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MILAN (AP) β Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni was supposed to be Europeβs bridge to U.S. President Donald Trump. It may be burning.After chastising Pope Leo XIV, Trump turned his ire on Meloni, long one of his closest European allies, for calling his papal broadside βunacceptableβ and not backing the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.βI thought she had courage,ββ Trump said in an interview with leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera. βI was wrong.βMeloni has not directly responded to Trumpβs attacks. But they may be to her advantage as she recovers from a decisive referendum defeat last month and as she seeks to dull the impact of the deeply unpopular Iran war, including higher energy prices.βI actually think this is a godsend for her,ββ said Nathalie Tocci, a professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe and the director of the International Affairs Institute. βTrump has become completely toxic across Europe, across much of the world, including Italy.βTrump doubled down on Wednesday, saying their bond had frayed. βSheβs been negative,β Trump told Fox News. βAnybody that turned us down to helping with this Iran situation, we do not have the same relationship.βThe Meloni-Trump arcThe only European Union leader invited to Trumpβs second inauguration, Meloni was expected to leverage her strong ties with him once he returned to office 15 months ago. The two had a perceived natural alliance, with nationalistic tendencies and similarly hard-line stances on immigration.But Italy was not spared the pain of Trumpβs tariffs, and some may argue she has gotten little out of the relationship. When asked if they had spoken this month, Trump told Corriere, βNo, not in a long time.''After an uncomfortable appearance in the Oval Office a year ago when she avoided directly confronting Trump on tariffs, the distance grew over the Iran war. Meloni has stated Italy will not participate in the war and the country last month refused U.S. bombers the authorization to land at a pivotal air base in Sicily.Meloniβs statement this week calling Trump's attack on the pope βunacceptableβ was the most direct criticism of the president yet.βIt's been building up over time, not so much because she is moving away from him but because he has become increasingly unhinged,ββ Tocci said.Alliance strained but standingCabinet minister Adolfo Urso, a member of Meloniβs far-right Brothers of Italy, said U.S.-Italy relations would not be shaken by the flap.βItaly and the United States are allied countries and maintain their relationship and alliance within international institutions, starting obviously with the Atlantic Alliance,ββ he told Radio 24, adding that the churchβs moral teachings βcannot crack relationships consecrated in alliances signed a few decades ago.βMariangela Zappia, president of the ISPI think tank and a former Italian ambassador to the U.S., said Trumpβs βhot-bloodedβ reaction could be attributed to his frustration with Europe, not just Italy. Besides not getting support for the Iran war, Trump lost a strong ally with Viktor OrbΓ‘nβs electoral defeat in the Hungarian elections this weekend.Still, she said Trump's personal outburst aimed at Meloni should not be construed as damaging the alliance as a whole.βEurope absolutely considers the United States its historic ally, but in some way wants to be involved in the decisions that are taken,ββ Zappia said.Trump, on the other hand, is realizing βthis European Union is not easy to dismantle,β she said. βWe are different, we react differently. Some are clearly anti-Trump, some are pro-Trump but in the end, destroying the European project, separating us on the things on which we see as our future, that is very difficult.ββMeloni focused on ItalyMeloni has sought to shore up support after the referendum loss, which became a de facto confidence test of her leadership. She made a two-day whirlwind solo tour of three Gulf states to shore up Italyβs gas and oil supply from the region during a growing energy crisis but returned home without any formal deals.On Tuesday, she announced Italy would not automatically renew a defense agreement with Israel, after warning shots hit an Italian convoy that is part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, a move that analysts say is driven more by domestic politics than a strategic shift.βThe Gulf tour was a way to show public opinion that she was being proactive. The fact it didnβt actually lead to anything is beside the point,ββ Tocci said. The Israel move βsubstantively is rather meaningless because there is not much in this agreement but symbolically it helps because Israel has become just so unpopular in Italian public opinion.βNo matter what damage control she has done after the referendum loss, Roberto DβAlimonte, a professor at the LUISS school of government, predicts a difficult last year and a half of her mandate before elections due in 2027, largely due to the economic impact of the Iran war.βPeople want to see their gas bills go down, not just see Meloni talk about gas. What matters are the bills you get every month,ββ he said.
ATLANTA (AP) β A man has been charged in a string of attacks near Atlanta that left two women dead and a man in critical condition, drawing the Trump administrationβs attention after one victim was identified as a Department of Homeland Security employee who was walking her dog.The killing of the DHS worker, Lauren Bullis, and shootings of the two other victims on Monday led Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue a statement raising concerns that the 26-year-old defendant, U.K.-native Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022, when Democrat Joe Biden was president.βThese acts of pure evil have devastated our Department and my prayers are with the families of the victims,β Mullin wrote in a statement posted on social media, cataloging a litany of the defendant's previous alleged crimes but not specifying whether they happened before he was granted citizenship.Court records show that Olaolukitan Adon Abel, whose name appears in different variations in court and government records, pleaded guilty in California in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person when he was stationed at Naval Base Coronado.Authorities have said they believe at least one victim in this week's shootings was targeted at random, and possibly more.A morning of violenceThe first victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds near a restaurant in the Decatur area at around 1 a.m. Monday. She was taken to a hospital but died, DeKalb County Police Chief Gregory Padrick said at a news conference. Police have not publicly identified her.About an hour later in Brookhaven, an Atlanta suburb about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of the first attack, a 49-year-old homeless man sleeping outside of a grocery store was shot multiple times, Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley said. The man, whose name hasn't been released, remains hospitalized in critical condition.βIt is apparent to us that it was a completely random attack on a member of our unhoused community,β Gurley said.Just before 7 a.m. and more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in the suburb of Panthersville, officers responding to a call found Bullis with gunshot and stab wounds, Padrick said. She died at the scene.Investigators in Brookhaven determined that the three attacks were connected, Gurley said.Adon Abel was taken into custody later Monday during a traffic stop in Troup County, which borders Alabama. He is charged with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault and firearms counts, court records show. He waived an initial court appearance Tuesday, and a public defender listed as his attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.Toyin Adon Abel Jr., the defendant's brother, said he did not want to talk about his brother when reached by phone but expressed sympathy for the victims. βI feel terrible for the victims, their families and their connections,β he said. βItβs a horrible thing.βRemembered for her warmth and compassionBullis served in multiple roles at DHS Office of Inspector General, including as an auditor in the Office of Audits and as a Team Leader in the Office of Innovation, DHS posted on social media, saying she brought βwarmth, kindness, and a genuine sense of care to her colleagues each day.βRelatives said in a statement, that she loved her family, running, reading and traveling, and βher warmth and generosity touched everyone surrounding her.βFellow DHS auditor Ashley Toillion of Denver said she met Bullis at a work conference last year. The two became fast friends as they bonded over running and quickly made plans to do a race at Walt Disney World.βYou couldnβt meet her and not be her friend,β Toillion said, choking back tears. βShe was just the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging person Iβve ever met.βNaval service and criminal case in CaliforniaMilitary records show the defendant enlisted in the Navy in 2020, last serving in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, California, and as a petty officer received a Navy βEβ Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness.But in 2024 he was arrested and charged with assaulting two Coronado police officers and attacking another person. He pleaded guilty, court records show, and he was kicked out of the Navy in September of that year.Mullin says suspect had criminal recordMullin said Adon Abel has a criminal record that includes a sexual battery conviction.Online court records show that someone listed with a similar name and the same birth date pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.Mullin also noted that since President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which DHS oversees, has worked to ensure that people with criminal histories donβt attain citizenship. But the U.S. has long barred people convicted of most violent felonies from becoming citizens, and it wasn't immediately clear if Adon Abel had a criminal record that predated him becoming a citizen in 2022.In response to a request for further details about the case and the defendant's criminal history, DHS referred The Associated Press to its post about Bullis and her death.___Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland, and Watson from San Diego. Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and John Hanna, in Topeka, Kansas, contributed.
NEW YORK (AP) β The U.S. stock market hit a record Wednesday after adding to its two-week rally built on hopes the war with Iran wonβt create a worst-case scenario for the global economy. Whether Wall Street is correct to have so much hope for peace and whether stocks should be the highest theyβve ever been remains to be seen.The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and eclipsed its prior all-time high set in January. After falling nearly 10% below its record in late March, a drop steep enough that Wall Street calls it a βcorrection,β the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts has since roared more than 10% higher.Much of the rally has been due to expectations for calming tensions in the war and a resumption of the full flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. Hopes remained high Wednesday as regional officials told The Associated Press that the United States and Iran had an βin principle agreementβ to extend a ceasefire to allow for more diplomacy.To be sure, stocks could easily get back to falling if those expectations get undercut, which has happened before in the war. Oil prices drifted up and down Wednesday and showed that caution remains in financial markets. Stock indexes around the world also made only modest movements following their big gains in recent weeks.The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, added 0.1% to settle at $94.93. Thatβs still well above its roughly $70 price from before the war, though itβs down from its $119 peak when worries about the fighting have been at their heights.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 72 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite gained 1.6%.But if U.S.-Iran talks do happen and if they are successful, the war could end up being just a temporary setback for the global economy instead of a new normal of very high oil prices and inflation. And that in turn could allow investors to return their attention to what matters most for stock prices: money.Through all the day-to-day noise that can affect investorsβ opinions, stock prices tend to move with the direction of corporate profits over the long term. And positive trends there had stock markets doing well before the war began. Analysts also see continued growth ahead, for now at least.Bank of America rose 1.8% after saying it made $8.6 billion in profit during the first three months of the year, more than analysts expected. CEO Brian Moynihan also said the bank saw signs of a βresilient American economy,β including solid spending by U.S. consumers.Morgan Stanley jumped 4.5% after the investment bank likewise delivered a better-than-expected quarter of results.Companies hurt earlier in the year by worries about artificial-intelligence technology also rose to recover more of their losses for 2026. Some of the concerns were about companies potentially spending too much to build out AI capabilities, while others focused on businesses that may go obsolete because of AI-powered competition.The worries got so deep that they shook private-credit companies that have lent money to software businesses and others potentially under threat because of AI.ServiceNow climbed 7.3%, Oracle rose 4.2% and Ares Management gained 5.9% for some of Wednesdayβs bigger gains in the S&P 500. All are still down between 12% and 39% for the year so far.With stock prices overall back to where they were in January, and with analystsβ expectations for upcoming profits from big U.S. companies only rising since then, optimists say many stocks look less expensive than they did a few months ago.βToday, we see compelling opportunity potentialβ to shift into areas of the market that look like better buys than earlier this year, such as technology stocks, said Mason Mendez, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.The stock price of Allbirds surged 582% to nearly $17 after the company said itβs shifting gears and moving into the AI compute infrastructure industry, while changing its name to NewBird AI. The Allbirds name will stay with the shoe brand that the company has already agreed to sell to American Exchange Group.Nike rose 2.8% after CEO Elliott Hill and Tim Cook β a Nike director and the CEO of Apple β disclosed that they purchased a combined 48,000 shares of the athletic shoe maker at a cost of about $1 million each. Nike shares are still down nearly 29% this year.On the losing end of Wall Street was Live Nation Entertainment. It fell 6.3% after a jury found the concert giant and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues.All told, the S&P 500 rose 55.57 points to 7,022.95. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 72.27 to 48,463.72, and the Nasdaq composite rose 376.93 to 24,016.02.In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following modest gains in Asia. South Koreaβs Kospi was an outlier and jumped 2.1%.In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.26% late Tuesday.___AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.___This version corrects the last name of Nikeβs CEO, which is Hill.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) β A student opened fire on two classrooms at a middle school in Turkey on Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding 13 others, the interior minister said, in the country's second such shooting in two days.The 14-year-old gunman was killed. He arrived at the school armed with guns believed to belong to his father, a retired police officer, Kahramanmaras provincial Gov. Mukerrem Unluer said. He was carrying five firearms and seven magazines.The motive of the attack wasn't immediately known. It was not clear whether the gunman was killed by police or killed himself.Six of the 13 people wounded were in serious condition, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said.The attack came a day after 16 people, mostly students, were wounded when a former student opened fire at a high school in nearby Sanliurfa province. The assailant later killed himself.Until this week, school shootings were rare in Turkey.State-run broadcaster, TRT, identified the latest shooter as Isa Aras Mersinli and said his father was detained for questioning.Turkish authorities imposed a ban on the broadcast of βtraumaticβ images from the shooting, warning media organizations to limit coverage to statements from officials.Parents rushed to the school in Kahramanmarasβ Onikisubat district after hearing reports of an armed attack, NTV television reported.
WASHINGTON (AP) β The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago.Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who didn't receive pardons last January.The move to abandon the convictions represented a stunning reversal from the Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts as a crucial victory in its bid to hold accountable those responsible for what prosecutors described as an attack on the heart of American democracy. Itβs part of the Trump administrationβs continued efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack and downplay the violence carried out by the mob of Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured.In court filings, prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions so that the government can permanently dismiss the indictments.βThe governmentβs motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice β motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,β prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.Juries in Washington, D.C., convicted the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump's 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.The department's dismissal request also includes the convictions of Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins and Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.Other extremist group members, including former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, received pardons from Trump on the first day of his second term in the White House.Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he and several lieutenants were convicted in one of the most consequential cases arising from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.Prosecutors said Rhodes and his followers stockpiled guns for possible use by βquick reaction forceβ teams at a Virginia hotel, but they never deployed the weapons.Nordean's attorney, Nicholas Smith, said they are grateful to the Justice Department for its βwise decision" in seeking dismissal of the convictions.βWe don't want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy,β Smith said.Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged into the mob and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun, was disappointed but not surprised by the latest milestone in the dismantling of Capitol riot prosecutions.βI would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country," Fanone said. βThey planned, incited and carried out an insurrection."
NEW YORK (AP) β U.S. stocks rallied to the edge of an all-time high Tuesday, and oil prices eased as hopes climbed that the United States and Iran may try again on talks to end their war and avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy.The S&P 500 added 1.2% to its leap from the day before, and the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts is just 0.2% below its record set in January.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 317 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2%. They followed gains for stock markets worldwide as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange a new round of talks between the United States and Iran.If talks succeed and the war ends up being only a temporary setback for the global economy, rather than a new normal of very high oil prices and inflation, investors can turn their attention back to what matters most for stock prices: How much money are companies making?Positive trends there had stock markets worldwide doing well before the war began, and analysts see continued growth ahead, for now at least.Lower oil prices help bring down costs for all kinds of businesses, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June fell 4.6% to settle at $94.79 Tuesday.While thatβs still above its roughly $70 price from before the war began in late February, itβs well below the $119 peak it has hit when worries about the war have been at their heights.To be sure, hope has often swung quickly into doubt since the war began, which has caused extreme and sudden reversals in financial markets. Much of the stress has been due to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway thatβs the main avenue for crude oil produced in the Persian Gulf area to reach customers worldwide. Blockages there have kept oil off the global market, which has in turn driven up its price.And that has meant a blast of higher inflation. In the United States, inflation at the wholesale level accelerated to 4% in March from 3.4% the month before, according to the latest data released Tuesday. That was actually better than the 4.6% rate economists expected.The effect is worldwide. Global inflation this year looks set to accelerate to 4.4% from 4.1% in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund, which had earlier thought inflation would slow to 3.8%.The IMF on Tuesday also downgraded its forecast for global economic growth to 3.1% this year from the 3.3% it had forecast in January.On Wall Street, strong profit reports from companies are helping to make up for such worries. Over the long term, stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits, and analysts are forecasting S&P 500 companies will report solid growth of more than 12% for the most recent quarter, according to FactSet.Optimism remains high enough that analysts have raised their estimates since the war began for S&P 500 profits over the first six months of the year, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley.BlackRock gained 3%, and Citigroup rose 2.6% Tuesday after the financial companies reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.JPMorgan Chase likewise delivered a better-than-expected quarter, but its stock dipped 0.8% as CEO Jamie Dimon said bank officials cannot predict how the βincreasingly complex set of risksβ will play out given so much uncertainty.Amazon climbed 3.8% after saying it would buy Globalstar, a mobile satellite services company, for $90 per share in either cash or Amazon stock. Globalstar jumped 9.6%.Software companies also rallied for a second day, recovering more of their sharp losses from earlier in the year on worries they could be made obsolete by artificial-intelligence technology. AppLovin rose 3.9%, and an ETF from iShares tracking the software industry added 1%.That in turn helped private-credit companies recover. These companies have lent money to software businesses and others that may be under threat from AI, and some have seen a rush of investors trying to pull out their money.Blue Owl Capital rose 8.5% to trim its loss for the year so far below 39%. Ares Management climbed 5.6%, and Apollo Global Management rose 4.4%.They helped offset a 5.7% drop for Wells Fargo, which reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.All told, the S&P 500 rose 81.14 points to 6,967.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 317.74 to 48,535.99, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 455.35 to 23,639.08.In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. South Koreaβs Kospi jumped 2.7%, and Japanβs Nikkei 225 rose 2.4% for two of the bigger gains.In the bond market, Treasury yields eased as the fall for oil prices took some of the pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.25% from 4.30% late Monday.___AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) β The Kennedy Center's new leadership wants to prove to critics that the building is damaged beyond simple repair. It's starting with Congress.Matt Floca, the performing arts institution's new executive director and chief operating officer, is leading a series of tours this month that show water damage and intrusion to expansion joints, marble slabs and exterior pavers. Participants are guided through the building's water and HVAC systems, as well as the parking garages and loading docks that are said to need repairs.The sessions began earlier this month while Congress was in recess and included staff for a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrats on Capitol Hill. A representative for Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser was also included on the tour.Similar access has been provided for several corporate and individual donors and in the coming weeks, Floca is expected to provide tours for the lawmakers themselves and members of the media.Assessing a suddenly controversial operationOnce one of Washington's relatively few apolitical spaces, the Kennedy Center has become a source of controversy during President Donald Trump's second term. Shortly after returning to office, Trump ousted the institution's previous leadership and replaced it with a handpicked board of directors.The president's name was added to the building's facade and its programming took a Trump-friendly turn, serving as a venue for events such as the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's documentary, βMelania.βTrump's move to shutter the building for two years starting in July, which was approved by the board last month, has spurred lawsuits and an outcry that the closure is merely a response to plunging sales as artists canceled Kennedy Center performances in droves.The tours are intended to cut through that and show that the Kennedy Center, which began construction in 1965, is in genuine need of a fundamental update.βAs the July closure approaches, the Trump Kennedy Center is leading with transparency and making sure Congress and the public understand whatβs at stake and why the work canβt wait,β Floca said in a statement.In addition to staff for Schumer, Jeffries, and Bowser, the recent tour included representatives for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Mark Warner, D-Va., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., along with Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Rick Larsen, D-Wash.By virtue of their positions, these lawmakers are ex officio members of the Kennedy Center's board. Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi said working with both parties was a βtop priorityβ as the institution implements Trump's vision for the renovation.None of the participants discussed the tour on the record.Need for repairs is not disputedTrump secured nearly $257 million from Congress to repair the Kennedy Center. Those who are arguing against its closure haven't disputed the need for routine maintenance and repairs. They say the more substantial changes Trump has hinted at are in the works and should go through the typical review process that governs many major projects in the nationβs capital.Trump has suggested changes at the Kennedy Center could be so dramatic that the steel supporting the structure could be β fully exposed.βAccording to a lawsuit filed last month against Trump, the Kennedy Center and others in the administration, βDemolition, new construction, major reconstruction, major renovation, or major aesthetic transformation of the Kennedy Center would permanently destroy historic fabric, degrade the monumental coreβs vistas and public grounds, and compromise the Kennedy Centerβs memorial purpose and architectural integrity, causing permanent, irreversible harm that no subsequent remedy can fully undo."The Kennedy Center is entering a critical period before its anticipated July closure, which will produce staff reductions.In the meantime, the Kennedy Center is still hosting shows, including the musical βChicago,β which Trump attended this month. Performances of βMoulin Rouge! The Musicalβ are on the calendar from June 18 through July 5. Comedian Bill Maher will be presented the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on June 28, just before the closure begins.The Kennedy Center is part of Trump's broader effort to leave a lasting imprint on the Washington cityscape. He demolished the East Wing of the White House last year and wants to replace it with a ballroom, an effort that is also tangled in litigation.The president also unveiled plans on Friday for an arch that would stand between the Lincoln Memorial in the east and Arlington National Cemetery toward the west and within a traffic circle connecting Washington with northern Virginia.
NEW YORK (AP) β As the WNBA is racing through free agency, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is already looking overseas.Engelbert said before the draft Monday night that the league is looking to play a game outside North America for the first time in 2027. The WNBA expanded to Toronto this season, its first franchise outside the United States.βWeβre heavily looking at that,β Engelbert said of playing either an exhibition or regular-season game overseas. βObviously this year we have the FIBA World Cup. Next year we expect that weβll do something outside of North America as a true global game.βThe league welcomed its 2026 draft class days after a historic free agency period opened that included its first million-dollar contracts.βIβm pretty emotional seeing 23 million-dollar contracts signed only two days into free agency,β Engelbert said. βNow these players can build real generational wealth.βCommissioner declines to discuss her futureEngelbert deflected a question about her future as commissioner.βI do crack up, everyoneβs focused on me and you should be focused on the hundreds and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself,β she said.Engelbert went back at the reporter, asking, βI wonder if you would ask that of a man?βThe commissioner went on to say she was βthrilled with the trajectory, growth and was really looking forward to the next few years.βConnecticut Sun saleEngelbert said the Board of Governors still needs to approve the sale of the Connecticut Sun to Tilman Fertitta, owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets.She said specifics of the move from Connecticut to Houston might be better discussed by the Rockets group and the franchise in the future.Engelbert said she hoped Connecticut fans would still support the team this season.βGreat basketball state for womenβs basketball, some would call it the center of womenβs basketball,β she said.CBA close to finalizedThe league's new collective bargaining agreement still needs to get finished with the long form sheet. Engelbert estimated its length at 400 to 500 pages and said it will be finished soon. The deal was transformational with record salary increases, housing adjustments for players, 401k contributions and money given to former players.Officiating task forceThe WNBA started a state-of-the-game task force that included a subgroup on officiating to help improve the quality of play on the court. Engelbert said the group received input from players, the union executive committee, college coaches, general managers and head coaches.βYouβll see some changes around physicality this year,β she said. βAll sides will get used to it and that will play out over the year. Itβs going to be a physical game, we got to draw lines around physicality.βCondensed scheduleIt's been a busy two weeks for the WNBA with the labor deal completed so late. Free agency opened up a week ago and a flurry of players have signed over the last few day. Still, 80% of players were free agents this offseason and there are still many that need to sign. Training camps open on Sunday with the regular season tipping off May 8.___AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
