extraordinary monuments in France.”

Facing a tight deadline to reopen the cathedral by December 2024, carpenters and architects are also using computer design and other modern technologies to speed the reconstruction. Computers were used in the drawing of detailed plans for carpenters, to help ensure that their hand-chiseled beams fit together perfectly.

“Traditional carpenters had a lot of that in their head,” Henrikson notes. It’s “pretty amazing to think about how they did this with what they had, the tools and technology that they had at the time.”

The 61-year-old American is from Grand Marais, Minnesota. The bulk of the other artisans working on the timber frame are French.

The roof reconstruction hit an important milestone in May, when large parts of the new timber frame were assembled and erected at a workshop in the Loire Valley, in western France.

The dry run assured architects that the frame is fit for purpose. The next time it is put together will be atop the cathedral. Unlike in medieval times, it will be trucked into Paris and lifted by mechanical crane into position. Some 1,200 trees have been felled for the work.

“The objective we had was to restore to its original condition the wooden frame structure that disappeared during the fire of April 15, 2019,” says architect Remi Fromont, who did detailed drawings of the original frame in 2012.

The rebuilt frame “is the same wooden frame structure of the 13th century,” he says. “We have exactly the same material: oak. We have the same tools, with the same axes that were used, exactly the same tools. We have the same know-how. And soon, it will return to its same place.”

“It is,” he adds, “a real resurrection.”

___

John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian authorities said Tuesday that a beluga whale, which was first spotted in Arctic Norway four years ago with an apparent Russian-made harness and alleged to have come from a Russian military facility, has been seen off Sweden’s coast nearly 2,000 kilometers (around 1,250 miles) to the south.

“During the last few weeks, it has moved quickly and swam several hundred kilometers” before reaching waters off Sweden’s west coast, Olav Lekve of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries said.

He said it has been reported off Lysekill, which sits north of Goteborg, Sweden’s second-largest city. There was no immediate comment from Swedish authorities.

Last week, the white mammal was spotted in the inner Oslo fjord where the directorate urged people to avoid contact with the animal to ensure its safety and wellbeing. Whale-watchers in Norway have nicknamed it Hvaldimir, combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the Russian first name Vladimir.

The directorate pointed out that there was a risk of injury for Hvaldimir when more recreational boats than usual gathered in the fjord as people sought to catch a glimpse of a huge U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, which briefly visited the Norwegian capital.

“We have not received any reports from the inner Oslo fjord that give cause for concern,” Lekve said in an email to The Associated Press.

As to its origins, Norwegian authorities “don’t want to speculate on it either, Lekve said.

“He is a little lonely whale who hopes to find other white whales that he can hang out with,” said Sebastian Strand, a marine biologist with Onewhale, a nonprofit organization created solely for protecting the health and welfare of Hvaldimir.

“There are few beluga whales along the Norwegian coast and in Sweden. He probably wants to have a family but has swum a little wrong,” he told Swedish broadcaster TV4.

Carl Bildt, Sweden’s former foreign minister, jokingly suggested to TV4 that Hvaldimir should be granted political asylum in Sweden, saying “it is possible that it is a refugee protesting against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war” in Ukraine.

Lekve said that, when in Norwegian waters, the beluga whale was considered a protected wild marine mammal, and authorities in Norway have “rejected all inquiries and plans to capture the whale.”

In 2019, the enigmatic whale was found frolicking in a frigid harbor near Norway’s northernmost point, where it became a local attraction. The whale, which is no longer wearing the harness, is so comfortable with people that it swims to the dock and retrieves plastic rings thrown into the sea.

Hundreds of spectators gathered Monday to watch dozens of reckless racers chase a 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in southwest England.

The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese gets to keep it.

The cheese-rolling race has been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles west of London, since at least 1826, and the sport of cheese-rolling is believed to be much older.

The rough-and-tumble event often comes with safety concerns. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the 200-yard (180 meter) hill, and this year several had to be helped, limping, from the course.

Canadian contestant Delaney Irving, 19, won the women’s race despite being briefly knocked unconscious.

“I just remember hitting my head, and now I have the cheese,” said Irving, who comes from Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Matt Crolla, 28, from Manchester in northwestern England, won the first of several men’s races. Asked how he had prepared, he told reporters: “I don’t think you can train for it, can you? It’s just being an idiot.”

Russia launched the “most massive attack” on the city overnight Saturday with Iranian-made Shahed drones, said Serhii Popko, a senior Kyiv military official. The attack lasted more than five hours, with air defense reportedly shooting down more than 40 drones.

A 41-year-old man was killed and a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized when debris fell on a seven-story nonresidential building and started a fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Debris from a drone damaged the building of the Ukrainian Society of the Blind. On Sunday morning, organization member Volodymyr Golubenko came to pick up his things. He was helped by his son Mykola, who searched for his father’s belongings among the rubble and at the same time tried to describe to his father what his office looks like now.

“This wall on the right is destroyed and on left also,” said Mykola to his father.

Volodymyr Golubenko worked at this place for more than 40 years. He says it is a home for many blind people, because they come here to talk and support each other.

“If you don’t even have a job, it’s difficult to get a job now, because these events (war) have been going on since last year. At least people come here to chat,” said Volodymyr.

Like Golubenko, many people in his district heard the sound of Shahed drones for the first time. Among them was 36-year-old Yana, who has three boys. The family hid in a corridor all night.

“Something started to explode above us. The children ran here in fear,” said Yana.

Ukraine said that Saturday night was also record-breaking in terms of Shahed drone attacks across the country. Of the 59 drones launched, 58 were shot down by air defense systems, according to the military’s General Staff.

Russia has repeatedly launched waves of drone attacks against Ukraine, but most are shot down. Ukraine has also claimed this month to have downed some of Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted as providing a key competitive advantage.

In the northeastern Kharkiv province, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said a 61-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were killed in two separate shelling attacks.

Kyiv Day marks the anniversary of the city’s official founding. The day is usually celebrated with live concerts, street fairs, exhibitions and fireworks. Scaled-back festivities were planned for this year, the city’s 1,541st anniversary.

The timing of the drone attacks was likely not coincidental, Ukrainian officials said.

“The history of Ukraine is a long-standing irritant for the insecure Russians,” Ukraine’s chief presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram.

“Today, the enemy decided to ‘congratulate’ the people of Kyiv on Kyiv Day with the help of their deadly UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles),” Popko also wrote on the messaging app.

Local officials in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said that air defense systems destroyed several drones as they approached the Ilsky oil refinery. The Russia-backed governor of Luhansk province in Ukraine’s far east, Leonid Pasechnik, said two people were killed Sunday in Ukrainian shelling of the town of Almaznaya.

Russia’s southern Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, also came under attack from Ukrainian forces on Saturday, local officials said. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported Sunday that a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were wounded in the shelling.

Drone attacks against Russian border regions have been a regular occurrence since the start of the invasion in February 2022, with attacks increasing last month. Earlier this month, an oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones on two straight days.

Ukrainian air defenses, bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, have been adept at thwarting Russian air attacks — both drones and aircraft missiles.

Earlier in May, Ukraine prevented an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv, shooting down all missiles aimed at the capital. The bombardment, which additionally targeted locations across Ukraine, included six Russian Kinzhal aero-ballistic hypersonic missiles, repeatedly touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin as providing a key strategic competitive advantage and among the most advanced weapons in his country’s arsenal.