The sight of armed, camouflaged and masked Border Patrol agents making arrests near famous downtown Chicago landmarks has amplified concerns about the Trump administration's growing federal intervention across U.S. cities.

As Illinois leaders warned Monday of a National Guard deployment, residents in the nations third-largest city met a brazen weekend escalation of immigration enforcement tactics with anger, fear and fresh claims of discrimination.

It looks un-American, said Chicago Alderman Brandon Reilly, who represents downtown on the City Council. He deemed the Sunday display a photo opp for President Donald Trump, echoing other leaders.

Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon, also braced for a federal law enforcement surge.

Trump has called the expansion of federal immigration agents and National Guard troops into American cities necessary, blasting Democrats for crime and lax immigration policies. Following a crime crackdown in the District of Columbia and immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, hes referred to Portland as war-ravaged and threatened apocalyptic force in Chicago.

Whether it takes place here in the city or the suburbs, its all the same to us, Border Patrol agent Gregory Bovino said in Chicago.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued a memo that also directs component agencies within the Justice Department, including the FBI, to help protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, including in Chicago and Portland.

Heres a snapshot of where things stand with federal law enforcement activity in Chicago, Portland and Memphis.

Chicago raises alarm about racial profiling

Many Chicagoans were already uneasy after an immigration crackdown began earlier this month. Agents have targeted immigrant-heavy and largely Latino areas.

Trump has waffled on sending the military, but Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday it appeared the federal government would deploy 100 troops. Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Defense Department requesting troops to protect ICE personnel and facilities.

An immigration processing center outside Chicago has been the site of frequent protests and aggressive tactics by federal agents.

The enforcement recently escalated, with agents using boats on the Chicago River and marching Sunday on Michigan Avenue and in upscale neighborhoods.

Activists and elected leaders are concerned about discriminatory stops, particularly after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on roving patrols in LA. The court cleared the way for immigration agents to stop people based on race, language, job or location.

ICE is running around the Loop, harassing people for not being white, Pritzker said, describing the city's core business district.

Activists said a Latino family of four was led away by federal agents Sunday near the popular Cloud Gate sculpture, commonly called The Bean. Construction workers and bicyclists were also targeted.

The downtown operation of being racially profiled and kidnapped by immigration in broad daylight represents a major escalation by the Trump administration, said Veronica Castro with Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Bovino told The Associated Press that agents will go after anyone who is here illegally, an approach that fell under immigration authority, known as Title 8. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that a persons appearance goes into the calculation.

It would be agent experience, intelligence that indicates theres illegal aliens in a particular place or location, he told the newspaper. Then, obviously, the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look.

DHS did not return messages Monday.

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Chicagoans trail Border Patrol

As Border Patrol agents marched near downtown, a few onlookers nodded in approval and shouted praise while a trail of activists and others urged agents to leave.

Shirley Zuniga was celebrating her 24th birthday when she saw agents. Still wearing a pink birthday sash, she left brunch to follow them.

Zuniga, among the first in her family of Honduran immigrants to be born in the United States, said she forgot all about her birthday plans as she yelled at the agents to go home.

This is much more important to me, she said as she grew emotional. Im celebrating my people.

Portland goes to court

In Oregon, Democratic Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a motion in federal court Monday seeking to temporarily block the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard.

The motion is part of a lawsuit Rayfield filed Sunday, after state leaders received a Defense Department memo that said 200 members of the states National Guard will be placed under federal control for 60 days to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek are among local leaders who object to the deployment.

Putting our own military on our streets is an abuse of power and a disservice to our communities and our service members, Rayfield said in a statement Monday.

The ICE building outside of Portland's downtown has been the site of nightly protests that peaked in June, with smaller clashes occurring since then.

A larger crowd demonstrated at the building Sunday. Two people were arrested for assault, according to authorities. That followed a peaceful march earlier in the day that drew thousands to the citys downtown and saw no arrests, police said.

Some residents are already frustrated.

The building manager of the affordable housing complex adjacent to the ICE building said the impacts of violent tactics, including tear gas and late-night altercations, are traumatizing for residents, including the veterans who live there.

Sending federal troops will only escalate the situation. The last thing we need is an escalation, Reach Community Development said in statement.

Meanwhile, federal agents on Monday searched a home associated with someone who allegedly aimed a laser at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter as it flew over Portland on Saturday evening, the FBI said. Four people, who were found to be in the country illegally, were detained and placed under the custody of ICE, according to the FBI, which did not specify the charges they face.

Memphis residents worry

Memphis was in wait-and-see mode Monday, the first day of a planned federal law enforcement surge ordered by Trump to fight crime. There were no immediate reports of large-scale federal law enforcement operations.

Still some residents, including Latinos, expressed concerns that immigration agents will detain people regardless of immigration status.

We know the presence of the National Guard will lead to our neighbors being afraid to seek help when they need medical care, need to report crimes, or require social services, because of this military presence, said Sandra Pita, a community organizer.

The city has experienced high numbers of violent crimes such as carjackings and homicides in recent years, but both Democratic and Republican officials have noted that the majority-Black city is seeing decreases this year in some categories.

Googles YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump over his 2021 account suspension following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

According to documents filed in federal court in California, $22 million of the settlement will be contributed to the Trust for the National Mall to help pay for the construction of the White House State Ballroom. The rest will go to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union.

Google is the latest big tech company to settle lawsuits brought by Trump. In January, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook. Elon Musk's X agreed to settle a similar lawsuit brought against the company then known as Twitter for $10 million.

RELATED STORY | Federal judge tosses Trump's $15B defamation lawsuit against New York Times

The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability, the filing says. Google confirmed the settlement but declined to comment beyond it.

The disclosure of the settlement came a week before a scheduled Oct. 6 court hearing to discuss the case with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, California.

An attorney for the 22-year-old man charged with killing Charlie Kirk asked a judge Monday for more time to review the large amount of evidence in the case before deciding if the defense will seek a preliminary hearing.

A preliminary hearing would determine if there is enough evidence against Tyler Robinson to go forward with a trial. Defendants can waive that step, but Robinson's newly appointed attorney Kathryn Nester said her team did not intend to do so.

Utah prosecutors have charged Robinson with aggravated murder and plan to seek the death penalty.

Both the defense and prosecution acknowledged at a brief hearing Monday that the amount of evidence prosecutors have is voluminous. Robinson was not present for the hearing and appeared via audio from jail at his defense teams request.

Judge Tony Graf set the next hearing for Oct. 30.

Defense attorneys for Robinson and prosecutors with the Utah County Attorney's Office declined to comment after Monday's hearing. It took place in Provo, just a few miles from the Utah Valley University campus in Orem where many students are still processing trauma from the Sept. 10 shooting and the day-and-a-half search for the suspect.

Authorities arrested Robinson when he showed up with his parents at his hometown sheriff's office in southwest Utah, more than a three-hour drive from the site of the shooting, to turn himself in. Prosecutors have since revealed incriminating text messages and DNA evidence that they say connect Robinson to the killing.

A note that Robinson left for his romantic partner before the shooting said he had the opportunity to kill one of the nations leading conservative voices, and Im going to take it, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray told reporters before the first hearing. Gray also said Robinson wrote in a text about Kirk to his partner: I had enough of his hatred.

The assassination of Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump who worked to steer young voters toward conservatism, has galvanized Republicans who have vowed to carry on Kirk's mission of moving American politics further right.

Trump has declared Kirk a martyr for freedom and threatened to crack down on what he called the radical left.

Workers across the U.S. have been punished or fired for speaking out about Kirk after his death, including teachers, public and private employees and media personalities most notably Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show was suspended then reinstated by ABC.

Kirks political organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, brought young, evangelical Christians into politics through his podcast, social media and campus events. Many prominent Republicans are filling in at the upcoming campus events Kirk planned to attend, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Sen. Mike Lee at Utah State University on Tuesday.

A formal complaint had not been filed as of Monday in connection to reports that Pittsburgh Steelers player Skylar Thompson was assaulted and robbed in Dublin while his team was preparing to play a game in the city, Irish police said.

The national police, An Garda Sochna, said in a statement it did not have information to substantiate the reports involving Thompson, a reserve quarterback on the Steelers.

The Irish Independent newspaper had reported that "a number of males were involved in an assault on Thompson near the Temple Bar area" and that his phone was stolen.

Police said officers patrolling Dame Street became involved early Saturday when they encountered a man who required medical assistance.

"The male in his 20s was treated and assessed at the scene by emergency services personnel," police said.

Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten said the team was "aware of a situation" involving Thompson on Friday night. He said the team would have no further comment until it and the NFL gathered more information.

The NFL declined to comment on Sunday.

The NFL Players Association said it was looking into the matter.

"As always, our priority is the health and safety of our player members especially as we continue to work on the player protections and well-being while playing international games and we will continue to support Skylar in any way he needs," the association said.

Thompson, 28, has been on injured reserve and wasn't eligible to play Sunday in what was Ireland's first regular-season NFL game. The Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings 24-21 at Croke Park. Thompson was at the game.

The Taliban on Sunday freed a U.S. citizen from an Afghan prison, weeks after they said they had reached an agreement with U.S. envoys on a prisoner exchange as part of an effort to normalize relations.

The deputy spokesperson for the Taliban Foreign Ministry, Zia Ahmad Takal, identified the man as Amir Amiri. He did not say when Amiri was detained, why, or where.

An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024 and was on his way back to the U.S. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details with the media.

Qatar facilitated Amiri's release in the latest diplomatic achievement resulting from its security partnership with the U.S. that has secured the freedom of four other Americans from Taliban detention this year. The energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula also helped in releasing a British couple who were imprisoned for months.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed Amiri's release, saying it marked the administration's determination, reinforced by U.S. President Donald Trump's recent executive order, to protect American nationals from wrongful detention abroad.

"While this marks an important step forward, additional Americans remain unjustly detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will not rest until all our captive citizens are back home."

Ahmad Habibi, the brother of Mahmood Habibi, a U.S. citizen held by the Taliban for more than three years, said he and his family were grateful to hear the news about Amiri, and they remained hopeful that Mahmood would also return home.

Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan-American business owner, worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company and vanished in 2022. The FBI and his family have said they believe he was taken by the Taliban, who have denied holding him.

"We are grateful that senior officials at the State Department and National Security Council have repeatedly assured us that any deal they do with the Taliban will be 'all or nothing' and they have explicitly assured us that they will not leave my brother behind," Ahmad Habibi said.

It remains unclear what the Taliban receive in exchange for freeing U.S. nationals. But Afghanistan's needs are many.

The international aid money that flowed into the country after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion is drying up even as economic and humanitarian crises mount, particularly after a magnitude-6 earthquake on Aug. 31.

But Afghanistan remains a focus for Trump, who has said he wants to retake Bagram Air Base, a massive former U.S. military facility, a demand rejected by senior Taliban officials.

A mass shooting that shattered the evening tranquility of a picturesque, seaside town in North Carolina was a highly premeditated attack that left three people dead and five injured, police said Sunday. The suspect who allegedly carried out the attack on a waterfront bar was in custody.

Nigel Edge, 40, of Oak Island is accused of opening fire Saturday night from a boat into a crowd gathered at the American Fish Company in Southport, a historic port town about 30 miles south of Wilmington, Police Chief Todd Coring said.

At a press conference Sunday, Coring said the location was targeted, but he did not elaborate.

Authorities said Edge piloted a small boat close to shore, which was lined with bars and restaurants, stopped briefly and fired. He then sped away.

Roughly half an hour after the shooting, a U.S. Coast Guard crew spotted a person matching the suspects description pulling a boat from the water at a public ramp on Oak Island. The person was detained and turned over to Southport police for questioning, officials said.

Edge is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He could face additional charges, Coring said.

The weapon used was an assault rifle, although Coring didn't specify what kind.

We understand this suspect identifies as a combat veteran. He self-identifies. Injured in the line of duty is what hes saying, he suffers from PTSD, Coring said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Edge is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday, District Attorney Jon David said. He is being held without bond.

Among the five people hospitalized with injuries, at least one is now clinging for their life, David said. Some of the victims were vacationers from out of town.

Oak Island Police Chief Charlie Morris said the suspect was known to police as someone who frequently hung out on our pier, and that he had filed lawsuits against the town and police department over the last few years. He did not elaborate.

The district attorney said Edge had had minor contacts with police in the past but nothing significant in his past which would give us any indication that he was capable of such horror.

It was not immediately known whether Edge has an attorney to speak on his behalf. No attorney was listed on court documents. A call to Legal Aid services in Brunswick County went unanswered Sunday.

Investigators from multiple agencies including the State Bureau of Investigation and the Coast Guard remained on the water and at the scene Sunday collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.

Officials did not immediately release the names of the victims.

About 58 million pounds of corn dogs and other sausage-on-a-stick products are being recalled across the U.S. because pieces of wood may be embedded in the batter, with several consumers reporting injuries to date.

According to a Saturday notice published by the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the recall covers select "State Fair Corn Dogs on a Stick" and "Jimmy Dean Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick" products from Texas-based Hillshire Brands, which is a subsidiary of Tyson Foods.

The contamination problem was discovered after Hillshire received multiple consumer complaints, the service notes, five of which involved injuries. The company later determined that a "limited number" of these products included "extraneous pieces of wooden stick within the batter," Tyson said in a corresponding announcement adding that it opted to initiate a recall "out of an abundance of caution."

The recalled corn dogs and sausage-on-a-stick goods were produced between March 17 and as recently as Friday, per Saturday's recall notices. Tyson, which is headquartered in Arkansas, says the issue was isolated to one facility located in Haltom City, Texas.

FSIS is worried that some of these recalled products may be in consumers' refrigerators and freezers in households across the U.S. as well as some schools and other institutions. In addition to being sold online and to retailers nationwide, the agency noted Saturday, these products were also sold to school districts and Defense Department facilities.

Consumers in possession of the now recalled "State Fair Corn Dogs on a Stick" and "Jimmy Dean Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick" are urged to throw them away or return them to their place of purchase.

To determine which corn dogs and other sausage goods are subject to this recall, consumers should check the product's name, use by dates and other identifying information published online by the FSIS and Tyson. The products being recalled should also have an establishment number of "EST-582" or "P-894" printed on the packaging.

It's unclear if consumers who purchased these now-recalled products will be eligible for a refund. The Associated Press reached out to contacts for Hillshire Brands and Tyson for further information on Sunday.

Foreign object contamination is one of the top reasons for food recalls in the U.S. Beyond plastic, metal fragments, bits of bugs and more "extraneous" materials have prompted recalls by making their way into packaged goods.

Omaha police ordered champion boxer Terence Bud Crawford out of his vehicle at gunpoint during a traffic stop for reckless driving early Sunday, hours after his hometown held a parade to celebrate his victory over Canelo Alvarez two weeks ago.

A video circulating on social media showed a portion of the traffic stop. Police Chief Todd Schmaderer ordered an internal affairs investigation, a move Mayor John Ewing said he supported.

According to a news release, officers working in the downtown area observed a vehicle driving recklessly shortly before 1:30 a.m. While speaking with the driver, an officer observed a gun on the drivers side floorboard. All four occupants were ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint.

The driver was later identified as Crawford upon verification of his drivers license. Crawford was ticketed for reckless driving. One passenger, a member of Crawfords security team, was also found to be carrying a legal firearm. Police confirmed all occupants of the vehicle are legally permitted to carry firearms. A police supervisor and lieutenant responded to the scene at Crawfords request.

Crawford's spokeswoman said Sunday night that he had no comment.

Ewing said in a Facebook post that he spoke to Crawford after he learned of the traffic stop.

I acknowledge the seriousness of what occurred and how trust between law enforcement and our community is important and shows the need to be continuously vigilant about building relationships, Ewing said. Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer has pledged an internal investigation, which I support and want to be full and thorough. We will gather all the facts and be transparent with the public about our findings.

Crawford became the unified super middleweight champion with his unanimous decision victory over Alvarez in Las Vegas. He became the first male boxer to capture three unified division titles. Crawford is 42-0 with 31 knockouts.

The city held a parade through downtown in Crawford's honor during the day, and a party to celebrate his 38th birthday was held at a live music venue near where the traffic stop occurred.

Understand that my heart dropped in learning of this end to an otherwise wonderful day and evening celebrating our citys world boxing champion, Ewing said. Omaha needs to remember this important day as a good one while we seek answers to how it ended. Meanwhile, we must ensure that every resident, no matter who they are, feels safe and respected in Omaha.

Authorities in the Bahamas closed most schools Monday as Tropical Storm Imelda dropped heavy rain in the northern Caribbean, including over Cuba where landslides killed at least one man.

The storm was located about 120 miles north of Great Abaco Island of the Bahamas, which is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian after it slammed into parts of the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 hurricane in 2019.

Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving north at 9 mph. It was forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday morning and spin out to open ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Great Abaco, Grand Bahama Island and the surrounding keys. Power outages were reported in some areas, with authorities closing government offices on affected islands and issuing mandatory evacuation orders for some islands over the weekend.

A death and evacuations across Cuba

Imelda was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, and 2 to 4 inches across eastern Cuba. State media in Cuba reported that 60-year-old Luis Mario Prez Coiterio died in Santiago de Cuba following landslides in that area.

After two days of intense rains in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, we are now in the stage of saving human lives and the economy of the entire city, Mayor Indira Oliva Bueno said, according to a broadcast aired by the official Caribe channel.

In the easternmost part of Cuba, from Camagey to Guantnamo, authorities supplied food and drinking water to residents, according to official TV reports.

Overall, Imelda forced the evacuation of some 1,291 people across Cuba, with 158 of them staying in shelters.

We are working with our agricultural colleagues to provide food to the population, which is essential, said Alexander Olivares, president of the San Antonio del Sur Defense Council in Guantnamo.

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Humberto roars in open waters

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto, a Category 4 storm, churned in open waters nearby, which forecasters said would cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away from the southeastern United States coast.

This is really whats going to be saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall, said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S. weather forecasting company.

DaSilva said the two storms would draw closer and start rotating counterclockwise around each other in what's known as the Fujiwhara effect.

Its a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin, he said.

Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. It was located about 295 miles southwest of Bermuda, moving north-northwest at 13 mph. A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.

This is going to be no threat to the United States, DaSilva said.

The Carolinas brace for Imeldas rains

However, moisture from Imelda was expected to move up the Carolinas, with heavy rain forecast through Tuesday morning. The heaviest rains will be limited to the coastline, from Charleston in South Carolina to Wilmington in North Carolina, while Charlotte and Raleigh might receive only 1 to 2 inches of rain, he said.

The Carolinas might see wind gusts of 40 mph, but only along the coastline, DaSilva said, as he warned of dangerous surf and heavy rip currents all week.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were prepositioning search and rescue crews over the weekend.

In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency even before Imelda formed, while authorities on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia handed out free sandbags to residents.

Even though Imelda was not making landfall in Florida, its impact was still felt.

At the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, crews found a couple of turtle hatchlings that rough surf had tossed ashore.

We actually had two washbacks come in over the weekend," said Justin Perrault, the centers vice president of research. We may get more as the day goes along.

He said typically beachgoers will see a hatchling resting in the seaweed and call the center for help.

Further south in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Carl Alexandre exercised at the beach on Monday. He said he was grateful the storm was not heading toward South Florida, but that he would pray for those in the Bahamas.

Its great that were not having one as of right now, Alexandre said. And now we get to run in the Florida sun.

A double whammy for Bermuda

Authorities in Bermuda hoped neither of the two storms would be a direct hit later in the week, though they were forecast to, at least, come close, with Imelda possibly passing within 15 miles as the season's soon-to-be fourth hurricane, Da Silva said.

Its going to be a double whammy for Bermuda, Humberto first and Imelda following close behind, Da Silva said.

Michael Weeks, Bermuda's national security minister, urged residents to prepare, warning that there have been some near misses this season regarding severe storms."

Hurricane Humberto is a dangerous storm, and with another system developing to our south, every household in Bermuda should take the necessary steps to be prepared," he said.

Flights to and from the islands in the Bahamas were canceled, with airports expected to reopen after weather conditions improve.

Amazon has reached a historic $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which said the online retail giant tricked customers into signing up for its Prime memberships and made it difficult for them to cancel after doing so.

The Seattle company will pay $1 billion in civil penalties the largest fine in FTC history, and $1.5 billion will be paid to consumers who were unintentionally enrolled in Prime, or were deterred from canceling their subscriptions, the agency said Thursday. Eligible Prime customers include those who may have signed up for a membership via the company's Single Page Checkout" between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025.

The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon in U.S. District Court in Seattle two years ago, alleging more than a decade of legal violations. That included a violation of the Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act, a 2010 law designed to ensure that people know what theyre being charged for online.

Amazon admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. It did not immediately respond to requests by The Associated Press for comment Thursday.

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Amazon Prime provides subscribers with perks that include faster shipping, video streaming and discounts at Whole Foods for a fee of $139 annually, or $14.99 a month.

Its a key and growing part of Amazons business, with more than 200 million members. In its latest financial report, the company reported in July that it booked more than $12 billion in net revenue for subscription services, a 12% increase from the same period last year. That figure includes annual and monthly fees associated with Prime memberships, as well as other subscription services such as its music and e-books platforms.

The company has said that it clearly explains Primes terms before charging customers, and that it offers simple ways to cancel membership, including by phone, online and by online chat.

Occasional customer frustrations and mistakes are inevitable especially for a program as popular as Amazon Prime, Amazon said in a trial brief filed last month.

But the FTC said Amazon deliberately made it difficult for customers to purchase an item without also subscribing to Prime. In some cases, consumers were presented with a button to complete their transactions which did not clearly state it would also enroll them in Prime, the agency said.

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Getting out of a subscription was often too complicated, and Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would have made canceling easier, according to an FTC complaint.

Internally, Amazon called the process Iliad, a reference to the ancient Greek poem about the lengthy siege of Troy during the Trojan war. The process requires the customer to affirm on three pages their desire to cancel membership.

The FTC began looking into Amazons Prime subscription practices in 2021 during the first Trump administration, but the lawsuit was filed in 2023 under former FTC Chair Lina Khan, an antitrust expert who had been appointed by Biden.

The agency filed the case months before it submitted an antitrust lawsuit against the retail and technology company, accusing it of having monopolistic control over online markets.

A New York woman is accused of using fentanyl-laced drugs to incapacitate and then rob four men of cash, phones, sneakers and other belongings, killing three of the men in the process.

Tabitha Bundrick, 36, was indicted Wednesday on 11 counts of murder, robbery, burglary and assault charges. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg called her alleged actions "extremely calculated" and noted other recent cases in New York where people died after being drugged and robbed, including outside nightclubs.

"This type of callous behavior will not be tolerated in Manhattan," he said during a news conference.

Bundrick, who pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, is accused of targeting men between 2023 and 2024. On April 20, 2023, prosecutors said she approached two men on the street in Washington Heights under the guise of selling them soap. Prosecutors said she then offered to have sex in exchange for money and led them to an empty apartment she broke into, offering them fentanyl-laced drugs she claimed were cocaine.

One of the men told police he woke up the next morning to find his friend, Mario Paullan, 42, dead beside him and their belongings missing. Prosecutors said the man had no memory of what had occurred.

Prosecutors said the second death occurred on Sept. 27, 2023, in Washington Heights when Bundrick met Miguel Navez, 39, and went back to his apartment, where she allegedly provided him with fentanyl-laced drugs. Navez's brother found him dead three days later, and his personal belongings missing.

During a third fatal incident, which occurred on Feb. 25, 2024, prosecutors said Bundrick followed Abrihan Fernandez, 34, to his apartment building, where she allegedly provided him with fentanyl-laced drugs. Prosecutors said she took several large bags from the apartment.

Prosecutors said Bundrick used Fernandez's credit card multiple times, as well as stolen cellphones belonging to the other men.

An email was sent seeking comment from her city public defender.

Bundrick pleaded guilty in February to federal drug-related charges stemming from the same deaths and was sentenced on Aug. 6 to serve 156 months in prison.

Her lawyers said in a sentencing memo that Bundrick "is not a calculated killer, a cold-hearted manipulator, or someone who lacks a conscience," but rather a victim of childhood sexual abuse who functions intellectually at a third-grade level.

They said Bundrick, a mother, is also not a drug dealer and only used the drugs to get through the experience of having to prostitute herself.

"Ms. Bundrick undoubtedly made a poor decision when she shared her drugs with men who were just 'looking for a good time.' But she never intended to kill anyone," the lawyers said in the memo. "Indeed, she used the same exact drugs alongside each of them."

Federal prosecutors said in a separate sentencing memo that even though Bundrick "may not have specifically intended to kill her victims when she drugged them with fentanyl," she knew the drug could kill them, and she gave it to them anyway and continued to give it to more men.

Sean Diddy Combs returns to court Thursday for a hearing that could help decide how long the Grammy-winning producer will stay in prison.

Judge Arun Subramanian plans to listen to arguments from lawyers on points of law that could help him decide a sentence for the Bad Boy Records founder, who was convicted of prostitution-related charges in July.

Combs, 55, will have been jailed for nearly 13 months when he is sentenced Oct. 3.

His lawyers argued in court papers submitted this week that he should be sentenced to no more than 14 months in prison. With credit for good behavior, that would mean he would be released immediately.

Prosecutors have suggested that they believe he should spend at least several more years behind bars, although they haven't submitted their sentencing recommendations to the judge yet.

The judge has signaled that he, too, is leaning toward a substantial amount of prison time, twice refusing to grant bail since the jury returned its verdict, citing Combs' history of violence.

Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have led to a life sentence, but convicted of arranging interstate travel for people engaged in prostitution. Prosecutors said he arranged for paid sexual encounters between male sex workers and his girlfriends, some of whom testified about being beaten, kicked and choked by Combs.

Wellness advice seems to be everywhere these days, but change can be hard. How do you start a journey toward better health that you can stick with, and not be overwhelmed?

Among the experts' advice: Start with a little and it can turn into something big. Be consistent. Try to find people who can help you stay the course.

Define wellness and start small

Kristina Schuldt is a family medicine physician and wellness director for about 14,000 employees of the Mayo Clinic Health System.

Wellness means different things to people. There's fitness and physical wellness, but theres also mental wellness, financial wellness, spiritual wellness, she said. A person should define what their wellness goal is."

Don't take on the entire wellness universe at once, she warned. Start with small steps.

Increase water intake, for example, using a bottle or jug big enough to hold a day's worth, with markings on the side to let you see how much you drink. If quitting smoking is the goal, cut down by one cigarette until it feels comfortable, then do the same thing again and again.

That goes for getting your steps in, too. If you're not used to long walks, start with a few blocks and increase by two every week.

In the kitchen, experiment with healthy foods to find out which ones you like. Will it be pumpkin but not kale? Flaxseed but not cranberries? Don't force yourself to eat foods you don't like. At the table, eat slowly. Savor each bite and try to recognize when you're nearly full.

Go with what we call the low-hanging fruit at first, Schuldt said of first steps overall.

Find people to support you

At her heaviest, Jenny Watson weighed 420 pounds. In January 2023, she said, I was at a point where I was like, I cant do this anymore. Im tired. My body hurts. I had hit rock bottom."

Watson, a 36-year-old mom of two and a hairstylist in suburban Dallas, tried a lot of fitness programs before finding one that stuck. While she's still not at her ideal weight, the pounds she lost have stayed off. She works out, including weightlifting, and has started eating more whole foods, cutting processed foods from her diet.

Her biggest supporter, she said, is her husband, who has made changes in solidarity. She used to be a night owl, but both of them now head to bed at 10 p.m.

Put a pin in the eat, pray, love fantasy

Andrea Leigh Rogers, a fitness trainer who has worked with celebrities like Gisele Bndchen and Nicole Scherzinger and has written a new book, Small Moves, Big Life, urges people trying to achieve a healthier lifestyle: Don't fall for whatever wellness trend is making the rounds.

There's the game of comparison. I dont look like her. I cant do that if I dont look like her. Other barriers also feel heavy, like I have to pay $50 to do one class, she said.

You don't. What you do need is to be consistent. That might mean mindful breathing, followed by a few minutes of stretching and a 10-minute workout in the morning. Or it could be a new approach to breakfast, or a rethink on the crush of daily responsibilities.

We all have 10 minutes, Rogers said. A good plan, she added, follows the acronym FEEL: It's fast, its enjoyable, its effective and theres longevity.

Sometimes, a reboot is needed

James Keppel, in Fort Collins, Colorado, nearly lost his liver to cirrhosis. That was in 2019. His first order of business was to get sober, which he did through rehab. Then, he worked on becoming healthier overall by making a series of nutritional and other life changes.

But a series of devastating developments, including a split with his wife and the premature loss of a close family member, left him floored. He sold his design company and turned to his sister for help, moving in with her and her family in Pennsylvania for nearly a year. He had to turn off the go-go rhythm of his old life.

I slept a whole lot. I watched a lot of TV. I read a lot of books. I stayed off my computer. I didn't take many phone calls," he said. I just slowly kind of ramped back up. You have to give yourself the space to get better.

The Justice Department is preparing to ask a grand jury as soon as Thursday to indict former FBI Director James Comey on allegations that he lied to Congress as prosecutors approach a legal deadline for bringing charges, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Officials are hoping to file the case in the Eastern District of Virginia days after President Donald Trump appealed to his attorney general to charge Comey and other perceived political adversaries, and following Trump's replacement last week of the office's top prosecutor with a White House aide who had served as one of his personal lawyers.

Prosecutors have been evaluating whether Comey lied to lawmakers during his Sept. 30, 2020, testimony related to the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The five-year statute of limitations for bringing a case would be next Tuesday, but the Justice Department is expected to seek an indictment before a grand jury before then, said the two people, who were not authorized to discuss an investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

The push to move forward comes even as prosecutors detailed in a memo concerns about proceeding with seeking an indictment, one of the people said.

Comey's lawyer declined to comment Wednesday and said he had not heard any updates from the Justice Department.

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If prosecutors are successful in obtaining an indictment, Comey would become the first former senior government official to face prosecution in connection with one of the presidents chief grievances the long-concluded investigation into Russias election interference that Trump and his supporters have long derided as a hoax and witch hunt despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow meddled on his campaigns behalf in 2016.

Any criminal case would almost certainly deepen concerns that the Justice Department under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, is being weaponized as it pursues investigations of public figures the president regards as his adversaries.

Comey, who was fired as FBI director by Trump months into his first administration, has long been a top target for Trump supporters seeking retribution. Comey was singled out by name in a social media post Saturday night in which Trump complained directly to Bondi that she had not yet brought charges against him,

The White House has moved in recent months to exert control in unprecedented ways over a Justice Department that has historically enjoyed independence in prosecutorial decision-making. The office investigating Comey was thrown into turmoil last week following the resignation of its U.S. Attorney, Erik Siebert, amid Trump administration pressure to bring charges against another of the presidents foes, New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a mortgage fraud investigation.

Trump replaced Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who earlier represented Trump in the investigation into his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida but who lacks the federal criminal experience that historically accompanies the job of running one of the Justice Department's most elite prosecution offices.

A grand jury would have to approve any indictment, and though that's generally a low bar in the criminal justice system, the Trump Justice Department has encountered repeated setbacks in recent months, particularly in pursuing charges related to Trump's law enforcement intervention in Washington, D.C.

It was not clear what statements to Congress prosecutors might be zeroing in on, and the strength of any case prosecutors might seek to bring is also unclear.

The government's handling of the Trump-Russia investigation is among the most studied chapters of modern American history, with multiple reviews and reports dedicated to it, and yet prosecutors have not pursued cases against senior FBI officials.

Prosecutors in the first Trump Justice Department declined to prosecute Comey following an inspector general review into his handling of memos documenting his conversations with Trump in the weeks before he was fired. He also was not charged by a special counsel, John Durham, who scrutinized the FBI's handling of the Trump-Russia investigation and was conducting his inquiry at the time Comey gave his testimony.

Hundreds of federal employees who lost their jobs in Elon Musk's cost-cutting blitz are being asked to return to work.

The General Services Administration has given the employees who managed government workspaces until the end of the week to accept or decline reinstatement, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. Those who accept must report for duty on Oct. 6 after what amounts to a seven-month paid vacation, during which time the GSA in some cases racked up high costs passed along to taxpayers to stay in dozens of properties whose leases it had slated for termination or were allowed to expire.

Ultimately, the outcome was the agency was left broken and understaffed, said Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official. They didnt have the people they needed to carry out basic functions.

Becker, who represents owners with government leases at Arco Real Estate Solutions, said GSA has been in a triage mode for months. He said the sudden reversal of the downsizing reflects how Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency had gone too far, too fast.

Rehiring of purged federal employees

GSA was established in the 1940s to centralize the acquisition and management of thousands of federal workplaces. Its return to work request mirrors rehiring efforts at in several agencies targeted by DOGE. Last month, the IRS said it would allow some employees who took a resignation offer to remain on the job. The Labor Department has also brought back some employees who took buyouts, while the National Park Service earlier reinstated a number of purged employees.

Critical to the work of such agencies is the GSA, which manages many of the buildings. Starting in March, thousands of GSA employees left the agency as part of programs that encouraged them to resign or take early retirement. Hundreds of others those subject to the recall notice were dismissed as part of an aggressive push to reduce the size of the federal workforce. Though those employees did not show up for work, some continue to get paid.

GSA representatives didnt respond to detailed questions about the return-to-work notice, which the agency issued Friday. They also declined to discuss the agency's headcount, staffing decisions or the potential cost overruns generated by reversing its plans to terminate leases.

GSAs leadership team has reviewed workforce actions and is making adjustments in the best interest of the customer agencies we serve and the American taxpayers, an agency spokesman said in an email.

Democrats have assailed the Trump administration's indiscriminate approach to slashing costs and jobs. Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona, the top Democrat on the subcommittee overseeing the GSA, told AP there is no evidence that reductions at the agency delivered any savings.

Its created costly confusion while undermining the very services taxpayers depend on, he said.

DOGE identified the agency, which had about 12,000 employees at the start of the Trump administration, as a chief target of its campaign to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in the federal government.

A small cohort of Musk's trusted aides embedded in GSAs headquarters, sometimes sleeping on cots on the agencys sixth floor, and pursued plans to abruptly cancel nearly half of the 7,500 leases in the federal portfolio. DOGE also wanted GSA to sell hundreds of federally owned buildings with the goal of generating billions in savings.

GSA started by sending more than 800 lease cancellation notices to landlords, in many cases without informing the government tenants. The agency also published a list of hundreds of government buildings that were targeted for sale.

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DOGE's massive job cuts produced little savings

Pushback to GSA's dumping of its portfolio was swift, and both initiatives have been dialed back. More than 480 leases slated for termination by DOGE have since been spared. Those leases were for offices scattered around the country that are occupied by such agencies as the IRS, Social Security Administration and Food and Drug Administration.

DOGE's Wall of Receipts, which once boasted that the lease cancellations alone would save nearly $460 million, has since reduced that estimate to $140 million by the end of July, according to Becker, the former GSA real estate official.

Meanwhile, GSA embarked on massive job cuts. The administration slashed GSAs headquarters staff by 79%, its portfolio managers by 65% and facilities managers by 35%, according to a federal official briefed on the situation. The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, provided the statistics on condition of anonymity.

As a result of the internal turmoil, 131 leases expired without the government actually vacating the properties, the official said. The situation has exposed the agencies to steep fees because property owners have not been able to rent out those spaces to other tenants.

The public may soon get a clearer picture of what transpired at the agency.

The Government Accountability Office, an independent congressional watchdog, is examining the GSAs management of its workforce, lease terminations and planned building disposals and expects to issue findings in the coming months, said David Marroni, a senior GAO official.

Jimmy Kimmel is back on his ABC late-night show, but it's still a mystery when or if viewers in cities such as Washington, Seattle and St. Louis will be able to see him again on their televisions.

ABC stations owned by the Nexstar and Sinclair corporations took Kimmel off the air last week on the same day the network suspended him for comments that angered supporters of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Those stations kept him off the air Tuesday, when ABC lifted the suspension. The unusual dispute attracted the attention of U.S. senators, who said they wanted to investigate the relationship between the affiliates and President Donald Trump's administration.

Kimmel returned with no apologies, but in an emotional monologue where he appeared close to tears, the host said that he was not trying to joke about the assassination. He also paid tribute to Kirk's widow.

And it got a large audience, with ABC reporting nearly 6.3 million people tuned in to the broadcast alone, despite the blackouts in many cities. As is often the case with late-night hosts' monologues, there was a larger audience online, with more than 15 million people watching Kimmel's opening remarks on YouTube by Wednesday evening. ABC says more than 26 million people watched Kimmel's return on social media, including YouTube.

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Typically, he gets about 1.8 million viewers each night on television. The numbers released by ABC do not include viewership from streaming services.

A spokesman for Nexstar said Wednesday that Kimmel will continue to be preempted from its stations while the company evaluates his show. Together, the Nexstar and Sinclair groups account for about a quarter of ABC's affiliates, many in smaller cities such as Nashville, Tennessee; Lubbock, Texas; or Topeka, Kansas.

We are engaged in productive discussions with executives at the (ABC parent) Walt Disney Co., with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve, Nexstar said.

Dispute highlights relationship between networks and local stations

The dispute focused attention on the business relationships between television networks and the local stations that carry their programming. In the past, local stations occasionally balked at airing a network show, but it was usually an individual market or two worried about pushing boundaries in language or sexual content, said Ted Harbert, a former top executive at ABC and CBS.

What's different this time is groups that have gobbled up multiple stations acting collectively on content for largely political reasons.

This is how much the country's political divisions have seeped their way into something that has been, for the last 50 or 75 years, a relatively orderly business, Harbert said.

Leadership of ownership groups is generally more conservative than the media and entertainment figures on the stations they broadcast, said Ken Basin, author of The Business of Television. Both Sinclair, with conservative political content, and Nexstar have reason to curry favor with the Trump administration, he said. Nexstar is seeking regulatory approval for the purchase of a rival, he said.

I worry that this is not going to be the only dispute of this nature in the years ahead, Basin said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING | What we know about Jimmy Kimmels show being pulled indefinitely from ABC

It's possible that Disney could play hardball if negotiations on Kimmel's return drag on, such as threatening to withhold other ABC programming even the nuclear option of football games. Its unclear how the affiliate agreements are worded.

But Matt Dolgin, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research Service, said he doubts the dispute reaches that point. The station groups have a far less diversified business portfolio than Disney, and the expiration of affiliate agreements next year looms as a deadline, he said. They have few good options if they lose ABC programming.

From a business perspective, the best course on this issue (for Disney) is to stay above the fray, Dolgin said. The dollars associated with this show are very low.

As they climb, the stunning number of YouTube views of Kimmel's monologue serve to make television broadcasting less important, hurting the negotiating position of the stations.

For the station groups, the biggest goal should be to negotiate their way out of this while finding a way to save face, he said. Sinclair initially took a strong stance, saying Kimmel would not return to its stations without apologizing to Kirk's widow and donating money to Kirk's political organization. That's not likely to happen.

Kimmel was at risk of losing show entirely

Last week, Kimmel seemed to be in real danger of losing his show entirely until advocates for free speech protested, including many who canceled subscriptions for Disney services.

The backlash was stronger than they expected, stronger than I expected, Basin said. There was a sense of despair within the industry that this was a canary in a coal mine moment.

Four Democratic senators said late Tuesday that they wanted to look into what happened with the station groups.

If Nexstar or Sinclair traded the censorship of a critic of the administration for official acts by the Trump administration, your companies are not only complicit in an alarming trampling of free speech but also risk running afoul of anti-corruption law, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Ron Wyden and Chris Van Hollen wrote to the companies.

On Wednesday, another group of senators led by California Democrat Adam Schiff said they wanted to question FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about implicit threats made to Disney over Kimmel.

In his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel tried to thread the needle between both sides in a raw political moment, and seemed to realize its difficulty.

I dont think what Im going to say is going to make much of a difference, he said. If you like me, you like me. If you dont, you dont. I have no illusions about changing anyones mind.

Within hours, many proved his point. Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the organization that Kirk founded that is now headed by his widow, posted on X that Kimmels monologue was not good enough.

In another corner of social media, comic Ben Stiller posted that it was a brilliant monologue.

Robot umpires are getting called up to the big leagues next season.

Major League Baseball's 11-man competition committee on Tuesday approved use of the Automated Ball/Strike System in the major leagues in 2026.

Human plate umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge two calls per game and get additional appeals in extra innings. Challenges must be made by a pitcher, catcher or batter signaled by tapping their helmet or cap and a team retains its challenge if successful. Reviews will be shown as digital graphics on outfield videoboards.

New York Yankees outfielder Austin Slater, one of four players on the competition committee, said three voted in favor after getting support from 22 of the 30 teams. All six management reps voted in favor.

I think with any sort of technology, theres not 100% certainty of the accurateness of the system, Slater said. I think the same can be said of umpires. So I think its just coming to grips with the impact that technology is going to have and whether or not we were willing to live with that error that was associated with the system, even if the error is very, very miniscule.

Big league umpires call roughly 94% of pitches correctly, according to UmpScorecards.

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Adding the robot umps is likely to cut down on ejections. MLB said 61.5% of ejections among players, managers and coaches last year were related to balls and strikes, as were 60.3% this season through Sunday. The figures include ejections for derogatory comments, throwing equipment while protesting calls and inappropriate conduct.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who leads the American League in ejections for the fifth straight year, called the adoption inevitable.

Throughout the year, Ive been a little not totally on board with it or exactly how its going to be implemented but its going to be here and hopefully thats a good thing, he said. "A lot of the things that Major League Baseball has done I think have been really successful in the changes theyve made and hopefully this is another one of them.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said players will have to adjust.

You can like it, dislike it, it doesnt matter," Vogt said as Cleveland prepared to open a critical three-game series with Detroit. "Its coming. Its going to change the game. Its going to change the game forever.

ABS, which utilizes Hawk-Eye cameras, has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019. The independent Atlantic League trialed the system at its 2019 All-Star Game and MLB installed the technology for that year's Arizona Fall League of top prospects. The ABS was tried at eight of nine ballparks of the Low-A Southeast League in 2021, then moved up to Triple-A in 2022.

At Triple-A at the start of the 2023 season, half the games used the robots for ball/strike calls and half had a human making decisions subject to appeals by teams to the ABS.

MLB switched Triple-A to an all-challenge system on June 26, 2024, then used the challenge system this year at 13 spring training ballparks hosting 19 teams for a total of 288 exhibition games. Teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182).

I love it. I loved it in spring training, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. Not all of the players, but most of the players, if you ask them, they really liked it too. I think it keeps everybody accountable. It keeps everybody on their toes.

At Triple-A this season, the average challenges per game increased to 4.2 from 3.9 through Sunday and the success rate dropped to 49.5% from 50.6%. Defenses were successful in 53.7% of challenges this year and offenses in 45%.

In the first test at the big league All-Star Game, four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassognas calls were successful in July.

Teams in Triple-A do not get additional challenges in extra innings. The proposal approved Tuesday included a provision granting teams one additional challenge each inning if they don't have challenges remaining.

MLB has experimented with different shapes and interpretations of the strike zone with ABS, including versions that were three-dimensional. Currently, it calls strikes solely based on where the ball crosses the midpoint of the plate, 8.5 inches from the front and the back. The top of the strike zone is 53.5% of batter height and the bottom 27%.

Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way thats acceptable to players, Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today.

This will be MLB's first major rule change since sweeping adjustments in 2024. Those included a pitch clock, larger bases, and restrictions on defensive shifts and pitcher disengagements such as pickoff attempts.

The challenge system introduces ABS without eliminating pitch framing, a subtle art where catchers use their body and glove to try making borderline pitches look like strikes. Framing has become a critical skill for big league catchers, and there was concern that full-blown ABS would make some strong defensive catchers obsolete.

Unless you have a really good eye ... only getting two (challenges), I think a lot of the borderline ones are going to stay the same, Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka said. So it keeps some of the human element in in the game.

In addition to Slater, the other players on the competition committee are Arizona's Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen and Seattle's Cal Raleigh, with the Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ at Detroit's Casey Mize as alternates. The union representatives make their decisions based on input from players on the 30 teams.

Bill Miller is the umpire representative. The Major League Baseball Umpires Association declined to comment Tuesday, saying its members are focused on the 2025 season and postseason.

Scientists have discovered a new dinosaur from Argentina with powerful claws, feasting on an ancient crocodile bone.

The new find was possibly 23 feet long and hailed from a mysterious group of dinosaurs called megaraptorans. They prowled across whats now South America, Australia and parts of Asia, splitting off into different species over millions of years.

Megaraptorans were known for their stretched-out skulls and huge and very powerful claws, said Lucio Ibiricu with the Patagonian Institute of Geology and Paleontology, who was part of the discovery team.

But it's not yet clear how these creatures hunted and where they fall on the evolutionary timeline mainly because the fossils recovered so far were incomplete.

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In a new study, researchers said they uncovered part of a skull as well as arm, leg and tail bones from the Lago Colhu Huapi rock formation in Patagonia. They noticed unique features in the bones that made them realize this could be a new species.

This latest member of the megaraptoran clan named Joaquinraptor casali fills a major gap by providing one of the most complete skeletons yet, Federico Agnolin with the Argentine Museum of Natural Science Bernardino Rivadavia said in an email. Agnolin was not involved with the research, which was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The creature likely lived between 66 and 70 million years ago close to the time dinosaurs went extinct and was at least 19 years old when it died, though scientists don't know what killed it.

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The front leg bone pressed against its jaws belonging to an ancient relative of crocodiles could yield some clues to its diet and whether it was the top predator on the humid prehistoric flood plains.

Ibiricu named the new dinosaur in memory of his son Joaquin. While Joaquin was very young and hadn't yet developed a fascination with dinosaurs, Ibiricu still thinks he would have appreciated being named after one.

All children love dinosaurs so he would probably be a fan too, he said.

A number of charities on Monday severed ties with Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, after British newspapers published an email that she reportedly wrote to the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, describing him as a supreme friend.

Julias House, a children's hospice, said that the reported correspondence made it inappropriate for Ferguson, also known as the Duchess of York, to remain a patron. A spokesman for Ferguson said that she sent an email on the advice of her lawyers after Epstein threatened to sue her for associating him with sexual abuse in a media interview, Britain's Press Association reported.

Following the information shared this weekend on the Duchess of Yorks correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, Julias House has taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charity, the charity said. We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.

A food allergy charity, The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, and Prevent Breast Cancer, were also among the charities that cut ties in light of recent revelations. The Teenage Cancer Trust, which had an association with Ferguson for 35 years, also dropped her as a patron.

The email referred to a 2011 interview with the Evening Standard newspaper in which she apologized for accepting 15,000 pounds from Epstein.

I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite I cannot say, Ferguson said in the interview. Whenever I can, I will repay the money and have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.

But the following month, Ferguson sent an email to Epstein in which she humbly apologized for linking him to sex abuse, saying you have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family, The Sun newspaper reported over the weekend.

The Associated Press couldn't independently confirm that the email is authentic.

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The story comes less than a month after Andrew himself was criticized for staying in touch with Epstein for five years longer than previously claimed.

Leaked email correspondence between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak indicated that the prince had been in touch with Epstein as late as 2015, the Times of London reported. Andrew told the BBC in 2019 that he ceased all contact with Epstein in December 2010, after the late financier pled guilty to sex crimes in Florida.

Andrew and his ex-wife have faced a series of scandals amid concerns that the prince has tried to profit from his royal status.

He was forced to give up all royal duties and charity roles after the 2019 interview with the BBC in which he was criticized for trying to minimize his connections with Epstein and failing to show sympathy for his victims. Last year, it emerged that a suspected Chinese spy had developed close links with Andrew, raising concerns about efforts to put undue influence on other members of the royal family.