California announces another step in suit against Amazon

San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama was ruled out of the Spurs' NBA playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, three days after he suffered a concussion.

Wembanyama had been listed as "questionable" on the Spurs injury report, but coach Mitch Johnson announced less than two hours before tip-off that the 22-year-old Frenchman wouldn't play.

"Victor is not playing tonight," Johnson said. "Obviously, there's a lot that goes into that, but he's doing well and progressing."

Wembanyama was placed in the NBA's concussion protocol after taking a hard fall to the court in Tuesday's 106-103 loss to Portland in San Antonio, which evened their best-of-seven first-round series at one game apiece.

Wembanyama attended team workouts on Wednesday and Thursday but was not allowed to take part under the protocol that calls for a gradual return to activity with medical evaluations at each step.

He made the trip to Portland and took part in the Spurs' shoot-around on Friday morning, further sparking speculation that he could be cleared to play.

Johnson, pressed as to whether there was "optimism" that Wembanyama would be back for game four, said he wasn't qualified to say.

"There's gonna be a lot of questions. I understand, and follow-ups, and I  don't think that I'm the appropriate person -- and especially at this time -- to answer a lot of them," Johnson said.

"But he is doing well and progressing."

Wembanyama was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year last week and is a finalist for the Most Valuable Player award.

He averaged a career-high 25 points, a career-best 11.5 rebounds, a league-best 3.1 blocked shots and one steal per game this season.

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Palestinians in the West Bank and a central area of Gaza head to the polls Saturday for municipal elections in a first vote since the Gaza war, marked by a narrow political field and widespread disillusionment.

Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Gaza's Deir el-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission.

Most electoral lists are aligned with president Mahmud Abbas's secular-nationalist Fatah party or running as independents.

There are no lists affiliated with Fatah's archrival Hamas, which controls nearly half of the Gaza Strip.

In most cities, Fatah-backed tickets will run against independent lists headed by candidates from factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Marxist-Leninist).

Mahmud Bader, a businessman from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, where two adjacent refugee camps have been under Israeli military control for over a year, said he would vote despite having little hope for meaningful change.

"Whether candidates are independent or partisan, it has no effect and will have no effect or benefit for the city," he told AFP. 

"The (Israeli) occupation is the one that rules Tulkarem. It would only be an image shown to the international media -- as if we have elections, a state or independence."

In many cities, including Nablus and Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, only one list has been submitted, meaning it wins automatically without needing a vote.

Polling stations in the West Bank will be open from 7:00 am (0400 GMT) to 7:00 pm, while in Deir al-Balah, polls will close at 5:00 pm to facilitate counting in daylight due to the lack of electricity in the war devastated strip, the elections commission told AFP.

UN coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov commended the commission for organising a "credible process".

"Saturday's elections represent an important opportunity for Palestinians to exercise their democratic rights during an exceptionally challenging period", Alakbarov said in a statement.

- 'Confirmation of existence' -

Gaza, which has been under Hamas control since 2007, will see its first vote since the legislative elections of 2006 that the Islamist movement won.

Abbas's Palestinian Authority is holding elections only in Deir el-Balah "as an experiment (to test its own) success or failure, since there are no post-war opinion polls", Jamal al-Fadi, a political scientist at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, told AFP.

Abbas, who is now 90 and has remained in power for more than 20 years without ever being re-elected, frequently promises legislative and presidential elections that have never taken place.

Deir el-Balah was chosen as it was one of the only places in Gaza where "the population has remained largely in place and not been displaced" by more than two years of war between Hamas and Israel, Fadi said.

Farah Shaath, 25, was excited to vote for the first time. 

"Although it is unlike any election in the world, it is a confirmation of our continued existence in the Gaza Strip despite everything," she told AFP.

The election commission says it has recruited polling staff from civil society organisations and hired "a private security company to secure polling centres" for the Gaza vote, spokesman Fareed Taamallah told AFP.

But a source from the commission in Gaza, who asked to remain anonymous, said that "Hamas police insisted on securing the electoral process in Deir al-Balah".

The source added that "this will be done by deploying unarmed security personnel in civilian clothing around polling centres", which number 12 in Deir el-Balah.

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Outside a high school classroom in Vilnius, several students look apprehensive as they discuss their looming futures -– university, the job market and, for many of them, serving in the military.

In their final year of high school, all are on the brink of Lithuania's newly-reformed draft policy, expanded to make all 18- to 22-year-old men who pass a health check eligible, as the small neighbour of Russia and Belarus seeks to deter any aggression from Moscow. 

While authorities praise young people's patriotism, eligible men say they need more government support as they prepare to serve. 

"Those younger people will have to defend our country, and to be able to motivate them is important, so they feel encouraged to join the military," Valentinas, an 18-year-old high school student, told AFP. 

This policy, initially implemented in 2014 after the Russian occupation of Crimea, has expanded several times since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

At the start of this year, the draft list grew from 3,500 people to 5,000. 

Previous exceptions to the policy, such as those for students in higher education, were removed.  

- 'All volunteers' -

Lithuania's defence ministry is confident its young people are eager to defend their country. 

"It is our high expectation that maybe this year will be the first year that we will have all volunteers coming into conscription," Vice Minister of Defence Karolis Aleksa told AFP in Vilnius.  

But many potential draftees worry the military draft might disrupt their plans in a country formerly occupied by the Soviet Union.  

"This year I wouldn't want to go," Dominikas, 18, told AFP. "If I was to get drafted, it would mess up the rhythm of education, and that would be a problem". 

Vykintas, 18, a classmate, admitted he volunteered, but not out of overt enthusiasm for service.  

"I'm not really excited for the military, but I also volunteered for it because I think it's better to just do it after school and be free with it," he told AFP.  

Another young man, Valentinas, volunteered as "I don't know what to do with my future. I don't know where to study, so the military is a great option for me".    

"Since 2014... the main goal has been to increase the size of the professional armed forces and, in particular, the number of reservists," Tomas Janeliunas, a professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, told AFP. 

"The number of conscripts has been gradually expanded each year," he added.  

"Everybody understands the reality, the security threats," Aleksa said, adding he believes the country is moving "toward universal male conscription".  

- 'Ten percent' patriotic -

Such policies are popular with government officials who regularly emphasise the country's defence needs, as well as with the Lithuanian public.  

In a 2024 poll, 63 percent of Lithuanians supported universal conscription and the military is the country's most popular institution –- enjoying 80 percent confidence among the public.  

"Lithuania maintains that it must not rely solely on NATO allies but also contribute as much as possible to its own defence -- both through budgetary commitments (this year reaching 5.38 percent of GDP) and by increasing the number of personnel," Janeliunas said.  

Groups such as the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union (LRU) -- a government-sponsored paramilitary group, have emphasised the importance of teaching young Lithuanians about patriotism.  

Young draftees do not always share the same perspective.  

"I'd say about ten percent of the volunteers are patriotic, to be honest," Rokas, 18, told AFP.  

Since the war in Ukraine began, several organisations, including the LRU, have noted increased interest in joining up, and last year, the Lithuanian armed forces noted volunteers for military service were up by half on two years prior. 

- Pay or patriotism? - 

Students say this is not necessarily evidence of greater patriotism.

"I don't think people became more patriotic because of the war," Dominikas told AFP. 

"It's more because of... the increase in the pay rate," said Tomas, his classmate. "I think that's the reason a lot of people are volunteering".  

Conscripts in Lithuania can earn up to 8,835 euros for nine months of service, depending on their evaluations and their volunteer status. 

Young Lithuanians who volunteer can choose the time and place of their service, as opposed to draftees.

They also receive cumulative payments up to 30 percent higher than those drafted compulsorily.  

Regardless of personal feelings towards service, each of the young men AFP spoke to agreed the draft was necessary for the country's security.  

"There wouldn't be enough people if it wasn't mandatory," said Tomas.  

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(The Center Square) – The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed Texas its third win Friday on border security.  

As the border crisis escalated during the Biden administration, Gov. Greg Abbott took a series of measures to implement border security efforts, including building and expanding concertina wire barriers, building a border wall and installing marine barriers in the Rio Grande River, all on Texas soil. He also signed several border security bills into law, including SB 4. 

Border barriers were implemented through Abbott’s border security initiative, Operation Lone Star. In response, the Biden administration and private groups sued. 

On Friday, the Fifth Circuit ruled on a lawsuit filed by immigrant groups to block SB 4 from going into effect. The law makes illegal entry into Texas a state crime. It gives Texas law enforcement the authority to return illegal foreign nationals to a port of entry and/or arrest them for unlawful entry, among other provisions. Gov. said then President Joe Biden's "deliberate inaction … left Texas to fend for itself." He pointed to Article 1 Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which empowers states "to take action to defend themselves and that is exactly what Texas is doing." 

The Biden administration sued, as did El Paso County, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways. They argued the law is unconstitutional and the federal government has the “exclusive authority under federal law to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens.” SB 4 “creates purported state immigration crimes for unlawful entry and unlawful reentry, permits state judges and magistrates to order the removal of noncitizens from the country, and mandates that state officials carry out those removal orders.”

The district court and a Fifth Circuit panel of three judges agreed, blocking SB 4 from going into effect. Texas appealed, requesting the full court to hear the case.

After President Donald Trump was elected, his administration dropped the federal lawsuit against SB 4 but the private action continued.

On Friday, the court issued a 12-page ruling solely on procedural grounds, arguing the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to sue. It didn’t address the merits of the claims.

Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote the opinion for the majority, joined by Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod and judges Edith Jones, Catharina Haynes, Don Willett, James Ho, Stuart Duncan, Kurt Engelhardt, Andrew Oldham and Cory Wilson. Citing Supreme Court cases, Smith wrote, “‘Courts sometimes make standing law more complicated than it needs to be; … [P]laintiffs must have a ‘personal stake’ in a case to have standing to sue; … Plaintiffs cannot ‘manufacture standing by voluntarily’ incurring costs.’ 

“That should be the end of this matter: These Plaintiffs voluntarily incurred costs to advocate for clients. Under recent Supreme Court precedent, that falls far short of conferring standing. We vacate the preliminary injunction to the contrary.”

Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman, joined by Judges Carl Stewart, Leslie Southwick, Stephen Higginson and Irma Carrillo Ramirez, issued a lengthier dissent, joined in part by judges James Graves and Dana Douglas. They argued Texas enacted its own immigration laws and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center had standing. “Federal laws on the books permit Texas to assist the federal government in apprehending illegal immigrants if the federal government so requests. But Texas cannot enact its own immigration regime,” she wrote.

This was the third win the court handed Texas. 

In July 2024, the Fifth Circuit handed Texas its first win, ruling Texas had a legal right to install marine barriers. In this case, Ho emphasized state sovereignty. 

“A sovereign isn't a sovereign if it can't defend itself against invasion,” Ho wrote. “Presidents throughout history have vigorously defended their right to protect the Nation. And the States did not forfeit the sovereign prerogative when they joined the Union. Indeed, the Constitution is even more explicit when it comes to the States.”

By December 2024, the Fifth Circuit handed Texas its second win, stating it had a legal right to erect the concertina wire barriers and the federal government could not remove them, The Center Square reported.

In both cases, the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower courts’ rulings in favor of Texas. The barriers remain in place and have expanded. OLS is currently in its fifth year.

While lauding the first two wins, Abbott said the fight was “far from over. Texas will continue to defend our constitutional right to secure our southern border to keep our state and the nation safe.” 

After the third win, his press secretary Andrew Mahaleris, told The Center Square, “Governor Abbott signed SB 4 into law to protect Texas and America from President Biden’s open border policies, the effects of which did not disappear overnight. He thanks the Fifth Circuit for reaffirming this common-sense law that helps ensure public safety. Texas will not back down from its constitutional right to self-defense.”

Peru's electoral tribunal on Friday rejected calls for a new election in Lima following irregularities during the April 12 vote and confirmed a presidential runoff will be held June 7.  

Ultra-conservative candidate and former mayor of Lima, Rafael Lopez Aliaga -- who is still vying to be on the June ballot -- had requested a new election in Peru's capital, arguing that problems at polling stations there had prevented thousands of his supporters from voting.

In a statement on social media, the National Jury of Elections (JNE) said the unanimous decision to move forward without redoing Lima's vote came "after a technical-legal analysis and in view of reports issued by competent bodies."

Aliaga accused JNE of tarnishing the electoral process and urged President Roberto Burneo to intervene.

Earlier Friday, Peruvian police raided the home of Piero Corvetto, the former head of the country's electoral authority who resigned this week in the wake of a chaotic presidential election.

The dawn raid in Lima took place simultaneously with searches of premises linked to other former officials of the Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), as well as representatives of a company tasked with transporting election equipment, police said.

"The investigation, focused on the alleged crime of aggravated collusion, aims to uncover illicit agreements that may have compromised state resources," police said in a statement.

Corvetto resigned Tuesday, hours before he was scheduled to be questioned by prosecutors over the April 12 election.

Election day was marred by logistical problems in the capital, preventing tens of thousands of people from voting until the following day, and the ballot count has been painfully slow.

Final results from the first round will not be released until mid-May. The top two candidates will then meet in a June 7 runoff.

With 95 percent of ballots counted, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori easily qualified.

She will face either leftist Roberto Sanchez or Aliaga, with Sanchez narrowly ahead in the latest tally.

The European Union's observer mission cited "serious shortcomings" during the election, but said it had not found "objective evidence" of fraud.

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Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez and her Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro pledged military cooperation to combat "mafias" on their shared border, as Petro became the first foreign leader to visit Venezuela since the ouster of strongman Nicolas Maduro.

Petro met with Rodriguez, who took over after the toppling of her former boss Maduro by US forces in January.

Petro said the joint military effort will be aimed at "freeing border areas from the mafias engaged in a range of illegal businesses, starting with cocaine, illicit gold, human trafficking and rare minerals."

"Both countries have undertaken the task of making...military plans, but also the immediate establishment of mechanisms for sharing information and for developing intelligence," Rodriguez said for her part.

Rodriguez assumed power in Venezuela after a lightning US military raid on Caracas on January 3 captured socialist president Maduro and brought him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

President Donald Trump's administration backs Rodriguez's interim government, which has opened Venezuela's oil industry to US companies.

Petro fiercely criticized the US operation and has been vilified by Trump, who accuses the leftist leader of not doing enough to combat drug production.

A summit between Petro and Rodriguez had been scheduled for March in the Colombian border town of Cucuta, but was cancelled at the last minute.

The area around Cucuta is home to numerous drug-running, left-wing guerrilla groups, which Colombia has long accused Venezuela of funding and protecting.

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MISSOULA, Montana — An official announcement from the FBI Billings Division, Missoula Resident Agency and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said a Missoula man was arrested under a federal criminal complaint.

Cupid Lamar Drakeford was charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, according to the announcement.

The affidavit filed in support of the complaint said investigators received information alleging Drakeford, who also went by “Q,” was distributing large amounts of methamphetamine in the Missoula area.

Drakeford appeared in U.S. District Court in Missoula on April 24, 2026.

The announcement said the FBI Montana Regional Violent Crime Task Force conducted the investigation with help from the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office. The task force includes FBI agents and investigators from the Missoula Police Department, Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, Kalispell Police Department, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Customs Border Protection, Border Patrol and Montana Probation and Parole.

Federal authorities said a criminal complaint is an accusation and that a person charged by complaint is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in later criminal proceedings.

The governor of Maine on Friday vetoed a temporary ban on building large data centers that aimed to rein in rampant construction driven by the AI race.

The buildout comes at a cost, as the power-hungry facilities strain local grids and drive up electricity bills.

Data centers also typically have massive footprints, taking up land that could be used for housing, businesses, recreation or green space.

Legislators in Maine earlier this month endorsed what would have been the first data center ban in the United States if it had been signed into law by Governor Janet Mills.

"A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates," Mills said in a statement announcing the veto.

Mills explained that her veto was based on the bill's failure to make an exception for a data center project in a part of the northeastern state where the closure of a mill three years ago had been a "devastating" economic blow.

"This decision is simply wrong," said state reresentative Melanie Sachs, a sponsor of the bill.

"By vetoing this bill, Governor Mills isn't just rejecting the advice of her own task force -- she is resisting the will of a majority of Maine people."

Public sentiment is hardening, with a recent Quinnipiac University poll finding 65 percent of Americans oppose having a data center built in their community.

A boom in generative artificial intelligence has sent data center demand skyrocketing, with dozens of projects springing up across the United States.

If it had become a law, the Maine bill would have paused new data center construction until November of next year.

It also called for the creation of a council to assess the risks and benefits of proposed data centers and provide input for planners.

Data center construction spending in the United States has surged in recent years, with tech firms pouring tens of billions of dollars into building out infrastructure amid the race to lead in AI.

Maine is among the US states that have seen home electricity bills soar in recent years, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

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(The Center Square) – Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will head back to Pakistan over the weekend to resume talks, as Vice President JD Vance remains on standby.

The group was scheduled to fly to Pakistan earlier in the week, when the trip was called off after President Donald Trump noted a fracture in the Iranian leadership.

On Tuesday, with just hours left before the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was set to expire, the president extended it, citing a “seriously fractured” Iranian government.

Trump did not indicate a timeline for the latest ceasefire, and has since said he will not be rushed – instead putting the pressure on Iran, saying time is not on their side.

Following the announcement that the Tuesday talks had been postponed, Trump said his administration would await Iran's proposal before moving forward with negotiations.

"Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” the president said in a statement.

Despite the extended ceasefire, the president remains committed to continuing the naval blockade on Iranian ports, put in place over two weeks ago.

Trump indicated that the U.S. stands “ready and able” during the ceasefire, waiting for a unified proposal to be submitted and until “discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

The president has said Iran is losing approximately $500 million a day in oil sales as the blockade continues.

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has apologized to a Canadian town devastated by a February mass shooting, saying he was "deeply sorry" the company did not notify police about the killer's troubling ChatGPT account.

OpenAI had banned an account linked to Jesse Van Rootselaar in June 2025, eight months before the 18-year-old transgender woman killed eight people at her home and a school in the tiny British Columbia mining town of Tumbler Ridge.

The account was banned over concerns about usage linked to violent activity, but OpenAI said it did not inform police because nothing pointed toward an imminent attack.

Canadian officials condemned OpenAI's handling of the case and summoned company leaders to Ottawa to explain its security protocols.

The family of a girl who was shot and gravely wounded at the school is suing the US tech giant for negligence.

In a letter Thursday addressed to the community of Tumbler Ridge, published Friday by the local news site Tumbler RidgeLines, Altman said "no one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this."

"I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June," Altman wrote.

"While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered."

Van Rootselaar killed her mother and brother at the family's home before heading to the local secondary school, where she shot dead five children and a teacher.

She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police entered the building.

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