Apple on Thursday raised the prices of its Macs and iPads, citing the soaring costs of memory and storage chips as the artificial intelligence boom has created a frenzy for the components.
Apple increased prices on some laptop and tablet models $200 or more. A base model of the MacBook Pro, for example, now costs $1,999, up from $1,699. Apple’s entry-level laptop, the MacBook Neo, now costs $699, $100 higher than when it was unveiled in March.
The price of an iPad Air increased $150 to $749, while the price of an iPad Pro jumped $200 to $1,199.
The increases show that even Apple, with its sprawling supply chain, is not immune to a global shortage in memory and storage chips. AI chipmakers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have demanded more of the components for their own chips, which are then used in data centers for developing and running AI systems.
The surge in demand has led memory chip manufacturers like Micron to focus on producing for data centers, which tend to use more expensive chips than consumer electronics. As a result, those companies are making more money but shipping fewer consumer-grade chips, which have become more expensive.
Memory and storage chip prices have quadrupled over the past year, according to analyst estimates, and the cost of those components are expected to continue to rise.
Those costs are now being passed on to consumers. Microsoft also raised prices for its Surface laptops in April.
“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” a spokesperson for Apple said in a statement. “We have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook said during an investor call in April that the company expected “significantly higher memory costs” for the quarter, which runs through June.
“Beyond the June quarter, we believe memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business,” Cook said on the call.
The company also said it expected its profit margins to decline slightly for the quarter.
Apple on Thursday also raised the prices of its HomePod speaker and its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset.
The timing for the price increases was unusual. Apple typically raises prices when it releases new or refreshed products. In September, Apple released new iPhones and raised the prices for some models $100.
NEW YORK — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die,” and other hits helped make the so-called “brass rock” band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84.
Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Mr. Clayton-Thomas died “peacefully” Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause.
Mr. Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for Blood, Sweat & Tears, which beat out the Beatles’Abbey Road for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards, and percussion, Mr. Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die,” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag, and Ten Wheel Drive.
“A lot of the guys [in Blood, Sweat & Tears] would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Mr. Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”
At its peak, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ appeal was so broad it helped lead to the band’s downfall.
Hip enough to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, where they were among the highest paid acts, they also were known enough to the establishment to tour Eastern Europe the following year on behalf of the State Department. When Mr. Clayton-Thomas and other band members denounced the Communist regimes on the other side of the Cold War, Rolling Stone’s David Felton wrote that “the State Department got its money worth.” Yippies would turn up at a 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears show at Madison Square Garden, carrying obscene banners outside and dumping manure by the front gate.
The band had practical reasons for going along with the government: Mr. Clayton-Thomas, who had allegedly wielded a gun at his girlfriend, had been denied a green card and faced deportation. But after topping the charts in 1970 with the album Blood, Sweat & Tears 3, their appeal soon faded. A burned out Mr. Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972, and neither he nor the remaining musicians ever regained their old stature. Blood, Sweat & Tears would continue recording over the next few years, and even briefly reunited with Mr. Clayton-Thomas, who went on to release more than a dozen solo albums and tour on his own for decades.
Mr. Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. “Spinning Wheel,” covered by everyone from James Brown to TV star Barbara Eden, was voted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.
Mr. Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.
Up from the streets
Born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, and raised near Toronto and Ottawa, he was the son of a Canadian World War II veteran and of a pianist-entertainer who helped inspire her son’s interest in music. Thomsett was lucky to have the chance. He fought violently with his father, was living in the streets by his mid-teens and by age 20 was serving time in a reformatory for vagrancy, assault and other crimes.
An old guitar, left behind by a fellow inmate, changed his life. He taught himself to play and began spending extensive time in the early 1960s around Toronto’s Yonge Street music “strip,” where peers included the American rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins, a mentor to Robbie Robertson and other future members of the Band and a guide for Thomsett early in his career.
Anxious to reinvent himself, he changed his last name to Clayton-Thomas while leading his own groups. In the mid-60s, he released such albums as Sings Like It Is and had a hit single with the anti-war rocker “Brainwashed.” He would also befriend a rising star, Joni Mitchell, whose childlike “Circle Game” helped inspire “Spinning Wheel,” and the venerable John Lee Hooker, who would indirectly contribute to Mr. Clayton-Thomas’ breakthrough in the U.S.
America beckons
Hooker had encouraged Mr. Clayton-Thomas to move to New York, where the American bluesman had an engagement at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. When Hooker unexpectedly departed for a tour of Europe, club owner Howard Solomon needed a replacement and recruited Mr. Clayton-Thomas.
“So I played him a couple songs on the guitar,” Mr. Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com. “He said, ‘Do you have a band?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and went out into Greenwich Village looking for anybody carrying a guitar case or even looking like a musician, and we put together a little band and we opened there that night. We ended up staying there for several months.”
Around the same time, session man-producer Al Kooper was looking to a form jazz-rock group and was joined by such musicians as guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby, and horn players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. They called themselves Blood, Sweat & Tears, releasing the debut album Child Is Father to the Man early in 1968. Although praised by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner as “a fine, exemplary group,” members were torn between those allied with Kooper and those who thought his vocals too weak to attract a substantial audience.
By the end of the year, Kooper and others had departed, and the band was seeking a new singer. After Judy Collins saw Mr. Clayton-Thomas perform, she recommended him to Colomby.
“I got home and just a couple of days later, Bobby Colomby called me up and said, ‘Hey, Kooper’s gone. We got four guys left out of the nine. And we still got a record contract with Columbia. Do you want to come down and try out for the band?”’ Mr. Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com. ”I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I knew [bassist] Jim Fielder real well and I knew they were superb musicians. So I was on the next plane. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, an audition, and it was instant magic. We just knew right off the bat.”
Acting director of national intelligence Bill Pulte, installed Friday by President Donald Trump, has at Trump’s urging begun trimming his organization, which coordinates the nation’s 18 spy agencies.
This week Pulte fired a half-dozen political appointees and notified several dozen career officers on loan to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that they were being sent back to their home agencies.
Pulte’s immediate predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, had already culled hundreds of personnel, boasting that she had slashed the staff by 40%. Trump has long been distrustful of what he calls the “deep state” intelligence community, and the cuts by Pulte are the latest in a series of shocks that have roiled the ODNI.
Gabbard, who left office last week, had a stormy tenure, falling in and out of favor with Trump’s White House. Current and former officials criticized as ham-handed her release of files related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. She selectively declassified data on Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election and other matters that supported Trump’s views.
In recent months, the ODNI has seen a number of high-level resignations and a roller coaster of leadership announcements by Trump.
The agency “is being so hollowed out that its new name might become DNR — do not resuscitate. It’s on life support already,” said Beth Sanner, a former ODNI deputy director who served as Trump’s intelligence briefer in his first administration.
While a number of current and former intelligence officials note that there are merits to shrinking the ODNI, the Trump administration, they say, has gone about it in a haphazard way that could undermine the intelligence coordination that Congress created the agency to do.
“Reasonable people can debate ODNI’s size and mission, but sacking dozens of seasoned officers in your first week isn’t reform — it’s performative firing to please a president who treats his own intelligence community as the enemy within,” said Julia Curlee, who served as a director for intelligence programs in Trump’s White House until last year and recently resigned from the CIA after 20 years as an analyst.
Pulte asked program heads for a rank-ordered list of personnel to guide decisions on who could be let go, according to former intelligence officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
One apparent casualty of the personnel moves that began under Gabbard is the National Intelligence Council, which was staffed primarily by career officers on loan from other agencies, such as the CIA. The NIC is considered the most authoritative intelligence analysis unit, producing in-depth reports on key topics for top government officials using information gathered by multiple spy agencies.
About 20 NIC personnel have been removed or have chosen to leave, including several senior officers who oversaw the production of analysis on Russia, China, and Europe.
The deputy director for mission integration, Will Ruger, who effectively led the council, was placed on administrative leave, according to three former intelligence officials.
It is unclear whether and to what extent the vacancies will be filled. When the principal deputy intelligence officer for Russia left last year, the position was kept open.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal this month that he’d like to see a “smaller” ODNI. “I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump said, noting that he was referring to holdovers from the Biden and Obama administrations.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton said on the Senate floor Wednesday that “mass firings” were not taking place. He said Pulte told him that “a small handful of front-office personnel” were leaving, “which is not at all uncommon when a senior leader leaves an agency or one comes into an agency.” He added that “around 45 or 50 career officers” were returning to their home agencies.
“I think that’s a step in the right direction,” said Cotton, who has long called for shrinking the ODNI and last year proposed legislation that would cap its full-time staff at 650.
Some agency insiders have heard that there could be subsequent rounds of cuts and that keeping each round relatively small will help avoid congressional blowback, according to one former intelligence official.
Trump’s appointment of Pulte, who has no intelligence or national security experience, has alarmed Democratic lawmakers, as well as some Republicans. Some current and former intelligence officials fear he will use the post to further Trump’s agenda, including weaponizing intelligence against the president’s enemies.
As head of a federal mortgage regulation agency, Pulte has launched mortgage fraud probes of people Trump considers adversaries, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) and Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook.
Government reorganization efforts under Trump have been marked by chaos and missteps, such as when Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency last year dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and conducted mass firings at the State Department and other agencies.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created by Congress in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, after investigations found that the CIA, the FBI and other agencies had failed to share critical information about al-Qaeda plots.
The ODNI had a little more than 2,000 employees at the start of Trump’s second term. By the time Gabbard left last week, the number had shrunk to 1,300, according to congressional aides.
Morale was shaken last year when Gabbard dismissed the chair and vice chair of the NIC after it produced a report that found that the Venezuelan government was most likely not directing the activities of Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang that Trump has vilified. The finding contradicted his rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.
“Getting [the agency] smaller makes sense, but this isn’t the way to do it,” said John Sipher, a 28-year veteran CIA operations officer and former Moscow station chief, who has argued that the ODNI should be dismantled.
Sipher said the ODNI’s problem is that it suffers not just from bureaucratic bloat, but from political interference. “The office that was meant to safeguard intelligence from fragmentation has become another perch from which intelligence can be politicized and bent toward partisan narratives,” he wrote in the Bulwark.
This week’s cuts do not appear to have significantly affected the agency’s largest component, the National Counterterrorism Center, which was set up by Congress to be the government’s primary organization for analyzing international terrorism and which in its heyday had more than 1,000 personnel, according to former senior intelligence officials.
Trump has nominated Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney and former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, to be the permanent director of national intelligence.
But last week, Trump abruptly froze Clayton’s nomination, prompting the Senate to postpone a confirmation hearing, in a fit of pique over lawmakers’ failure to pass unrelated election legislation.
Most of us have woken up with a headache, achy back, or a low-grade fever and rummaged through the medicine cabinet looking for an over-the-counter solution. And you’ve probably had more than one to choose from, including acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) and ibuprofen (the active ingredient in Advil and Motrin). But which one is the right choice for your health issue?
While both medications can relieve pain and reduce fevers, the science suggests there are times when one may have an advantage over the other. We spoke to health experts and looked at current research to help you decide.
Acetaminophen capsules. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)Chris Carlson
If you have a headache
Both acetaminophen and ibuprofen can be used to treat headaches.
But the two medications have different mechanisms of action. Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), a class that includes naproxen (Aleve) and aspirin. These medications block enzymes that produce prostaglandins, which are pain- and inflammation-causing compounds released by the body in response to injury.
So in addition to treating pain and fever, ibuprofen is a better choice for pain accompanied by inflammation and swelling.
Acetaminophen works better for pain that is not primarily caused by inflammation, such as headaches.
And because it generally has fewer cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and kidney-related side effects and fewer drug interactions than ibuprofen, it may be a better option for some older people, those with certain cardiovascular or gastrointestinal conditions or those taking certain medications, said Gabriel Gavrilescu, chair of internal medicine and geriatrics at Cleveland Clinic in Florida.
Adults can take 650 mg of regular-strength acetaminophen every four to six hours as needed or 1,000 mg of extra-strength acetaminophen every six hours, not to exceed 4,000 mg per day. However, some experts recommend a maximum limit that’s lower. “For the elderly or people of lower weight, probably 2,000 to 3,000 milligrams would be a safer limit,” Gavrilescu said.
Acetaminophen is generally safe for most people if you stick with the recommended amounts. However, taking too much — more than 4,000 mg per day — can cause severe liver damage, even liver failure. It should not be combined with heavy alcohol use, and people taking medications that affect liver function should check with their doctor before using it.
If you have muscle aches
Because it helps reduce inflammation, ibuprofen may be more effective for muscle aches, toothaches, joint pain or acute injuries such as sprains and strains, said Amber Borucki, an anesthesiologist and pediatric pain medicine specialist at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Adults can take 200 to 400 mg of ibuprofen — preferably with food — every four to six hours, not to exceed up to 1,200 mg per day.
To manage more severe or persistent pain, it can also be combined with acetaminophen for short-term use (typically less than a week), with each medication taken every 6 hours and staggering so that a dose of one or the other is taken every three hours, Borucki said.
And for acute pain — such as pain after surgery — the combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen can provide more effective pain control than taking either one alone, research shows.
In some cases, healthcare providers may prescribe higher doses of ibuprofen. Both ibuprofen and acetaminophen can be used longer-term to manage chronic pain, with close monitoring by a provider. But in general, experts recommend using the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration possible.
If you have joint pain
Some studies have found that NSAIDs, including ibuprofen, may provide greater pain relief than acetaminophen for some people with osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis, which often occurs with aging and causes joint pain.
In cases of chronic inflammatory pain that requires ongoing treatment — such as osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition — a doctor may recommend a selective NSAID, which is a prescription medication such as celecoxib that selectively blocks the COX-2 enzyme involved in inflammation. This may reduce pain and inflammation while also potentially lowering the risk of gastrointestinal side effects, such as ulcers, compared with traditional NSAIDs, Borucki said. Selective NSAIDs carry other risks, however, including cardiovascular events and other potential complications for some people with certain medical conditions.
Gavrilescu said he also recommends topical NSAIDs such as diclofenac (which can be applied to the skin in a patch, gel, spray, or cream) for chronic joint pain because they may reduce the risk of systemic side effects compared with oral NSAIDs, and he often encourages people to address the underlying cause of persistent pain and discomfort with physical therapy or other nonmedicinal treatments.
If you have a cold or flu
Both acetaminophen and ibuprofen can help relieve symptoms related to a cold, COVID, flu, or any other respiratory infection. However, one medication may work better than the other, depending on your symptoms.
Ibuprofen is often preferred for sore throats to help reduce pain associated with throat swelling. For fevers and related body aches, on the other hand, either acetaminophen or ibuprofen can be taken alone or together, alternating them to help control fever and pain while reducing the need for high doses of either medication, Gavrilescu said.
Keep in mind that many other over-the-counter pain relievers, cold and flu medications, and even opioids also contain acetaminophen. When taking acetaminophen along with combination drugs intended to treat nasal congestion, cough, and fever, for instance, people may accidentally take more than the 4,000 mg daily limit without realizing it, increasing the risk of severe liver damage, said C. Michael White, a pharmacologist and pharmacist and chair of pharmacy practice at the University of Connecticut.
If you have cramps
Although either acetaminophen or ibuprofen can reduce pain from menstrual cramps, some research suggests that NSAIDs such as ibuprofen may provide slightly better pain relief because they reduce the production of prostaglandins, which trigger the uterine contractions that cause cramping.
If you have dental pain
Both medications can treat dental pain, but ibuprofen can help target inflammation or swelling associated with some dental issues.
Combining the two can be effective as well, particularly for more severe pain. A 2025 study found that a combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen after dental surgery for impacted wisdom teeth provided better pain control than a prescription opioid combined with acetaminophen.
If you are pregnant
Ibuprofen is not recommended during pregnancy because NSAIDs have been linked to fetal complications, particularly later in pregnancy, Borucki said. Acetaminophen is generally considered the preferred first-line treatment for pain and fevers during pregnancy, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Amid federal health concerns about Tylenol in pregnancy, the Food and Drug Administration announced last year that it was initiating the process for a label change “to reflect evidence suggesting that the use of acetaminophen by pregnant women may be associated with an increased risk of neurological conditions such as autism and ADHD in children.” The World Health Organization (WHO) stated, however, that there is no conclusive evidence confirming a possible link. And in separate statements, ACOG, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Medical Toxicology and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said acetaminophen remains appropriate for treating fever and pain during pregnancy when used as directed.
Avoiding the medication when it is needed to treat fever could lead to potential harm as “there is a significant risk with uncontrolled fever, both to the mother and to the fetus,” Gavrilescu said.
If you have certain health conditions or are taking certain medications
People who have liver disease, are heavy alcohol consumers, or taking certain medications that affect liver function should consult their doctor before taking acetaminophen. As we mentioned, exceeding the maximum daily dose of 4,000 mg can lead to severe liver damage, including liver failure.
In people with high blood pressure, a history of heart attack or stroke or heart failure, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen can increase the risk of serious cardiovascular events. NSAIDs can also raise the risk of gastrointestinal complications, including bleeding, especially in people with a history of stomach ulcers. And because they can reduce blood flow to the kidneys, people with kidney disease should consult a doctor before taking ibuprofen, White said.
Ibuprofen can interact with certain medications, as well. It can increase bleeding risk when taken with blood thinners such as warfarin, and it can interfere with some blood pressure medications, including angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), beta blockers and diuretics, potentially making them less effective, White said.
Although both acetaminophen and ibuprofen “can be very helpful, use them judiciously. And when you’re able to come off of them, definitely wean yourself off of them,” Borucki said.
SAN FRANCISCO — A rural area of Northern California experienced its strongest earthquake since 1940 on Wednesday morning, causing some injuries but no immediate reports of major damage, officials said.
The epicenter of the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6, was about 7 miles northwest of the agricultural town of Willits, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was widely felt, including in the coastal city of Fort Bragg. The initial quake was centered inland about 50 miles east of Fort Bragg at 8:10 a.m. Pacific Time, and the USGS said it was about 5 miles deep.
The area in Mendocino County dotted with small, agricultural towns is 140 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Heather Rose, a Mendocino County spokesperson, said that hospitals had reported some injuries but that she had no details on their nature or extent. She said officials plan to meet later Wednesday when more information could be released.
Power outages are affecting more than 6,000 residents of six towns near the epicenter, the Mendocino County Executive Office said in a statement. The office encouraged people to stay off the highways and roads to allow work crews to inspect for damage and make repairs.
Brie Leon and her colleagues had just opened Club Calpella Restaurant when the building started shaking, rattling plates and liquor bottles.
“I had just turned the open sign on and went back into the kitchen, and that’s when it happened,” she said. “It almost felt like something hit the building.”
The restaurant is in Calpella, Calif., a town about 10 miles south of the epicenter and in a region of Mendocino County that has been struck by smaller quakes this year.
This was the biggest earthquake in nearly nine decades in the region, which is not on a major fault, said Lucy Jones, a veteran California seismologist.
“The area is not without earthquakes, but they’re usually smaller than this,” Jones said. She added that aftershocks are likely, but they’ll “probably stay on the low side.”
Three other quakes under a 2.7 magnitude struck near the epicenter within an hour.
Leon said the quake knocked frames off the walls and bottles off the shelves in the restaurant and the stockroom next door. She and other servers were cleaning up not long after to welcome customers for breakfast.
“It wasn’t a big, big quake, but things went everywhere,” she said.
Alan Harris and his family were at home in Kelseyville, about 40 miles southeast of the epicenter, when he received an earthquake alert on his cell phone. Soon after, the house began shaking.
“I yelled downstairs immediately to my wife and daughter to make sure they were hanging on,” Harris said. “It was scary. You could hear things crashing, mostly on the third floor of the house.”
A security camera inside Harris’ home shook vigorously as the quake struck. A few loud, crashing sounds can be heard on the video footage before Harris calls out: “Is everyone OK?”
It lasted only about 30 seconds. Framed photos fell off the walls and a computer monitor was knocked over, Harris said. Nothing appeared badly damaged, he added, noting he found no structural damage to the house.
Nearly 657,000 earthquake early warning alerts were sent by the MyShake App throughout Northern California, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said. Cal OES had not received any reports of damage or injuries, but it was coordinating with authorities to evaluate impacts, the office said in a statement.
Hundreds of thousands more people received alerts through other public safety alert systems, but those numbers have not been finalized, said Robert de Groot, a scientist with the ShakeAlert operations team.
“The alert deliveries for this are going to be well over a million,” Groot said.
BOGOTA, Colombia — Conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, a millionaire political neophyte, will be Colombia’s next president after electoral authorities on Wednesday declared him the winner of Sunday’s runoff election.
The businessman and lawyer, whose ventures include a clothing line, wine and rum brands, and a restaurant, earned President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite never having run for office. He defeated progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda by 1 percentage point, or more than 251,000 votes.
The result effectively was an indictment of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s government, whose policies Cepeda had promised to continue, including a largely failed effort to establish dialogue with multiple armed groups.
Electoral authorities published all but a fraction of the vote count hours after polls closed Sunday. Petro and Cepeda did not accept those results, with the latter saying he would wait for a recount to do so. Authorities finished the recount before declaring de la Espriella’s victory.
De la Espriella’s victory adds Colombia to a growing list of countries that have turned to political outsiders in search for solutions to complex social, security, and economic challenges.
The self-proclaimed representative of “the never-before-seen” promised voters fearful of renewed internal conflict to take a heavy-handed approach to combating violent crime with strategies borrowed from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s playbook, including building mega-prisons. Those tactics have lowered homicide rates in the Central American country but have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.
Earlier Wednesday, Cepeda conceded Colombia’s presidential election to de la Espriella and accepted a Senate seat reserved for the runner-up in the presidential election.
“We assume with serenity, responsibility, and absolute resolve — and let there be no doubt about it — the role that circumstances demand of us,” Cepeda said in an address to the nation. “We will exercise a democratic, vigilant and constructive opposition.”
De la Espriella, 47, will begin a 4-year term Aug. 7.
In a statement on Wednesday, de la Espriella’s campaign said de la Espriella’s “purpose is to work for national unity, with the people and for the people.” The campaign also stated his government will be committed to guaranteeing “the right to political opposition and peaceful protest, within the framework of the Constitution, the law, and respect for democratic institutions.”
A day earlier, de la Espriella announced he is putting together his cabinet. He also said he plans to add Colombia to the Trump-dubbed “Shield of the Americas,” a coalition of countries purportedly aimed at cracking down on criminal groups in Latin America.
More than 26 million people voted in the polarizing runoff, setting a historic record. Of those, over 426,000 people chose a third, no-name option on the ballot that allows voters to express dislike of both candidates. About 29,000 people cast blank ballots.
WASHINGTON — The White House has formally requested $87.6 billion mostly to replenish the Pentagon after the U.S. war against Iran, submitting the request to Congress at a politically difficult time as Republican and Democratic lawmakers have objected to any further military action.
The Office of Management and Budget sent the supplemental spending request on Wednesday. It arrived just hours after President Donald Trump assailed Republican senators during a private lunch — engaging in a shouting match with one — over their votes to approve a war powers resolution that would halt further hostilities.
The request is mostly for expenses incurred by the Defense Department as part of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led attack on Iran. But it also includes a range of other items, including aid to American farmers, help for the Ebola crisis in Africa, and other needs closer to home, including restoration projects in Washington, D.C.
“I urge the Congress to take action on these important and urgent requests as soon as possible,” said OMB Director Russ Vought in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
It’s unclear how quickly the House and Senate could act on the White House’s request, or if Congress takes up the matter at all. The funding faces a difficult path because many lawmakers could view any votes as a reflection of test of their support for the war effort.
Yet the White House was clear to include provisions to interest lawmakers from various regions, including $1 billion to assist “the final design and construction of a modernized Penn Station in New York City,” which would be of interest to the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York.
The administration said it is requesting $67 billion for the Department of Defense for what it said were urgent needs related to the war against Iran, including “funding for military personnel and readiness expenses, operational costs to rebuild stocks.”
It also wants $11.1 billion toward economic assistance for American farmers, $1.4 billion for the Ebola virus outbreak in Central Africa and requests $500 million to support ongoing efforts “to complete restoration and construction projects in and around Washington, D.C.”
The package also includes a collection of policy proposals that the administration strongly supports, and which are certain to raise interest among lawmakers.
Among them, the package proposes revisions to federal regulations of hemp products that have long been in dispute, changes to the year-round sales of renewable fuels and lifting of restrictions around federal investment support in Venezuela.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the request is not merely to pay for “the president’s disastrous war, but an attempt to secure tens of billions of additional dollars for unrelated Pentagon priorities that should rightly be considered through the annual appropriations process.”
Murray added: “I will closely review this request in its entirety and ensure we take care of our service members, but I will not rubber-stamp tens of billions more for this disastrous war of choice.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Ken Calvert (R., Calif.), who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on Defense, said in a joint statement, “President Trump’s request reflects the reality that our defense strength must be maintained, not merely demonstrated.”
The biggest share of defense funding, $21 billion, will go to weapons munitions, with another $17.3 billion for operational costs and $12.1 billion for other classified programs. Funds are also requested to cover fuel costs, drone manufacturing, and cybersecurity.
The money for farmers would provide $10 billion in economic assistance to row and specialty crop farmers and $1.1 billion specifically to Florida agriculture producers who suffered losses from this past year’s winter storms.
NEW YORK — A former chief of staff to ex-New York Mayor Eric Adams was arrested Wednesday in a federal bribery case about a lucrative migrant shelter contract, the latest sign that prosecutors continue to scrutinize Adams’ inner circle months after the scandal-bruised Democrat left office.
The charges against Frank Carone are the latest in a string of corruption allegations leveled at the former mayor — who was himself indicted on bribery and other charges that were later dismissed — and key aides. Separately, federal authorities searched the homes of current and former New York Police Department leaders Wednesday in connection with a different bribery investigation.
Adams was not accused of wrongdoing in Carone’s indictment. It alleges the ex-chief of staff exploited his position to get more than $100,000 in payoffs for steering a migrant shelter contract to a hotel that social service officials had deemed unsuitable.
“Frank Carone was entrusted to run our city government and instead put his own wealth and status above duty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Winik told a court.
Carone and his brother, Anthony Carone; hotel owner Yan Po Zhu, and hotel employee Crystal Chen pleaded not guilty to various charges. The brothers sat across from each other at a defense table, where Anthony Carone rubbed his face and Frank Carone appeared to read along during the proceedings.
Frank Carone’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said outside court that the case was based on “assumption after assumption after assumption.”
“There is not one fact that indicates Frank Carone did anything specific to influence anything in our government,” Aidala said. The other defendants and their attorneys declined to comment.
Frank Carone and the Sabrina Carpenter church video
Federal investigators later subpoenaed the church. “They found nothing,” Aidala said Wednesday, contending that the government first targeted Carone, then looked for a case.
Carone played a key role in Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, was chief of staff in 2022, then left and formed a political consulting firm.
He “dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession and helping countless individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations throughout New York,” Adams spokesperson Todd Shapiro said in a statement.
Indictment focuses on how the hotel became a shelter
Starting in 2022, the city scrambled to expand its shelter capacity amid an influx of migrants. Zhu’s hotel got $6.8 million to shelter some of the new arrivals, though the city’s Social Services Department had repeatedly rejected the facility, which was small and in a Queens neighborhood where residents objected to more shelters, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said in court papers that Frank Carone accepted around $120,000 in bribes from Zhu and Chen to intercede on the hotel’s behalf. The money was passed through Anthony Carone’s law firm, according to the indictment.
In a September 2022 text message, Zhu asked Frank Carone for help getting the hotel an immediate one-year contract, according to the indictment. It said Carone replied by asking for the address, and Zhu gave it, adding: “Thank you my big guy.”
In December 2023, Zhu texted Carone: “I asked my partners to pay you for a year,” according to the document. Carone, who is also charged with obstruction of justice, deleted the message after learning he was under investigation, prosecutors said.
Zhu “is anxious to establish his innocence,” lawyer Stephen Scaring said before the arraignments. All four defendants later were released on bond, ranging from $100,000 for Chen to $8 million for Zhu.
Police officials’ homes searched in unrelated probe
Separately Wednesday, the FBI and the NYPD executed search warrants at the homes of NYPD Chief of Manhattan South James McCarthy and former Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard, and federal agents also searched former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey’s home, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the searches. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the searches were part of a bribery investigation that grew out of an inquiry into Maddrey.
There was no immediate response to an inquiry to Maddrey’s attorney. Attorney information for Sheppard and McCarthy was not immediately available.
There is no public indication of any arrests as part of those searches.
They were not related to Frank Carone’s arrest, according to another person familiar with the matter who also was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Once the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Maddrey resigned in 2024 over allegations that he demanded sex from a subordinate in exchange for opportunities to earn extra pay. Maddrey denied the claims of a quid pro quo.
Adams was indicted in 2024 on charges of accepting illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials and others in exchange for political favors. The case was tossed by federal Justice Department leaders who said it was distracting Adams from assisting in Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Adams has denied wrongdoing.
After skipping last year’s Democratic primary, Adams mounted but eventually abandoned an independent campaign for a second term.
A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban.
Casper rejected the Republican administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be put in place. Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers.
The Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” wrote Casper.
Among other proposed changes, Trump’s order would have required people to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote, prevented mail ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked by then, and punished states that failed to comply by withholding certain federal money.
In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was grateful the court had blocked Trump’s “unconstitutional attempt to seize control of our elections” and would continue to defend voting rights in this year’s midterm elections.
“Generations of Americans fought tirelessly for the right to vote, and we honor their legacy by protecting that right against anyone who tries to undermine it,” said James, a Democrat.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose state was the lead plaintiff in the case, said the ruling reaffirmed the constitutional principle that it s up to the states and Congress to set election rules.
“While we are proud of this result, we are clear-eyed that President Trump’s attacks on voting rights and our elections show no signs of slowing down,” Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement. “So let me be clear: we will keep fighting back every step of the way.”
Requests for comment sent to the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice were not immediately returned.
The ruling was the latest in a series against the elections executive order Trump signed just months after taking office for his second term. The Republican president has since signed another executive order on elections that seeks to create a national voter list and limit mail balloting. That directive also faces multiple legal challenges.
Last fall, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., overseeing a separate challenge to the first election executive order by civil rights and Democratic Party-aligned groups blocked the government from taking steps to include the proof-of-citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form. That judge later barred Trump’s defense secretary from requiring documentary proof of citizenship when military personnel register to vote or request ballots.
In an apparent nod to the difficulty of implementing a proof-of-citizen requirement by executive order, Trump is pushing legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress to create such a mandate. The SAVE America Act has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate, leading Trump to advocate for eliminating the filibuster that is blocking the legislation.
On Wednesday, he abruptly canceled the expected signing of a bipartisan housing bill, saying he would not sign legislation until Congress passes his proof of citizenship requirement for voting.
The president and many of his Republican allies have been promoting the narrative that voting by noncitizens is a major problem, when in fact it’s quite rare. The federal voter registration form already requires people to attest that they are U.S. citizens. Violating that is punishable as a felony that can lead to prison or deportation.
In another major voting case, the U.S. Supreme Court is due to issue an opinion soon on whether mail ballots must arrive by Election Day. That could immediately change the rules in 14 states that allow grace periods ranging from days to weeks if the ballots are postmarked by Election Day.
Casper, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, is the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces struck a major natural gas processing plant and two key satellite communications centers in their latest nighttime attacks on Russia, Ukraine’s General Staff said Wednesday.
In response, Moscow has ordered the redeployment of some air defense systems from Russian regions to the capital and to Crimea’s Kerch Bridge, a crucial link for supplying Russian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. The bridge connects the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland.
“It is important that as many Russians as possible come to understand that it is the Russian leadership’s rejection of diplomacy that is prolonging the war,” Zelensky said on X.
Zelensky has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by President Donald Trump but Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused.
Ukraine says the stricken gas plant was among the world’s largest
The overnight attack hit the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, which is part of a complex that also houses the only helium plant in Russia, the General Staff said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. The attack set the complex on fire, it said.
Orenburg, in the southern Urals near Russia’s border with Kazakhstan, is more than 750 miles behind the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The plant is one of the largest gas complexes in the world, according to the General Staff. It produces helium, used in liquid-fuel rocket engines and guidance systems, and ethane, a key component in producing solid rocket fuel and gunpowder, it added.
Overnight attacks also hit two satellite communication centers used by the Russian military, according to the General Staff.
One was the Dubna Space Communications Center near Moscow, which it described as Russia’s largest ground-based satellite communications complex, and the other was in the Vladimir region east of the capital.
It was not possible to independently verify the General Staff’s report, and Russian officials made no immediate comment.
The General Staff’s statement did not say whether the military used drones or missiles in the assault, but drones have recently been used to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Ukraine keeps hammering Crimea
Ukraine has recently focused its drone and missile attacks on Crimea, aiming to cut off the vital Russian-held peninsula, and overnight drone strikes knocked out power in Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the city’s Moscow-installed governor, said Wednesday.
Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, sits in a strategic location on the Black Sea. It has naval bases and also provides an important supply line to Moscow’s forces inside Ukraine.
Ukraine recently destroyed more than 60,000 tons of Russian ammunition when it hit a Baltic Fleet arsenal near St. Petersburg, Zelensky said.
Ukraine is trying to disrupt military supply lines in Crimea and strike the peninsula’s power grid at the height of the summer tourist season. Kyiv hopes the campaign will embarrass Putin and increase public pressure on him to end the war, according to Western analysts.
Ukraine’s Security Service said Wednesday it struck two military airfields and destroyed missile systems in Crimea.
Attacks kill at least 6 people
Two staff members of Norwegian People’s Aid were killed during a Russian attack in Ukraine, the demining organization said Wednesday, although local officials said only one person was killed.
Four other workers with the organization were injured, two of them critically, according to the head of the southern Kherson region’s military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin.
Two people were killed and two others wounded overnight in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow, regional Gov. Gleb Nikitin said. Also, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person overnight in Russia’s Belgorod border region bordering Ukraine, local officials said.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 101 long-range attack drones overnight.
Russian drones attacked the city of Balakliia in northeastern Ukraine, killing a 56-year-old woman, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration. Also, a 57-year-old streetcar driver man died as a result of a Russian guided aerial bomb that hit the outskirts of Sumy, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration.
In addition, the death toll rose to four from Tuesday’s ballistic missile strike using cluster munitions on Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky’s hometown, after a 62-year-old woman died from her injuries, said Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city administration, said.
