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CAIRO (AP) — Iran struck two communities near Israel’s main nuclear research center late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and at least seven people seriously injured, hours after Tehran's main nuclear enrichment site was hit as the war spun into a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week.It was the first time Israel’s nuclear research center has been targeted in the fighting. Israel's military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, the largest near the center in Israel’s sparsely populated Negev desert.“This is a very difficult evening,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that more emergency resources were being sent to the scene.“The war is not close to ending,” Israel’s army chief, Gen. Eyal Zamir, said earlier in the day.Iran also targeted the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) away, suggesting that Tehran has missiles that can go farther than previously acknowledged — or that it had used its space program for an improvised launch.The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs and its support for armed proxies. There have been no signs of an uprising, while internet restrictions limit information from Iran.The war’s effects are felt far beyond the Middle East, raising food and fuel prices.It is not clear how much damage Iran has sustained in the U.S. and Israeli strikes that began Feb. 28 — or even who is truly in charge. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since being named to the role.Israel had denied responsibility for attack on NatanzFootage from Israel's emergency service showed a large crater next to what appeared to be apartment buildings with outer walls sheared away. The missile appeared to have struck an open area.Rescue workers said the direct hit in Arad caused widespread damage across at least 10 apartment buildings, three of them badly damaged and in danger of collapsing. At least 64 people were taken to hospitals.Dimona is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nuclear research center and Arad around 35 kilometers (21 miles) north.Israel is believed to be the only Middle East nation with nuclear weapons, though its leaders refuse to confirm or deny their existence. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on X it had not received reports of damage to the Israeli center or abnormal radiation levels.“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X before word of the Arad strike spread.Israel earlier Saturday denied responsibility for the strike on the Natanz nuclear facility, nearly 220 kilometers (135 miles) southeast of Tehran. The Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage.The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility. It said on X it was looking into the strike.The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike on Natanz, which was also hit in the first week of the war and in the 12-day war last June. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said such strikes posed a “real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East.”Iran retaliated hours later.US can use Diego Garcia base to protect Strait of HormuzU.K. officials did not give details of the strike that targeted the Diego Garcia base Friday, which was unsuccessful. Britain’s Ministry of Defense described Iran as “lashing out across the region.”It’s unclear how close the missiles came to the island. Iran previously asserted that it has limited its missile range to below 2,000 kilometers (over 1,200 miles).But military experts said Iran may have used its space launch vehicle for an improvised firing. “If you’ve got a space program, you’ve got a ballistic missile program,” said Steve Prest, a retired Royal Navy commodore.Israel’s army chief, however, said Iran had fired “a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile.” There was no statement from Iran.Britain has not participated in U.S.-Israeli attacks but has allowed U.S. bombers to use its bases to attack Iran’s missile sites. On Friday, the U.K. government said bombers could use Diego Garcia to attack sites used to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz.Global pressure increases to get shipping back on trackAs Iran threatens shipping on the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates joined 21 other countries including the U.K., Germany, France and Japan in expressing "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage.”The Trump administration announced it was temporarily lifting sanctions on Iranian oil that was already loaded on ships as of Friday, but that does not increase oil production, a central factor in surging prices. The oil ministry of Iran, which has evaded sanctions for years, replied that it “essentially has no crude oil left in floating storage.”The head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, asserted that Iran’s ability to attack vessels on the strait had been “degraded." He said 5,000-pound (2,270-kilogram) bombs were dropped earlier in the week on an underground facility along Iran’s coast used to store anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile missile launchers.The U.S. is deploying three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, an official told The Associated Press. Two other U.S. officials confirmed that ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the operations.Gulf countries reported more attacks. A missile alert sounded Saturday night in Dubai. Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones in its east, home to major oil installations.Iran’s death toll in the war has surpassed 1,500, the state broadcaster reported, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missiles and four others have died in the occupied West Bank. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with well over a dozen civilians in Gulf nations.Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants clash in LebanonIsrael's military said it was conducting a “targeted ground operation” in southern Lebanon and at least four militants were killed. Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with troops in the southern village of Khiam.Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million, according to the Lebanese government. Hezbollah's civilian assets also have been targeted.___Lawless reported from London and Lidman from Jerusalem. Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
HONOLULU (AP) — As Hawaii endures its worst flooding in more than 20 years, officials urged people in hard-hit areas to “LEAVE NOW.” That warning early Saturday came after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, and still more was expected over the weekend.Muddy floodwaters smothered vast stretches of Oahu's North Shore, a community world-renowned for its big-wave surfing. Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authorities cautioned that a 120-year-old dam could fail.“The remaining access road out of Waialua is at high risk of failure if rainfall continues,” an emergency alert said.On the island of Maui, authorities upgraded an evacuation advisory to a warning for some parts of Lahaina, which is still reeling from a deadly 2023 wildfire, because of retention basins nearing capacity.North Shore Oahu residents who did not evacuate were heartened in the morning by receding waters and moments of blue skies, but more rain was on the way.“Don’t let your guard down just yet,” said Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, “there’s still potential for more flooding impacts.”Racquel Achiu, a Waialua farmer who stayed to care for her livestock, found her goats in knee-high water Thursday night, and an hour later, her family's seven dogs were in danger of drowning in an elevated kennel. Her nephew and son-in-law rushed out into chest-high water to save them.“My dogs' heads were literally just sticking out of the water,” Achiu recalled.“There was so much water, I cannot even express.”Gov. Josh Green said the cost of the storm could top $1 billion, including damage to airports, schools, roads, homes and a Maui hospital in Kula.“This is going to have a very serious consequence for us as a state,” Green said at a news conference. He also said his chief of staff spoke to the White House and received assurances of federal support.Worst flooding in over 2 decadesGreen said the flooding was the state’s most serious since 2004, when homes and a University of Hawaii library were swamped.Dozens and perhaps hundreds of homes have been damaged, but officials have yet to fully assess the destruction. Some 5,500 people were under evacuation orders.Officials blamed some of the devastation on the sheer amount of rain that fell in a short amount of time on saturated land. Parts of Oahu received 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm), the National Weather Service said.More than 200 people were rescued from the rising waters, authorities said, but no deaths were reported and no one was unaccounted for. Crews searched by air and by water for stranded people.The National Guard and Honolulu Fire Department airlifted 72 children and adults from a spring break youth camp at a retreat on Oahu’s west coast called Our Lady of Kea’au, city officials said. The camp is on high ground, but authorities did not want to leave them there, the mayor said.Winter storm systems known as “Kona lows,” which feature southerly or southwesterly winds that bring in moisture-laden air, have been responsible for the deluges in the past two weeks. The intensity and frequency of heavy rains in Hawaii have increased amid human-caused global warming, experts say.Eyes on an aging damOfficials have been closely watching the Wahiawa dam, which has been vulnerable for decades, saying it was “at risk of imminent failure.”Water levels in the dam about 17 miles (28 kilometers) northwest of Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, receded by late Friday and then went up again with overnight rain.However the dam appeared to be less of a concern the following morning than the “breadth of hazardous conditions” across the island, said Molly Pierce, a spokesperson for Oahu's Department of Emergency Management.She noted substantial flooding including in residential parts of Honolulu.“We’re seeing the waters receding in a lot of places, but again with that saturation, just the smallest amount of water can bring those raging back up,” Pierce said. “So even if it’s blue skies where you are, I think we all know in Hawaii that if rain is falling on the mountain, it’s coming to you soon enough.”Kathleen Pahinui evacuated her Waialua home early Friday because of the dam danger.“Hopefully if we make it through today, then tomorrow will dawn bright and sunny,” she said Saturday. “And then everyone can start moving slowly back in, and we can start to resume normal and start cleaning up and helping our neighbors.”The Wahiawa dam, an earthen structure, was built in 1906 to increase sugar production for the Waialua Agricultural Company, which eventually became a subsidiary of Dole Food Company. It was reconstructed following a collapse in 1921.The state has said Wahiawa dam has “high hazard potential” and a failure “will result in probable loss of human life.”It has sent Dole four notices of deficiency about the dam since 2009, and five years ago it fined the company $20,000 for failing to address safety deficiencies on time, according to records.Afterward, Dole proposed to donate the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state in exchange for an agreement to repair the spillway to meet and maintain dam safety standards.“The dam continues to operate as designed with no indications of damage,” Dole said in a statement.___Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
TOKYO (AP) — Senior U.S. and Japanese officials tend to shy away from anything but very careful public comments about Japan's 1941 sneak attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor. So there was embarrassment, confusion and unease on Saturday in Japan after President Donald Trump casually used the World War II attack to justify his secrecy before launching the war against Iran.The Japanese discomfort was compounded by the fact that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was sitting awkwardly at Trump's side as he spoke.Partly, the reaction is linked to the crucial security and economic role that the U.S. plays for Japan, its top ally in the region. Put simply, Japan needs to make sure the U.S. relationship thrives. That's why Takaichi was in Washington.But it's also a reflection of just how fresh the political debate about Japan's role in World War II remains here, even 80 years after its end.Senior leaders, including Takaichi, have argued that Japan has apologized enough for what happened in the war. Takaichi herself has recently hinted at visiting Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war criminals are honored among the 2.5 million war dead.It is, however, somewhat startling for Japan to see these history questions spill over into a White House summit.On Thursday, when asked by a Japanese reporter why he didn't tell allies in Europe and Asia ahead of the U.S. attack on Iran, Trump cited Pearl Harbor to defend his decision, saying, ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?”The liberal leaning Asahi newspaper said in an editorial Saturday that Trump’s comments “should not be overlooked.”“Making such a remark to justify a sneak attack and boast about its outcome is a piece of nonsense that ignores lessons from history,” Asahi said.Claims of rudenessSocial media reaction has ranged from accusations of ignorance and rudeness by the U.S. president to claims that he didn't see Japan as an equal partner. There were calls for Japan to protest what Trump said.Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said in an online opinion piece published in the Nikkei newspaper Saturday that the comment signaled that Trump was “not bound by existing American common sense.”“I get the impression that the comment was intended to bring the Japanese reporter (who asked the question) or Ms. Takaichi into complicity in order to justify his ‘sneak attack’ on Iran during diplomatic negotiations and without telling allied countries,” Watanabe said.There's also a feeling that an unspoken understanding exists between U.S. and Japanese leaders to tread carefully on the subject. Both sides need each other, with Washington relying on Japan to host 50,000 troops and an array of powerful hi-tech weapons, and Japan relying on the U.S. nuclear umbrella to deter hostile, nuclear-armed neighbors.Japan's post-World War II constitution bans the use of force except for its self-defense, but Takaichi and other officials are now seeking to expand the military's role.When it comes to U.S.-Japan reconciliation, many here look to the example of former leaders Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe, who in 2016 paid tribute together at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor and at the Hiroshima Peace Park.Mixed reaction for Japan's leaderTakaichi, a hard-line conservative, was praised for not reacting to the comments by Trump, letting them pass with a roll of her eyes and a glance at her ministers seated nearby.After all, the goal of her summit was to deepen ties with her most important ally, not debate World War II. She arrived shortly after Trump suggested that Japan was among the nations that did not quickly join his call to help protect the Strait of Hormuz.Some, however, criticized Takaichi for not speaking up.Hitoshi Tanaka, a former diplomat and a special adviser at the Japan Research Institute think tank, wrote on X that he felt embarrassed to see Takaichi flattering Trump.“As national leaders, they are equals. … To make an equal relationship is not to flatter,” he said. “Just doing what pleases Trump and calling it a success if you are not hurt is too sad.”Reporter criticizedThere was initial blame on social media of the Japanese reporter who asked the question that prompted Trump’s Pearl Harbor comment.The reporter, Morio Chijiiwa with TV Asahi, later said on a talk show that he asked the question to represent the feelings of Japanese who are not happy about Trump’s one-sided attack on Iran, and because other countries, including Japan, are being asked to help out.“So that’s why I asked the question. I was meaning to say, Why didn’t you tell us, why are you troubling us?” he said. “Then President Trump hit back with the Pearl Harbor attack. … I found it extremely awkward for him to change the subject.”Junji Miyako, 53, said Takaichi flattering Trump felt more condescending to him than the President’s Pearl Harbor remark.“I was so frustrated to see Takaichi didn’t even say anything to Trump to stop the war,” he said. “I think Trump’s Pearl Harbor comment was stupid, but to me the war he started is a much bigger problem.”___This story has been corrected to state that Trump spoke on Thursday, not Friday.
LONDON (AP) — Iran's attack this week on Qatar's natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries.Best known as the gas that makes party balloons float, helium is also a key input in chipmaking, space rockets and medical imaging.Qatar supplies a third of the world's helium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but the nation had to halt production shortly after the war erupted three weeks ago. The latest Iranian strikes against the region's energy producing infrastructure have added to supply worries, with Qatar's state-owned gas company saying it would crimp helium exports by 14%.Here's a deeper look at helium's industrial role:Qatar's role in helium supplyHelium is a byproduct of natural gas production, when it's separated out by cryogenic distillation. Qatar, which sits on the world's biggest single natural gas field, produces about 30% of global helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Qatar's helium is produced at its Ras Laffan facility, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant. But state-owned energy company QatarGas halted production of LNG and “associated products” on March 2 because of Iran's drone attacks and two days later declared force majeure, meaning it’s unable to supply contracted customers due to circumstances beyond its control.After Ras Laffan was hit again by more Iranian strikes on Wednesday and Thursday, QatarGas reported “extensive” damage that will take years to repair and cut annual helium exports by 14%.“It makes the story worse,” said Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting. “Your best case scenario would be you’re back producing some helium in six weeks or something like that. As it looks right now, that’s highly unlikely.”Helium prices are on the riseSpot prices for helium have doubled since the crisis erupted and will probably rise further, Kornbluth said.But spot trading only accounts for about 2% of the total market in normal times, he said. Helium is a thinly traded commodity and is mostly sold through long-term contracts.Still, contract prices “could go up a lot,” Kornbluth said. “There’s lots of room for price increase if this is an extended outage.”Kornbluth said the shortage hasn’t hit yet, because helium containers that would have been filled when the conflict erupted at the start of March would have still taken several weeks to arrive in Asia.“Nobody’s run out of helium yet. But it’s a few weeks out when the shortage really hits.”It's not just party balloonsHelium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the cutting-edge chips used for artificial intelligence models produced in Asian fabrication plants.It’s great at conducting or transferring heat, making it ideal for rapid cooling.Chipmakers use it to cool wafers — the discs of silicon printed with tiny electronic circuits. Helium is used during the etching process, when material that's been deposited on a wafer is scraped away to form transistor structures, said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.During the etching process, “you really want to maintain a constant temperature over the wafer. And in order to do that, you need to be able to draw heat away from the wafer that’s being processed,” said Feldgoise. “Helium is an excellent thermal conductor. And so chip fabs will blow helium over the back of the wafer in order to speed heat removal and keep heat removal consistent.”Under current semiconductor manufacturing processes, there’s no viable replacement for helium to cool wafers, said Jong-hwan Lee, a professor of semiconductor devices at South Korea’s Sangmyung University.The medical industry uses helium to cool superconducting magnets powering magnetic resonance imaging machines.And the space industry uses helium to purge rocket fuel tanks, a demand that is expected to grow because of more frequent launches by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.A complicated supply chain situationHelium's atomic properties make it tricky to store and transport.In gas form, helium's tiny molecules can easily escape containers by leaking through even the smallest of gaps.Helium is typically chilled by Qatar's gas company into liquid form and stored in insulated containers for transport through the Strait of Hormuz. The specialized containers can store helium for 35 to 48 days. Any longer and they start warming up, letting the helium transform into gas that escapes through pressure release valves.About 200 of these containers are stuck in the Middle East, Kornbluth said. They cost about $1 million each, so there aren't a lot of extra ones sitting around elsewhere.“It’s going to take a fair amount of time to get these containers out of Qatar and to get them somewhere else where they might be able to be filled with helium,” he said.“So this initial period when you lose Qatar supply and have to rejig the supply chain and reposition containers, that’s going to be the worst part of the shortage most likely.”Other major suppliers of heliumThere only are a handful of countries that produce helium.The United States is the biggest producer, accounting for 81 million cubic meters last year. Qatar, Algeria and Russia are the other major producers, but Russian supplies are banned under Under States and European Union sanctions.USGS estimates the United States has 8.5 billion cubic meters of recoverable helium in geologic reservoirs, while the rest of the world has 31.3 billion cubic meters.Asian chipmakers on edgeThe war highlights the sprawling global supply chains that underpin South Korea’s semiconductor industry, which has seen a surge in global demand for its chips amid the AI boom.Fitch Ratings said in a report this week that the country — home to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world’s largest memory chip makers — is particularly vulnerable to supply shortages because it imports about 65% of its helium from Qatar.Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix likely have several months of inventory, but it's crucial that they accelerate efforts to secure alternative sources, Lee said, as the war could drag on and potentially disrupt supplies of more materials beyond helium.Helium is among 14 semiconductor supply chain materials the Seoul government has flagged for monitoring due to their heavy vulnerability to the war.“Even disruptions affecting just a handful of materials could destabilize the entire semiconductor manufacturing process as each stage of production depends on the previous one,” Lee said.Still, a full-blown helium crisis is unlikely, experts said. In the event of a shortage, Kornbluth said the helium industry allocates supplies based on importance so critical industries such as chipmaking and medical would be at the front of the line.And because helium is a small part of the overall production cost of a semiconductor, it's likely that chip fabs “would be willing to pay a higher price” to secure supplies, Feldgoise said.Samsung and SK Hynix declined to respond to questions about inventory or plans to diversify supplies. The Korea Semiconductor Industry Association said short-term supplies are sufficient and companies have been diversifying their supply routes.Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company also said it does not “anticipate any significant impact at this time" but will continue monitoring the situation.___AP writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contributed.
HONOLULU (AP) — Muddy floodwaters from severe rains inundated streets, pushed homes off their foundations, swallowed vehicles and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents in towns north of Honolulu on Friday as officials warned of the possible failure of a 120-year-old dam.Emergency sirens blared along Oahu’s North Shore, where rising waters damaged homes in a community world-renowned for its surfing. Honolulu officials told residents Friday morning to leave the area downstream of Wahiawa dam — long known to be vulnerable — saying it was “at risk of imminent failure.”More than 230 people were rescued as heavy rains pummeled the Hawaiian island of Oahu and triggered the worst flooding the island has in 20 years, inflicting what the governor said could top $1 billion in damage.Water levels have been receding at the dam that authorities warned could fail but that could change if more rain falls. In less than 24 hours, water at the dam went from 79 feet to 84 feet — just six feet shy of what it can handle, authorities said.No deaths reported, but some treated for hypothermiaNo deaths were reported and no one was unaccounted for Gov. Josh Green said at a news conference. About 10 people were taken to a hospital with hypothermia, he said.Crew searched by air and by water for people who had been stranded — efforts that were hampered by people flying personal drones to get images of the flooding, he said.Dozens — if not hundreds — of homes had been damaged but officials have not been able to fully assess the destruction, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said in an afternoon news conference. Some 5,500 people were under evacuation orders."There’s no question that the damage done thus far has been catastrophic,” he said.Blangiardi said officials felt confident in the stability of the dams on the island, but that it was hard to predict how much rain would come and what it might do.The National Guard and Honolulu Fire Department airlifted 72 children and adults who had been attending a spring break youth camp at a retreat on Oahu’s west coast called Our Lady of Kea’au, according to city and camp officials. The camp is on high ground but authorities didn’t want to leave them there, the mayor said.Kimberly R.Y. Vierra, a spokesperson for St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawai‘i, which owns the retreat property in west Oahu, said floodwaters had cut off the entrance road to the camp.On Maui, officials issued an evacuation advisory for some Lahaina neighborhoods after nearby retention basins neared capacity. Parts of those neighborhoods were burned by the massive wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina in 2023.Keeping a close eye on the damOfficials have been watching dam levels since a storm last week dumped heavy rain across the state, which led to catastrophic flooding that washed away roads and homes. Two people were seriously injured in that event — one in the neck and another in the head. A similar but weaker storm was forecast to bring more rain through this weekend.“It’s going to be a very touch-and-go day,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a social media post.Most of the state was under a flood watch, with Haleiwa and Waialua in northern Oahu under a flash flood warning, according to the National Weather Service.One shelter at Waialua High and Intermediate School was evacuated because of flooding, said Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for Honolulu. There were about 185 people and 50 pets there who needed to be bussed to another evacuation center, but by midday 54 people still remained in the shelter.Parts of Oahu received 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) of rain overnight, further saturating the ground after the storm last weekend. Kaala, the island's highest peak, got nearly 16 inches (40 cm) in the past day, NWS said.‘Kona lows’ play a role in delugesWinter storm systems known as “Kona lows,” which feature southerly or southwesterly winds that bring in moisture-laden air, were responsible for the deluges. The intensity and frequency of heavy rains in Hawaii of have increased amid human-caused global warming, experts say.As she prepared to evacuate to a friend’s home on higher ground, Waialua resident Kathleen Pahinui told The Associated Press in a phone interview that the aging Wahiawa dam is a concern every time it rains.“Just pray for us,” she said. “We understand there’s more rain coming.”The state has said the dam has “high hazard potential,” and that a failure “will result in probable loss of human life.”Dam dates back to 1906The earthen dam was built in 1906 to increase sugar production for the Waialua Agricultural Company, which eventually became a subsidiary of Dole Food Company. It was reconstructed following a collapse in 1921.The state has sent Dole four notices of deficiency about the dam since 2009 and five years ago fined the company $20,000 for failing to address safety deficiencies on time, according to records.Afterward, Dole proposed to donate the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state in exchange for the state’s agreement to repair the spillway to meet and maintain dam safety standards.The state passed legislation in 2023 authorizing the dam’s acquisition. It also provided $5 million to buy the spillway and $21 million to repair and expand it to comply with dam safety requirements. But the transfer has not been completed. A state board is due to vote on the acquisition next week.“The dam continues to operate as designed with no indications of damage,” Dole said in an emailed statement.The state regulates 132 dams across Hawaii, most of them built as part of irrigation systems for the sugar cane industry, according to a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Justin Timberlake struggled to perform field sobriety tests requiring him to walk a straight line and stand on one leg after he was pulled over in New York’s Hamptons in 2024 by police officers who suspected him of driving drunk, according to video footage released Friday.
HAVANA (AP) — Some 650 delegates from 33 countries and 120 organizations began arriving in Cuba on Friday as part of a solidarity caravan transporting some 20 tons of humanitarian aid as the island grapples with a severe energy crisis.Members of “Our America Convoy to Cuba” arrived by air from Italy, France, Spain, the United States and several Latin American countries, and more are scheduled to arrive by sea on Saturday in a flotilla of three vessels from Mexico, organizers reported.A group of activists arrived in Havana on Wednesday in advance and delivered donations to hospitals.The visit comes amid heightened tensions between Cuba and the United States, whose governments have acknowledged holding talks after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an oil embargo. Earlier this week, Trump said he expected to have the “honor” of “taking Cuba in some form,” adding: “I can do anything I want.”Solar panels, food and medicine to treat cancer are among the products donated to the island, which has been brought to a near standstill since Trump imposed an energy embargo in January, exacerbating a five-year economic crisis as his administration pressures for a change in the political system.“In the end, we are dozens and dozens of delegates, and we represent millions of people in this convoy,” said David Adler, a U.S. citizen and coordinator of Progressive International, one of the caravan’s organizers. “We cannot allow this collective punishment. We cannot normalize it.”Meanwhile, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío on Friday refuted comments about a change in the political system or the potential departure of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel as part of the ongoing talks between the two sides.“The Cuban political system is not up for negotiation, nor is the president, nor the position of any official in Cuba, subject to negotiation with the United States or with the government of any other country,” said Fernández de Cossío.He noted there are many areas of common interest on which dialogue with Washington is possible, as has been done in the past.Manolo de los Santos, of The People’s Forum — another of the caravan’s organizers — said that going to Cuba at this time is not only “defying the U.S. blockade,” but also preventing “another Gaza in the Americas."Several analysts and regional leaders, including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis in Cuba.Adler said that both the flotilla that traveled to Gaza and the one heading to Cuba share several supporters. In the case of Cuba, in addition to social activists, unions, prominent figures and political parties are represented, including Morena from Mexico, the Workers’ Party of Brazil and the Broad Front of Uruguay.Some of the figures include British Parliamentarian Jeremy Corbyn; Colombian Senator Clara López; former Spanish politician Pablo Iglesias; U.S. labor leader Chris Smalls; and Brazilian humanitarian activist Thiago Ávila.After several weeks in which the only aid received by Cuba came from Mexico, which sent food and hygiene products on three occasions, activists and leaders in other countries began establishing support groups and collecting donations.Díaz-Canel expressed his gratitude on social media.“They bring shipments of aid to combat the attempt to suffocate us. Welcome once again to the compassion of the people. Solidarity always returns to those who practice it with no other interest than human well-being,” the president stated.For its part, Brazil announced it would send 20,000 tons of food, primarily rice, beans and powdered milk. A group of Chilean parliamentarians also arrived with aid on Thursday, and China reported through its embassy that a ship carrying 60,000 tons of rice set sail for Cuba.___Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit Friday against Harvard University, saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, is another salvo in a protracted battle between the administration of President Donald Trump and the elite university.“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures,” the Justice Department wrote in the lawsuit. It asked the court to compel Harvard to comply with federal civil rights law and to help it “recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution.”The lawsuit also asks a judge to require Harvard to call police to arrest protesters blocking parts of campus and to appoint an independent monitor, approved by the government, to ensure the university complies with court orders.In a statement, Harvard said it “cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus.”“Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies,” the statement read.In a pair of lawsuits filed last year by the university, Harvard has said it’s being illegally penalized for refusing to adopt the administration’s views. A federal judge sided with Harvard in September, reversing the funding cuts and calling the antisemitism argument a “smokescreen.”Trump’s year-long battle with HarvardThe government’s new lawsuit comes after negotiations appear to have bogged down in the year-long battle, which has tested the boundaries of the government’s authority over America’s universities. What began as an investigation into allegations of campus antisemitism escalated into an all-out feud. The Trump administration slashed more than $2.6 billion in Harvard’s research funding, ended federal contracts and attempted to block Harvard from hosting international students.Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, a major association of colleges and universities, accused the administration of launching a “full scale, multi-pronged” attack on Harvard. Friday’s lawsuit, he said in an email, is just the latest attempt to pressure Harvard to agree to changes favored by the administration.“When bullies pound on the table and don’t get what they want, they pound again,” Mitchell said.The Trump administration’s aggressive tactics toward Harvard mark an extraordinary departure from how previous administrations have enforced civil rights law at American colleges. In the past, the government investigated allegations of civil rights violations, produced findings and typically reached an agreement with the college to bring it into compliance. Occasionally, the government levied fines and could threaten to pull federal funding. The process typically took months or years.In contrast, Trump had been in office fewer than three months before he had frozen billions of dollars in grants to Harvard, including money for medical research. He has since tried to press the school to pay the government to end the standoff.“The administration appears to have filed this new lawsuit to make an end run around its loss in the district courts and the pending appeal, and its failed settlement negotiations with Harvard,” said Anurima Bhargava, former chief of the Educational Opportunities Section at the U.S. Department of Justice and a senior adviser for the group Stand for Campus Freedom.At issue: Civil rights and First Amendment rightsThe Trump administration’s case has centered on allegations of discrimination against Harvard’s Jewish and Israeli students during and after pro-Palestinian demonstrations related to the Israel-Hamas war.Officials concluded Harvard did not adequately address concerns about antisemitism that some students said kept them from going to class. During protests of the war, Trump officials said, Harvard permitted students to demonstrate against Israel’s actions in the school library and allowed a pro-Palestinian encampment to remain on campus for 20 days, “in violation of university policy.”In its lawsuit Friday, the Justice Department also accused Harvard of failing to discipline staff or students who protested or tacitly endorsed the demonstrations by canceling class or dismissing students early.“Harvard University has failed to protect its Jewish students from harassment and has allowed discrimination to wreak havoc on its campus,” White House press secretary Liz Huston said Friday on X.Harvard, in turn, has said the government is violating its First Amendment rights, after it defied federal demands that it limit activism on campus and change some practices for hiring and enrollment.“The tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions,” attorneys for Harvard said in a lawsuit over the funding freeze.Negotiations with Harvard have frayedDespite their bitter dispute, Harvard and the Trump administration have held some negotiations, and the two sides have reportedly been close to reaching an agreement on multiple occasions. Last year, they were reportedly approaching a deal requiring Harvard to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and end the investigations. Several months later, Trump upped that figure to $1 billion, saying Harvard has been “behaving very badly.”At the same time, the administration was taking steps in a civil rights investigation that could jeopardize all Harvard’s federal funding.Last June, a federal task force said its investigation had found the university was a “willful participant” in antisemitic harassment of Jewish students and faculty. The task force threatened to refer the case to the Justice Department to file a civil rights lawsuit “as soon as possible,” unless Harvard came into compliance.When colleges are found in violation of federal civil rights law, they almost always reach compliance through voluntary agreements. Friday’s lawsuit by the Justice Department points to an extraordinarily rare impasse.Harvard has said it strongly disagrees with the government’s civil rights finding and is committed to fighting bias.Harvard President Alan M. Garber says the school formed a task force to combat antisemitism. The university also hired a new provost and new deans and reformed its discipline policies to make them “more consistent, fair and effective,” Garber has said.Since he took office, Trump has targeted elite universities he believes are overrun by left-wing ideology and antisemitism. His administration has frozen billions of dollars in research grants, which colleges have come to rely on for scientific and medical research.Several universities have reached agreements with the White House to restore funding. Some deals have included direct payments to the government, including $200 million from Columbia University. Brown University agreed to pay $50 million toward state workforce development groups.___AP Education Writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.___Editor’s note: Previous versions of this story had incorrect timing for a federal judge’s order that reversed the Trump administration’s funding cuts at Harvard. The judge ordered the cuts reversed in September, not December.___The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
PARIS (AP) — When Iran erupted in nationwide protests at the end of 2025, Shayan Ghadimi's mother returned to the country from Paris to see the uprising for herself.Her absence — and the struggle to stay in touch through the bloody crackdown that followed and now the Iran war — hang over the family. Like many Iranians outside the country, they will mark the normally festive Persian new year, known as Nowruz, with heavy hearts — or not at all.Ghadimi's 70-year-old mother had watched the early protests on TV. “We could see the market closed, the people in the street. She said, ‘I want to be there,’” the 41-year-old Ghadimi said of her mother, as she prepared to serve lunches in the spice-scented restaurant she runs in Paris.“Now, she is all alone ... with no way to stay in contact, watching the sky. I cannot imagine the state she is in,” Ghadimi said.An Iranian cultural center in Paris that organizes music events for Nowruz says it's in mourning. In the United States, some Iranian American communities also canceled or scaled back festivities.Nowruz, or “new day” in Farsi, coincides with the spring equinox and is celebrated from Afghanistan to Turkey. Iranians of diverse faiths mark Nowruz — which is rooted in Zoroastrian tradition dating back millennia — despite occasional efforts by hard-liners to discourage it.Celebrating together for comfortShakiba Edighoffer, grocery shopping in Paris for Nowruz, said she and Iranian friends are on a “kind of emotional roller coaster” as the war rages. Israel and the United States are attacking Iran's leaders and military while the Islamic Republic fires missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states.“You hear news about this or that leader of the Islamic Republic being eliminated … about executions or bombings,” the makeup artist said.With communications largely severed, trying to find out how family and friends are faring under bombardments is stressful.Celebrating Nowruz “helps us cope, at least a little, with the psychological pressure,” Edighoffer said. “All these oppressors want is for us to be sad, to forget our millennia-old Persian and Iranian traditions.""We must not give them that victory.”In Tehran, little celebrationToo scared to venture far from her Tehran neighborhood, the Iranian woman said she had nearly forgotten it was Nowruz.There are no decorations in the streets, and the only reminder was when she spotted her friend’s mother holding a hyacinth, a flower associated with spring.“That’s how distracted I’ve been. I only found out by chance,” said the woman in voice messages to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.The traditional family shopping trip to the market about 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles) away, was out of the question, she said.So for the traditional new year spread, Haft-Seen, she had to use what was available at home. A central tradition of new year celebrations, Haft-Seen involves seven items that include garlic, vinegar, sumac, apples and sprouting greens — symbolizing new beginnings and hope.“Why do you want to set it up, just forget it!’" the woman recalled her mother saying. But determined to distract from the grim mood, the family made do.When it was all over, one tradition remained the same. She and her mother burned espand — aromatic seeds — meant to ward against the evil eye.Tears of anguish and of joySome of the diners who come to Ghadimi's Paris restaurant for flame-grilled kebabs and spiced rice to celebrate hope the war will bring a new dawn. Other can't see past the deaths and destruction wrought by Israeli and U.S. strikes.“I have people in tears. I have people who cry for joy. They say, ‘Did you see? They are coming. We are going to be saved.' Others say, ‘Our country is being destroyed,'” she said.Since her mother returned to Iran in January, they've only managed to speak to each other twice.“Quite honestly, I don’t try anymore. Because it stresses me out, if I try calling and can't get hold of her,” she said. “My sister calls 100 times a day and can't reach her.”Her mother had a return ticket and had promised to be back for Nowruz.But when they last spoke, about a week ago, her mother said those plans had changed. Having lived through the 1979 Islamic Revolution, she wants to see Iran's next chapter.“I am staying here until the end,” her mother told her.___Associated Press journalists Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, John Leicester in Paris and Sahar Ameri in Berlin contributed.
NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News said Friday it will shut down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, ending an era and blaming challenging economic times as the world moves on to digital sources and podcasts. Said longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather: “It’s another piece of America that is gone."When it went on the air in September 1927, the service was the precursor to the entire network, giving a youthful William S. Paley a start in the business. Famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow's rooftop reports during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II kept Americans listening anxiously.Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday.“Radio is woven into the fabric of CBS News and that's always going to be part of our history,” CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said in delivering the news to the staff. “I want you to know that we did everything we could, including before I joined the company, to try and find a viable solution to sustain the radio operation.”But with the radical changes in the media industry, she said, “we just could not find a way to make that possible."Not the first radio cuts at CBSCBS News cut some of its radio programming late last year, including its “Weekend Roundup” and “World News Roundup Late Edition,” in an attempt to keep the service going.It was unclear how many people will lose their jobs because of the radio shutdown. CBS News was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or more than 60 people, on Friday. It's not the end of turmoil at the network, as parent company Paramount Global is likely to absorb CNN as part of its announced purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.“Given the way things are going, I was saddened but I wasn't surprised by it,” said Rather, who succeeded network legend Walter Cronkite in 1981 and anchored for 25 years.When Rather covered the civil rights era for CBS News during the 1960s, he said he would file reports as frequently as a dozen times a day. Cronkite told America on television that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated; Rather relayed the news for radio.“Radio was considered an equal responsibility to television,” Rather, now 94, said in an interview.Along with newspapers, radio was the dominant medium in how Americans got their news from shortly after the dawn of commercial radio in 1920 through the 1940s, with people in their living rooms listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's “Fireside Chats” during the Depression. CBS News Radio's broadcast about Germany's invasion of Austria in 1938, the first time Murrow was heard on the air, was an historic marker for the service.Broadcasters like Douglas Edwards, Dallas Townsend and Christopher Glenn were familiar voices on CBS News Radio. The beginning of the television era in the 1950s began a long slide for radio, often an afterthought today with the world online and on phones. Those seeking audio often turn to podcasts before radio.“This is another part of the landscape that has fallen off into the sea,” said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade publication for radio talk shows. “It's a shame. It's a loss for the country and for the industry.”A major radio player for many decadesCBS News Radio was a major force for generations of Americans. “Its heyday spanned decades,” Harrison said. “It was quality on every level. It sounded good. Its coverage was as objective as possible within the realm of human nature. Its resources were extensive. It had a very high trust factor that was considered the standard of the day.”The front page of CBS News' website did not immediately carry news of the demise.Weiss, founder of the Free Press website and without broadcast news experience before being hired by CBS parent Paramount’s new management, has quickly become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism. She held a “60 Minutes” story critical of President Donald Trump’s deportation policy from being broadcast for a month and has critics watching to see if she’s moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction.Addressing her staff in January, three months into her job as CBS News boss, she invoked Cronkite's name as a symbol of old thinking and said that if the network continues with its current strategy, “we’re toast.” She announced the hiring of 18 new contributors and said CBS News needs to do stories that will “surprise and provoke — including inside our own newsroom.”___David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
Leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses are modifying their prohibition on receiving blood transfusions on religious grounds, now allowing members to decide whether to allow their own blood to be drawn and stored in advance for such things as a scheduled surgery with a risk of significant blood loss.But the organization is retaining its wider prohibition against receiving transfusions of others' blood — a procedure routinely used with patients after accidents, violence or other blood loss. This long-held prohibition is one of the most distinctive and controversial teachings of the movement, which is headquartered in New York state and well-known for its assertive public proselytizing.The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses announced what it called a “clarification” of its teaching on Friday, saying it came after extensive prayer and consideration.“Each Christian must decide for himself how his own blood will be used in all medical and surgical care,” Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch said in a video statement posted Friday on the denomination's website. “This includes whether to allow his own blood to be removed, stored, and then given back to him. What does this mean? Some Christians may decide that they would allow their blood to be stored and then be given back to them, others may object."Jehovah's Witnesses, who emerged in 19th century America, share many Christian beliefs but diverge from most other churches on key theological issues, such as the nature of Jesus and biblical prophecy. They are almost alone in their beliefs about blood transfusions. Jehovah’s Witnesses reported a U.S. membership of 1.3 million in 2025, with a worldwide membership of 9.2 million in more than 200 countries and territories.Ex-members react to policy shiftNews of the imminent policy change leaked out in recent days on Reddit and other social media forums for former Jehovah’s Witnesses.Some ex-members — who are critical of the religious organization’s policies and assert it is insular and authoritarian — say the policy shift has some value but is inadequate. Many commenters questioned why the ban on transfusions wasn’t lifted entirely for one of the same reasons cited by Lösch regarding the use of one's own blood, that the Bible doesn't comment on it.“I don’t think it goes far enough, but it’s a significant change,” said Mitch Melin of Washington state, a former member who has worked to bring awareness to what he calls the “darker side” of the organization. The longstanding blood policy has led to “senseless loss of life,” he said.Melin said those who defy such a policy “could be shunned” by the church.“They’re softening this to a conscience matter when it involves your own blood,” he said in an email. “From my perspective, it doesn’t go far enough. If one of Jehovah’s Witnesses faces a medical emergency with significant blood loss, or if a child requires multiple transfusions to treat certain types of cancers, this policy change does not grant them complete freedom of conscience to accept potentially life-saving interventions involving donated blood.”He also noted that in a worldwide church, many members live in countries that lack access to providers who could store their own blood.Using a patient's own blood for medical treatmentAutologous blood is blood donated by a patient who can receive it back if a transfusion is needed during or after surgery. Medical experts say the blood can be taken from 6 weeks to 5 days before surgery. It’s thrown away if it’s not needed during or after surgery. It can be done at some hospitals or blood banks.Donating one's own blood can make a person anemic or have a lower blood count, experts warn. But there’s a lower risk of having a reaction because your body recognizes your own blood, and there’s no risk of contracting infectious disease from a different donor.Jehovah's Witnesses' historic teachings on blood transfusions stem from biblical passages requiring believers to “abstain ... from blood,” which they interpret as applying not just to food but to transfusions. While they teach that many detailed dietary laws in the Old Testament portion of the Bible no longer apply, they say this prohibition on partaking of blood is upheld as a universal principle for believers in other Bible passages.The organization has parsed the implications of this teaching in the past. It has previously determined, for example, that medical procedures that temporarily remove blood but quickly return it to the body — such as kidney dialysis, in which blood is filtered of impurities — are acceptable. But they had distinguished that from removing blood and storing it for an extended period before returning it.In 2000, an official publication, The Watchtower, stated: “Hence, we do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood. That practice conflicts with God’s law.”Lösch did not detail what prompted the change in the organization's stance. He did refer to the increasing types of medical interventions available, although blood transfusions have long been used. He said that “the Bible does not comment on the use of a person’s own blood in medical and surgical care.”In a press statement, the Jehovah's Witnesses emphasized that their “core belief regarding the sanctity of blood remains unchanged.” They said many medical providers have been respecting members' health-care directives.___AP medicine and science reporter Laura Ungar contributed.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — ABC has scrubbed the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette,” starring Taylor Frankie Paul, three days before its planned premiere, citing a newly released video from 2023 in which she appears to punch, kick and throw chairs at her former partner as her young daughter watched and cried.Thursday's cancellation of the already filmed 22nd season of the reality show is unprecedented. While ABC parent company Disney cited the older video, the move comes amid a current domestic violence investigation involving Paul and Dakota Mortensen, father to a son who is the youngest of her three children.“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a statement from Disney Entertainment Television said.A Paul representative responded that she has been abused for years while remaining silent about it.Before her “Bachelorette” casting, Paul had already become a reality star through “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” whose production is paused.In 2023 video published by TMZ Thursday, Mortensen is apparently trying to stave off Paul with one hand while he shoots phone video. She is shown punching him, kicking him then throwing three chairs at him while repeatedly screaming “You did this!"“The only thing you know how to do is hurt me,” Mortensen says, while repeatedly pleading with Paul and reminding her that her daughter was watching. A child can be heard sobbing, screaming and shouting “mommy!” Paul's daughter would have been about 5 at the time.The video was consistent with Paul's arrest in 2023, when she was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge; the other counts were dismissed.A spokesman for Paul said in a statement Thursday that she is “very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security. After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm.”The statement said “Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation, and public shaming” and that she is now “exploring all of her options, seeking support, and preparing to own and share her story.”Mortensen denied wrongdoing.“As anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a deeply upsetting situation. I am, unfortunately, used to these baseless claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny. I am focusing on our son and his safety, and hope that Taylor will do the same,” his statement said.A police spokesperson in Draper City, Utah, told People magazine earlier this week that there was an open domestic violence investigation of Paul and Mortensen, and that both have made allegations.Mortensen's representatives didn't immediately answer requests for comment.ABC will air an “American Idol” rerun Sunday instead.Paul was promoting “The Bachelorette” as recently as Wednesday on “Good Morning America” and on the red carpet before Sunday’s Oscars.She was an unusual choice to helm “The Bachelorette,” the reality TV institution that started in 2003. Most leads are cast from previous runners-up from “The Bachelor.”Her selection instead offered synergy with “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” on Hulu, also owned by Disney. In a statement confirming her “Bachelorette” casting in October, ABC credited Paul with “igniting ‘MomTok’ and going viral for pulling back the curtain on Salt Lake’s soft-swinging scene.”Paul became known as an influencer in the #MomTok community, a group of women from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sharing their lives on TikTok. She made news when she announced, in 2022, that she had “stepped out” of an agreement with her husband on relationships with other couples and they were getting divorced.Season 4 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was released last week. Filming of Season 5 has been put on pause.“It was a decision that all of us girls came up with,” Paul’s co-star Mikayla Matthews said Wednesday on Instagram. “We didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that was happening.”Paul posted on Instagram in December that filming had wrapped on “The Bachelorette."Her casting was essentially an experiment gone wrong, said Kate Casey, a former crisis communications specialist who has covered unscripted television in more than 1,500 episodes of her podcast “Reality Life with Kate Casey.”“I think they were trying to shake things up, and it makes sense because the ecosystem is saturated with dating shows like ‘F-Boy Island’ and ‘Love Island’ that push the boundaries and ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette’ historically have been saccharine,” said Casey.Casey says network executives probably believed casting Paul would also tap into her 6.1 million-strong TikTok following.“The thinking was probably, ‘We’re going to get a new audience’ and the new audience is really the most coveted in all of entertainment,” she said.___Rancilio reported from Detroit.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The body of James “Jimmy” Gracey, a college student from Illinois who went missing while in Spain on spring break, was found Thursday in the water off a Barcelona beach, police said.Gracey's body was found by police divers and positively identified, the press office for Catalonia’s regional police in Barcelona told The Associated Press. The University of Alabama student's body was found near where he was last seen outside a nightclub with his friends early Tuesday. He was visiting friends in Barcelona for spring break.Catalan police say that their investigation continues into the cause of death.Gracey, 20, was last seen outside the Shoko nightclub in Barcelona but separated from friends around 3 a.m. on Tuesday. Gracey never returned to the room he was renting with friends, according to family members who live in the suburb of Elmhurst, about 19 miles (31 kilometers) west of Chicago. They realized something was wrong when police contacted them, saying they had recovered his phone.In a statement released late Thursday, the Gracey family asked for prayers and privacy.“Our family is heartbroken as we confirm that Jimmy’s body has been recovered in Barcelona. Jimmy was a deeply loved son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, and friend, and our family is struggling to come to terms with this unimaginable loss," the statement said."We are profoundly grateful for the outpouring of love, support, and prayers from people around the world. ... As we navigate this painful time, we kindly ask for privacy so that we may grieve together and begin to process this loss as a family.”In an interview conducted before police confirmation of his death, Gracey's aunt told The Associated Press that he was "just a great kid, a good Catholic boy from the Midwest.”“Very good student, honors program at University of Alabama, chaplain in his fraternity, you know, just an amazing older brother and role model to his cousins,” Beth Marren O'Reilly said.O'Reilly said her nephew left Alabama on Thursday and spent the weekend in Amsterdam before arriving Monday in Barcelona. Gracey's family did not immediately know how police came into possession of his phone. Gracey's father, Taras, is in Barcelona and has been working with police, O'Reilly said.Barcelona is a popular tourist destination that brings in millions of foreign visitors each year. It is generally safe, especially compared with major U.S. cities, where tourists’ biggest worry are normally pickpockets.Barcelona’s beaches, located in walking distance of its center, are a main draw especially for young visitors. The area where Gracey went out is a stretch of beach with several restaurants and nightclubs that are frequented by locals and foreigners.The University of Alabama said in a statement that the school community “is heartbroken to learn of the death of Jimmy Gracey. Jimmy’s loss is deeply felt across our campus. Our condolences are with the Gracey family during this devastating time.”Gracey was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity at the school, and the international organization said that in addition to serving as chaplain for the school's chapter, he was a philanthropy chairperson.___O’Connor reported from Springfield, Illinois, and Raza reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press videojournalist Laura Bargfeld in Chicago and writer Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed.
Within hours of explosive sexual abuse allegations against labor leader César Chavez, officials at a California university took swift action: First, a black cloth over a campus statue of Chavez, followed by a plywood box hiding it from public view. Soon, officials said, it will be taken down.The statue at California State University, Fresno, is one of scores of monuments, city streets and elementary schools across the nation that honor Chavez 's name and his labor movement legacy. The Associated Press identified more than 130 locations or objects in at least 19 states named after Chavez, including libraries, boulevards, community centers and public parks.Overnight, the name has become more of a stain. Some of the institutions and local governments overseeing sites bearing Chavez's name have already started the process of erasing it. In Denver, city workers took down a bronze bust of Chavez in a park named after him. The city's mayor said the park would be renamed.Officials there and elsewhere also moved to rename César Chavez Day, a federally proclaimed holiday on March 31, his birthday. Many planned celebrations this month have been canceled.The allegations that Chavez sexually abused girls and women, including fellow movement leader Dolores Huerta, “call for our full attention and moral reckoning by removing his statue from our campus," said Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, president of California State University, Fresno. It's not clear how long that will take.It’s also not clear what will happen to the César E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, California. It’s where Chavez and his wife, Helen, are buried. It includes the office where some of the reported abuse took place.Brian Hughes, of Vancouver, Canada, was among the monument’s visitors Thursday morning. The stop was planned for the trip weeks ago.“Now it’s difficult reconciling the inspirational side of his life and the stories with these revelations,” Hughes said.A push for honoring Huerta insteadAt the Cesar Chavez Student Center at San Francisco State University on Thursday, student Luca Broggi Hendryx recalled hearing stories as a child about Chavez and idolizing him. Now he says the school needs to separate itself from Chavez by changing the student center’s name.“When I first started coming here it made total sense: He was seen as an icon for the Latino civil rights movement,” Hendryx said. “So it was almost a proud thing to have a building named after Cesar Chavez. But now it feels the opposite.”In cities including Phoenix, Los Angeles, Portland, and Albuquerque officials said they would look at renaming landmarks such as buildings, streets and schools.“We have a duty to honor the dignity of the survivors and move forward in a way that reflects our values,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement. She urged renaming César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day.Denver for now will celebrate the holiday as Sí, Se Puede Day, which translates into the farmworkers movement rallying cry — Yes We Can.Mayor Mike Johnston said Denver would "not let the sins of one man set back the commitment of a community who has fought for decades to deliver on the fundamental belief that everyone is entitled to justice.”Some called for Chavez’s namesake places to be renamed for Huerta. The sign at Denver's Cesar Chavez park was covered with a tarp Thursday, and someone had placed a handmade sign over it that said, “Dolores Huerta Park”.The New York Times first reported Wednesday that it found credible evidence that Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. One of his victims, in fact, partly felt compelled to come forward after a recent proposal to name a street near her home for Chavez.Huerta, who was a labor legend in her own right and co-founded in 1962 with Chavez the National Farm Workers Association — which became the United Farm Workers of America — revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of abuse by him in her 30s.When it comes to changing names of sites or events honoring Chavez, Teresa Romero, United Farm Workers president, said, “Everybody’s going to have to make their own decisions. I respect the victims, I respect the thousands of people who worked with the union throughout the years as volunteers, and that is not going to change.”Dozens of schools and a Navy cargo shipAmong the locations and objects bearing Chavez’s name is a U.S. Navy cargo ship commemorating his service during World War II and the national monument established in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama on a 187-acre site in Central California where Chavez once lived and worked.Most of the locations are in California but they include sites in at least 19 states, from New York and Maryland to Oklahoma, the Great Lakes Region and Washington state.About half are schools, primarily in California. In Pueblo, Colorado, Chavez shares the name of a school with Huerta.Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee on Thursday said he would ask the Pentagon to remove Chavez’s name from the Navy ship. “We are on it, Congressman” Pentagon spokesperson Sam Parnell said in a social media post.Altering a national monument, such as changing a name, needs an act of Congress or action by the president.There have been previous efforts to change names for government sites and institutions on a broad scale.During the civil rights backlash that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Congress ordered a nationwide review of military assets named after Confederate leaders. Nine Army bases were renamed, only to have the original names restored under President Donald Trump’s administration last year after the army found other people with the same names to honor.Under former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland federal officials renamed hundreds of peaks, lakes, streams and other geographical features with racist and misogynistic terms. It capped a yearlong process to remove the offensive word “squaw” from geographic names across the country.Artist Paula Castillo, who created a sculpture in Albuquerque in 2010 as a tribute to Chavez, questioned whether people should think more about monuments to shared values.“The public work in Albuquerque is intended to make collective labor and lived experience visible in civic space, rather than isolate a single figure,” she said. “This allows it to continue holding meaning for communities even as new information forces a more honest reckoning with the past.”___Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Tang reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix, Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Terry Chea in San Francisco, Haven Daley in Keene, California, Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles, and Thomas Peipert and Colleen Slevin in Denver also contributed to this story.
