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London — The people of Southport, England, came together Sunday for the first of the funerals for three girls killed during a dance class, remembering 9-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar’s radiant smile and calling for an end to the unrest that has convulsed Britain since the attack two weeks ago. 

Hundreds of mourners packed St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and spilled into the street outside, which had been decorated with pink ribbons and balloons in Alice’s honor. Chief Constable Serena Kennedy was among them, and she delivered the parents’ message that no one should commit acts of violence in their daughter’s name. 

“I am ashamed and I’m so sorry that you had to even consider this in the planning of the funeral of your beautiful daughter, Alice,” said Kennedy, who heads the Merseyside Police force, which covers the area around Liverpool. “And I hope that anyone who has taken part in the violent disorder on our streets over the past 13 days is hanging their head in shame at the pain that they have caused you, a grieving family.” 

Far-right activists have used misinformation about the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class that killed Alice as a pretext for anti-immigrant demonstrations. They descended into riots and looting as mobs attacked mosques, shops owned by immigrants and hotels housing asylum-seekers. The disturbances have been fueled by social media users who spread misinformation about the suspect in the July 29 stabbing rampage.

Rumors, later debunked, quickly circulated online that the suspect was an asylum-seeker, or a Muslim immigrant. The suspect was born in Wales and moved to the Southport area in 2013. His parents were originally from Rwanda.

The violence calmed Wednesday when far-right demonstrations anticipated in dozens of locations across Britain failed to materialize. Instead, peaceful anti-racism protesters showed up in force. 

But on Sunday, the focus was on Alice. 

Her parents, Sergio and Alexandra, described Alice as a “perfect dream child” who loved animals and moved through the world with confidence and empathy. 

“We feel shocked, unimaginable pain, we miss you,” they said in a tribute read on their behalf. “From time to time, the pin drops. When mommy says, ‘Good night, Sergio, good night, Alice,’ and then it hits us all over again. We don’t hear you back.’’ 

Jinnie Payne, the headteacher at Churchtown Primary School, remembered that Alice once decorated a teacher’s classroom pointer as a magic wand and outlined the seven “Alice qualities” that she wished every student had. 

Those included having a big smile, a genuine interest in others and treating everyone equally. 

“This has to be my favorite, how a child at such a young age could not favor one friend over another,” she told the congregation. “Friends, she played equally with them all. That is so hard to do, and she mastered it.” 

But she also loved to dance. 

On Sunday, her parents released a photo of Alice standing next to a cardboard cutout of Swift as she waited for her last dance class to begin. 

“The time has come to say, ‘there goes Alice,’” Payne said tearfully. “We are letting you go dancing now, Alice. Teach those angels a few dance moves.” 
…

New York — In the Ryan Reynolds-Blake Lively box-office showdown, both husband and wife came out as winners. 

Reynolds’ Marvel Studios smash “Deadpool & Wolverine” remained the top movie in North American theaters for the third straight week with $54.2 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday. Worldwide, it’s now surpassed $1 billion.

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” though, was closely followed by “It Ends With Us,” the romance drama starring Lively, which surpassed expectations with a stellar $50 million debut. 

Together, the films created a kind of family edition of “Barbenheimer,” in which a pair of very different movies thrived in part due to counterprogramming. Only this time, the opposite movies were fronted by one of Hollywood’s most famous couples. The films’ one-two punch wasn’t entirely unprecedented. In 1990, Bruce Willis’ “Die Hard 2” led the box office while Demi Moore’s “Ghost” came in second. 

The weekend also featured a high-priced flop. “Borderlands,” the long-delayed $120-million videogame adaptation directed by Eli Roth, launched with a paltry $8.8 million for Lionsgate. The film, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jack Black, was shot all the way back in 2021. After delays and reshoots, it finally landed in theaters effectively dead-on-arrival; it scored just 10% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and seems likely to contend for one of the worst movies of the year. 

Meanwhile, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which co-stars Hugh Jackman, continued its march through box-office records. The film, directed by Shawn Levy, is only the second R-rated movie to reach $1 billion, following 2019’s “Joker.” In three weeks, it’s already one of the most lucrative Marvel releases and trails only Disney’s other 2024 smash, “Inside Out” ($1.6 billion worldwide) among movies released this year. 

Lively makes a cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” but she both stars in and produced “It Ends With Us.” Adapted from the bestselling romance novel by Colleen Hoover, Lively stars as Lily Bloom, a Boston florist torn between two men, one from her present life (Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film) and another who was her first love (Brandon Sklenar).

“It Ends With Us” cost a modest $25 million to produce, so it will turn a significant profit for co-financers Columbia Pictures and Wayfarer Studios. Like another female-skewing summer-release book adaptation from Sony, “Where the Crawdads Sing,” “It Ends With Us” could hold well through the typically slower August box-office period. Audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore. 

Reynolds and Lively occasionally played up the convergence of their movies. Earlier this week, Reynolds posted a video of himself posing junket questions to Sklenar. The timing paid off especially for Lively, whose film doubled earlier opening-weekend forecasts. 

Neon’s “Cuckoo,” a German Alps-set horror film by filmmaker Tilman Singer, opened with $3 million on 1,503 screen. It stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 

1. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $54.2 million. 

2. “It Ends With Us,” $50 million. 

3. “Twisters,” $15 million. 

4. “Borderlands,” $8.8 million. 

5. “Despicable Me 4,” $8 million. 

6. “Trap,” $6.7 million. 

7. “Inside Out 2,” $5 million. 

8. “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” $3.1 million. 

9. “Cuckoo,” $3 million. 

10. “Longlegs,” $2 million. 
    …

VARNAVA/ATHENS — Residents fled their homes Sunday in the village of Varnava near Athens as fire crews struggled to contain a fast-moving wildfire fueled by hot, windy weather that sent smoke clouds over the Greek capital.

More than 250 firefighters backed by 12 water-bombing planes and seven helicopters battled the blaze that broke out at 3 p.m. and quickly reached the village 35 km (20 miles) north of Athens.

“The village was surrounded in no time, in no time. It’s really windy,” resident Katerina Fylaktou told Reuters. “It started from one point and suddenly the whole village was surrounded,” she said.

Authorities sent evacuation alerts for five nearby areas. By early evening, thick brown smoke hung over much of Athens and reached the island of Aegina to its south.

Hundreds of wildfires have broken out across Greece this summer, which has recorded its hottest June and July after its warmest winter. Like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, scientists have linked the fires to increasingly hot, dry weather driven by global climate change.

A European Commission report in April said the 2023 wildfire season in Europe was among the worst this century. Just this month, fires burned amid extreme heat in Spain and the Balkans as well as Greece.

Greek fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said the Varnava blaze spread due to gale force winds.

Flames as high as 25 meters (82 feet) swallowed up trees and shrubland.

Another blaze in a forested area near the town of Megara, west of Athens, had been contained by Sunday afternoon, the fire brigade said. 

Several other regions across Greece were on high alert for fire risk Sunday and Monday. 

“We are expecting a very difficult week,” said Kostas Lagouvardos, research director of the Athens Observatory. “If the Varnava blaze is not contained during the night, we will have a problem tomorrow,” he said. 

Fire-fighting aircraft ceased operations at dusk. 

On Saturday, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said he had called for emergency measures involving the army, police and volunteers to deal with forest fires until Aug. 15. 

“Extremely high temperatures and dangerous weather conditions will prevail,” he said. “Half of Greece will be in the red.” 

In June and July, above-normal temperatures were registered on 57 out of 61 days, Lagouvardos said. Greece is forecast to record its hottest ever summer. 
…

Paris — French police evacuated the area around the Eiffel Tower after a man was seen climbing the Paris landmark hours before the Olympics closing ceremony Sunday.

The shirtless man was seen scaling the 330-meter (1,083-foot) tall tower in the afternoon. It’s unclear where he began his ascent, but he was spotted just above the Olympic rings adorning the second section of the monument, just above the first viewing deck. 

Police escorted visitors away from the area around 3 p.m. Some visitors who were briefly locked on the second floor were allowed to exit around 30 minutes later. 

“An individual started climbing the Eiffel Tower at 2:45 p.m., police intervened and the person was detained,” a Paris police official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into the incident. 

The Eiffel Tower was a centerpiece of the opening ceremony, with Celine Dion serenading the city from one of its viewing areas. The Tower is not expected to be part of the closing ceremony, which was set to begin at Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis at 9 p.m. 

The incident occurred as the Olympic competition winds down and security services in Paris and beyond are shifting their focus to the closing ceremony that will bring the curtain down on the Games. 

More than 30,000 police officers have been deployed around Paris on Sunday. France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said about 3,000 police officers will be mobilized around the Stade de France, and 20,000 police troops and other security personnel in Paris and the Saint-Denis area will be mobilized late into Sunday night to ensure safety on the last day of the Olympics.
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New York — A week of wild market swings has investors looking ahead to inflation data, corporate earnings and presidential polls for signals that could soothe a recent outbreak of turbulence in U.S. stocks. 

Following months of placid trading, U.S. stock volatility has surged this month as a run of alarming data coincided with the unwinding of a massive, yen-fueled carry trade to deal equities their worst selloff of the year. The S&P 500 .SPX is still down around 6% from a record high set last month, even after making up ground in a series of rallies after Monday’s crushing selloff.  

At issue for many investors is the trajectory of the U.S. economy. After months of betting on an economic soft landing, investors rushed to price in the risk of a more severe downturn, following weaker-than-expected manufacturing and employment data last week.  

“Everybody is now worried about the economy,” said Bob Kalman, a portfolio manager at Miramar Capital. “We are moving away from the greed portion of the program and now the market is facing the fear of significant geopolitical risks, a hotly contested election and volatility that is not going away.”  

Though stocks have rallied in recent days, traders believe it will be a while before calm returns to markets. Indeed, the historical behavior of the Cboe Volatility Index .VIX – which saw its biggest one-day jump ever on Monday – shows that surges of volatility usually take months to dissipate.  

Known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, the index measures demand for options protection from market swings. When it closes above 35 – an elevated level that it topped on Monday – the index has taken 170 sessions on average to return to 17.6, its long-term median and a level associated with far less extreme investor anxiety, a Reuters analysis showed.  

One potential flashpoint will be when the U.S. reports consumer price data on Wednesday. Signs that inflation is dropping too steeply could bolster fears that the Federal Reserve has sent the economy into a tailspin by leaving interest rates elevated for too long, contributing to market turbulence.  

For now, futures markets are pricing in a 55% chance the central bank will bring down benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points in September, at its next policy meeting, compared with a roughly 5% chance seen a month ago.  

“Slower payroll growth reinforces that U.S. economic risks are becoming more two-sided as inflation cools and activity slows,” said Oscar Munoz, chief U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities, in a recent note.  

Corporate earnings, meanwhile, have been neither strong enough nor weak enough to give the market direction, said Charles Lemonides, head of hedge fund ValueWorks LLC.  

Overall, companies in the S&P 500 have reported second-quarter results that are 4.1% above expectations, in line with the long-term average of 4.2% above expectations, according to LSEG data.  

Walmart WMT.N and Home Depot HD.N are among companies reporting earnings next week, with their results seen as offering a snapshot on how U.S. consumers are holding up after months of elevated interest rates.  

The end of the month brings earnings from chip giant Nvidia NVDA.O, whose shares are up around 110% this year even after a recent selloff. The Fed’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, set for Aug. 22-24, will give policymakers another chance to fine tune their monetary policy message before their September meeting.  

Lemonides believes the recent volatility is a healthy correction during an otherwise strong bull market, and he initiated a position in Amazon.com AMZN.O to take advantage of its weakness.  

The U.S. presidential race is also likely to ramp up uncertainty. 

Democrat Kamala Harris leads Republican Donald Trump 42% to 37% in the race for the Nov. 5 presidential election, according to an Ipsos poll published on Thursday. Harris, the vice president, entered the race on July 21 when President Joe Biden folded his campaign following a disastrous debate performance on June 27 against Trump.  

With nearly three months until the Nov. 5 vote, investors are braced for plenty of additional twists and turns in an election year that has already been one of the most dramatic in recent memory.  

“While early events suggested a clearer picture of US Presidential and Congressional outcomes, more recent events have again thrown the outcome into doubt,” analysts at JPMorgan wrote.  

Chris Marangi, co-chief investment officer of value at Gabelli Funds, believes the election will add to market volatility. At the same time, expected rate cuts in September could boost a rotation into areas of the market that have lagged in a year that has been dominated by Big Tech, he said.  

“We expect increased volatility into the election but the underlying rotation to continue as lower rates offset economic weakness,” he said. 
…

…

Paris — U.S. Olympic officials say they will appeal a court ruling that resulted in American gymnast Jordan Chiles being asked to return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise. 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided an on-floor appeal by Chiles’ coach that vaulted her to third, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the 1-minute time limit for scoring inquiries. 

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said Saturday night it would respect the court’s decision and elevate Barbosu to third. The International Olympic Committee confirmed the ruling Sunday, announcing that it was reallocating the bronze from last Monday’s women’s floor final to Romanian Ana Barbosu. 

“We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee statement said. 

CAS ruled Saturday that Team USA coach Cecile Landi’s appeal to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score came outside the 1-minute window allowed by the FIG. The ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s inquiry came 1 minute, 4 seconds after Chiles’ initial score was posted. 

The IOC said in a statement it will be in touch with the USOPC regarding the return of Chiles’ bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony honoring Barbosu. 

“The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” said the USOPC statement, which was released Sunday. 

It was unclear the exact process the appeal would take first. The two potential places the USOPC could take the appeal would be to Switzerland’s highest court, the Swiss Tribunal or the European Court of Human Rights. 

CAS wrote Saturday that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision,” but left it up to the federation to decide who would get the medal behind gold winner Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the U.S. 

The FIG said it was the IOC’s call on whether to reallocate the medal. The IOC confirmed Sunday it would respect FIG’s decision and seek to have Chiles’ medal returned. 

The rapid turn of events adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes. 

Romanian gymnastics legend and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci feared for Barbosu’s mental health because of the wrenching sequence in which she went from bronze medalist to fourth-place finisher. 

“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on X earlier in the week. 

Comaneci, at the same time, criticized the judges for the way they scored Maneca-Voinea’s routine — the gymnast was docked 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds, but viral replays showed she narrowly stayed inbounds. Comaneci urged the Romanian Olympic Committee to protest, which it did, but CAS denied that appeal. 

Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, indicating she is heartbroken and is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.” 

Jazmin Chiles, Jordan’s sister, said on Instagram that Chiles was stripped of a medal “not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.” 

U.S. teammates offered support to Chiles, a two-time Olympian. 

“Sending you so much love Jordan,” American star Simone Biles posted on Instagram. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.” 

“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?” six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee added on Instagram. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.” 

USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday it is “devastated” by the ruling. 

“The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote. 

Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in the floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker — a higher execution score — and began celebrating with a Romanian flag. 

Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her fifth, right behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on Chiles’ score was announced. 

“At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like ‘We’re just going to try,'” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like ‘What?'” 

Judges awarded the appeal, leapfrogging Chiles past Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea. 

Barbosu made it a point after returning home to Romania that she had no problem with Chiles. 

“I only want for everybody to be fair, we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters. “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we only want to perform as best as we can and to be rewarded based on our performance. The problems lie with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.” 

Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, called out the critics in a post, writing she was “tired” of the derogatory comments being leveled at Jordan. 

“My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched,” Gina Chiles posted. “And she’s being called disgusting things.” 

The uncertainty also tinges what had been a beautiful moment on the medal stand, when Chiles and Biles knelt to honor Andrade after the Brazilian star won her fourth medal in Paris. 

“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said about a moment that soon went viral, with even the Louvre itself suggesting it might be worthy enough for a spot somewhere in the vicinity of the Mona Lisa. 

That memory now carries a complicated and emotional postscript. 
…

KYIV, Ukraine — Days after Ukraine began a surprise military incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy broke the government’s silence on it late Saturday by indirectly acknowledging ongoing military actions to “push the war out into the aggressor’s territory” in his nightly address.

Overnight into Sunday, a Russian drone and missile barrage on Kyiv killed two people including a 4-year-old boy, while in Russia, Kursk’s regional governor said 13 people were wounded when a Ukrainian missile shot down by Russian air defenses fell on a residential building.

The bodies of a 35-year-old man and his son were found under rubble after fragments of missiles fell on a residential area in Kyiv’s suburban Brovary district, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service on Sunday. Another three people in the district were also injured in the attack.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration said it was the second time this month Kyiv was targeted.

Popko said ballistic missiles did not reach the capital but that suburbs took the hit, while drones aiming for the capital were shot down.

Ukraine’s incursion continued for a sixth day on Sunday and is unprecedented for its use of Ukrainian military units on Russian soil. The exact aims of the operation remain unclear and Ukrainian military officials have adopted a policy of secrecy, presumably to ensure its success.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said 35 drones were shot down overnight over the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk and Oryol regions.

Ukraine has not commented on the Sunday drone attacks inside Russia. But it comes as Ukraine has increased the pace of similar drone attacks largely targeting military infrastructure and oil depots in recent weeks.

But in Saturday’s evening address, Zelenskyy referred to army chief Oleksandr Syrsky’s briefings “on the front line and our actions and pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory.”

Thanking the soldiers involved, he added: “Ukraine is proving that it can really bring justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor.”

Russia’s army on Saturday confirmed it was still fighting the Ukrainian incursion for a fifth day.

It said Kyiv’s forces had initially crossed the border with around 1,000 troops, 20 armored vehicles and 11 tanks, though it claimed on Saturday to have destroyed five times that much military hardware so far.

‘Unprecedented’

Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said late Friday it was starting counterterror operations in the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions to protect citizens.

The Belgorod and Bryansk regions bordering Ukraine have also been hit hard by shelling and aerial attacks since Russia launched its offensive in February 2022.

Security forces and the military have sweeping emergency powers during counterterror operations.

Movement is restricted, vehicles can be seized, phone calls can be monitored, areas are declared no-go zones, checkpoints introduced, and security is beefed up at key infrastructure sites.

On the streets of Moscow Saturday, AFP journalists found support for tough measures to quell the response, but also some anger at how the incursion had been allowed to happen.

“We have to take all the steps that are possible in such a situation,” said Alexander Ilyin, a 42-year-old architect.

The anti-terrorism committee said Ukraine had mounted an “unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions of our country.”

Russia on Friday appeared to hit back, launching a missile strike on a supermarket in the east Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka that killed at least 14 people.

Another three were killed in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday, local officials said.

Ukraine also said it had to evacuate 20,000 people from the Sumy region, just across the border from Kursk.

While neither side has provided precise details on Ukraine’s incursion, Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said it had hit some Ukrainian positions as far as 10 kilometers inside Russia.

It also reported hitting Ukrainian troops in areas 30 kilometers apart, an indication as to the breadth, as well as depth of Ukraine’s advance.

Belarus, Russia’s close ally, on Saturday ordered military reinforcements — ground troops, air units, air defense and rocket systems — to be deployed closer to its border with Ukraine in response to Kyiv’s incursion, its defense ministry said.

‘Particularly effective’

Russia’s nuclear agency on Saturday warned of the threat to the nearby Kursk nuclear power station, less than 50 kilometers from the fighting.

“The actions of the Ukrainian army pose a direct threat” to the Kursk plant in western Russia, state news agencies cited its atomic energy agency Rosatom as saying.

On Friday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, expressing similar concerns, had called for “maximum restraint.”

Zelenskyy’s comments Saturday notwithstanding, Ukraine’s leaders have remained tight-lipped on the operation.

The United States, Kyiv’s closest ally, said it had not been informed of the plans in advance.

Elsewhere on the front line, Ukraine on Saturday reported the lowest number of “combat engagements” on its territory since June 10.

That could be a sign its incursion is helping to relieve pressure on other parts of the sprawling front line where Moscow’s troops had been advancing. 
…

NEW YORK — Visitors to corn mazes across the country are finding a familiar and joyous figure in the winding labyrinth of tall stalks. Snoopy.

More than 80 farms in the U.S. and Canada have teamed up with Peanuts Worldwide to create “Peanuts”-themed mazes to celebrate the beloved strip’s 75th birthday this summer and fall.

A massive Snoopy rests on top of his doghouse in a maze at Dull’s Tree Farm in Thorntown, Indiana, and he’s depicted gleefully atop a pumpkin at Downey’s Farm in Caledon, Ontario.

“All of these events helps keep my dad’s legacy alive,” says Jill Schulz, an actor and daughter of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz.

“As someone who can’t even keep houseplants alive, the fact that they can do that with a corn maze and get the artwork right and create a fun experience for all ages is pretty incredible,” she adds, laughing.

The mazes — which span 35 states and provinces, from California to New York, Ontario to Texas — are expected to attract more than 2 million visitors. Farmers are signing up for the free service because the mazes are part of the customer lure, in addition to things like hay rides, fresh produce and pumpkin carvings.

Each maze is designed for the size of the farm — from 1.5 acres to 20 acres — and are mostly corn but also sunflowers. They’re custom created by the world’s largest corn maze consulting company, The MAiZE Inc.

The Utah-based Brett Herbst, who leads the company and who launched his first corn maze in 1996, says technology has only somewhat changed the way corn mazes are made.

“The first year we did it, we just used a weed whacker with a saw blade on it when the corn was fully grown,” he says. “Now we do it when it’s short and we go in and either mow it or rototill it. We design it all on a computer, but most of it we actually just go draw it out on the ground by hand.”

He and his team have over the years designed mazes with everything from the faces of presidential candidates, Oprah Winfrey, zombies, John Wayne and Chris LeDoux. Charlie Brown and Co. just work well, he says.

“It’s very nostalgic and just seemed like a very natural fit from the get-go to embrace that with ‘Peanuts,'” he says. “It’s harvest time. It’s kind of become this iconic thing.”

There’s an art and a science to maze building, a balance between maintaining the integrity of the image, but also making it a true maze where people can actually get lost in. “That’s definitely a challenge there,” says Herbst. “You want to accomplish both as much as possible.”

“Peanuts” made its debut Oct. 2, 1950. The travails of the “little round-headed kid” Charlie Brown and his pals eventually ran in more than 2,600 newspapers, reaching millions of readers in 75 countries.

The strip offers enduring images of kites in trees, Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, tart-tongued Lucy handing out advice for a nickel and Snoopy taking the occasional flight of fancy to the skies. Phrases such as “security blanket” and “good grief” are a part of the global vernacular. Schulz died in 2000.

There’s something timeless about corn mazes, and that’s what excites Jill Schulz so much. They offer kids a chance to disconnect from their online life and celebrate something their parents did.

“It’s great to have an opportunity to just bring kids to events that are old school, because it’s also important for parents and grandparents to introduce something they loved to do as a child,” she says.

“I think we all need a little innocence for our children right now with all the technology out there. We need a little ‘put down your phone and go out and have some good old fashioned, old school family time.’ I think that’s important.”
…

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DALLAS — As law enforcement officers hung back outside Khloie Torres’ fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, she begged for help in a series of 911 calls, whispering into the phone that there were “a lot” of bodies and telling the operator: “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God.”

At one point, the dispatcher asks Khloie if there are many people in the room with her.

“No, it’s just me and a couple of friends. A lot of people are,” she says, pausing briefly, “gone.”

Calls from Khloie and others, along with body camera footage and surveillance videos from the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, were included in a massive collection of audio and video recordings released by Uvalde city officials on Saturday after a prolonged legal fight.

The Associated Press and other news organizations brought a lawsuit after the officials initially refused to publicly release the information. The massacre, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.

The delayed law enforcement response to the shooting has been widely condemned as a massive failure: Nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman in a classroom filled with dead and wounded children and teachers. Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the slow police response in the South Texas city of about 15,000 people 130 kilometers west of San Antonio.

Brett Cross’ 10-year-old nephew, Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed. Cross, who was raising the boy as a son, was angered that relatives weren’t told the records were being released and that it took so long for them to be made public.

“If we thought we could get anything we wanted, we’d ask for a time machine to go back … and save our children, but we can’t, so all we are asking for is for justice, accountability and transparency, and they refuse to give this to us,” he said.

Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jacklyn Cazares was killed in the shooting, said the release of information Saturday reignited festering anger because it shows “the waiting and waiting and waiting” of law enforcement.

“Perhaps if they were to have breached earlier, they would have saved some lives, including my niece’s,” he said.

The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police. While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with them to go in.

The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the school at 11:33 a.m., first opening fire from the hallway, then going into two adjoining fourth-grade classrooms. The first responding officers arrived at the school minutes later. They approached the classrooms, but then retreated as Ramos opened fire.

At 12:06 p.m., much of the radio traffic from the Uvalde Police Department was still focused on setting up a perimeter around the school and controlling traffic in the area, as well as the logistics of keeping track of those who safely evacuated the building. They’ve had trouble setting up a command post, one officer tells his colleagues, “because we need the bodies to keep the parents out.”

“They’re trying to push in,” he says.

At 12:16 p.m., someone with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state law enforcement agency, called police to let them know a SWAT team was en route from Austin, about 100 kilometers away. She asked for any information the police could give about the shooting, the suspect and the police response.

“Do you have a command post? Or where do you need our officers to go?” the caller asks.

The police representative responds that officers know there are several dead students inside the elementary school and others still hiding. Some of the survivors have been evacuated to a building nearby. She doesn’t know if a command post has been set up.

At 12:50 p.m., a tactical team enters one of the classrooms and fatally shoots Ramos.

Among criticisms included in a U.S. Justice Department report released earlier this year was that there was “no urgency” in establishing a command center, creating confusion among police about who was in charge.

Multiple federal and state investigations have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.

Some of the 911 calls released were from terrified instructors. One described “a lot, a whole lot of gunshots,” while another sobbed into the phone as a dispatcher urged her to stay quiet. “Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!” the first teacher cried before hanging up.

Just before arriving at the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at her home. He then took a pickup from the home and drove to the school.

Ramos’ distraught uncle made several 911 calls begging to be put through so he could try to get his nephew to stop shooting.

“Everything I tell him, he does listen to me,” Armando Ramos said. “Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in,” he added, his voice cracking.

He said his nephew, who had been with him at his house the night before, stayed with him in his bedroom all night, and told him that he was upset because his grandmother was “bugging” him.

“Oh my God, please, please, don’t do nothing stupid,” the man says on the call. “I think he’s shooting kids.”

But the offer arrived too late, coming just around the time that the shooting had ended and law enforcement officers killed Salvador Ramos.

Two of the responding officers now face criminal charges. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. A Texas state trooper in Uvalde who had been suspended was reinstated to his job earlier this month.

In an interview this week with CNN, Arredondo said he thinks he’s been “scapegoated” as the one to blame for the botched law enforcement response.

Some of the families have called for more officers to be charged and filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media, online gaming companies, and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.
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It was the fifth consecutive gold medal for the U.S.
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London — Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied Saturday across the United Kingdom to protest recent rioting blamed on the far right in the wake of the Southport knife attack that killed three children.

Crowds massed in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and numerous other towns and cities as fears of violent confrontations with anti-immigration agitators failed to materialize.

It followed a similar situation that unfolded Wednesday night, when anticipated far-right rallies up and down the country were instead replaced by gatherings organized by the Stand Up To Racism advocacy group.

More than a dozen places across England as well as Belfast had been hit by unrest prior to that, following the July 29 stabbing spree, which was wrongly linked on social media to a Muslim immigrant.

Rioters targeted mosques and hotels linked to immigration, as well as police, vehicles and other sites.

However, recent nights have been largely peaceful in English towns and cities, prompting hope among authorities that the more than 700 arrests and numerous people already being jailed has deterred further violence.

However, in Northern Ireland, which has seen sustained disorder since last weekend, police said they were investigating a suspected racially motivated hate crime overnight.

A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east of Belfast, in the early hours of Saturday, with graffiti sprayed on the front door and walls of the building, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, or PSNI.

It said the petrol bomb thrown at the property did not ignite.

Taken seriously

“This is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime, and I want to send a strong message to those who carried this out, that this type of activity will not be tolerated, and any reports of hate crime are taken very seriously,” PSNI Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson said.

There were also overnight reports of damage to property and vehicles in Belfast, as nightly unrest there rumbled on.

The disturbances in Northern Ireland were sparked by events in England but have also been fueled by pro-U.K. loyalist paramilitaries with their own agenda, according to the PSNI.

Around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators rallied in Belfast on Saturday without incident.

In London, hundreds massed outside the office of Brexit architect Nigel Farage’s Reform U.K. party before marching to Parliament, as a large police presence looked on.

Farage and other far-right figures have been blamed for helping to fuel the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

“It’s really important for people of color in this country, for immigrants in this country, to see us out here as white British people saying, ‘No, we don’t stand for this,'” attendee Phoebe Sewell, 32, from London, told AFP.

Fellow Londoner Jeremy Snelling, 64, said he had turned out because “I don’t like the right-wing claiming the streets in my name.”

He did not hold Farage “personally responsible” for the violence but argued that the Reform party founder had “contributed” to the volatile environment.

“I think he is damaging, and I think he’s dangerous,” Snelling said.
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PORTLAND, Oregon — Wildfires in Oregon have burned more acres of land in 2024 than in any year since reliable records began, authorities said Friday, with the mid-August peak of fire season still on the horizon.

Blazes have scorched more than 5,700 square kilometers (2,200 square miles), Northwest Interagency Coordination Center spokesperson Carol Connolly said. That’s more than any other year since 1992, when reliable records began to be kept, she said. It surpasses the previous record, set in 2020.

Connolly said 71 large fires have burned most of the land this year. Large fires are defined as those that consume more than 40 hectares (nearly 100 acres) of timber or more than 120 hectares (almost 300 acres) of grass or brush.

Thirty-two homes in the state have been lost to the fires, she said, which have been fueled by high temperatures, dry weather and low humidity.

They have prompted evacuation notices across the state and largely torched rural and mountain areas, although some have also sparked closer to the Portland metro area.

Level 3 “go now” evacuation notices were in place Friday for the small town of Cherry Grove, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) west of Portland, as a fire burned in a nearby forest. David Huey, a deputy with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, said most residents evacuated after officers went door to door encouraging them to leave.

Airplanes and helicopters were scooping water from nearby Henry Hagg Lake to drop on the fire, said Gert Zoutendijk, spokesperson for the Gaston Rural Fire District. The lake was set to be closed to the public throughout the weekend.

The fire was roughly 1.3 square kilometers (half a square mile) with zero containment as of Friday afternoon, although crews have made progress on lining the fire, Zoutendijk said.

Another fire, near the Portland suburb of Oregon City, led authorities to temporarily close part of a state highway in the morning and issue “go now” evacuation orders along part of the route. By midafternoon, authorities downgraded the evacuation and reopened the highway.

The largest blaze is the Durkee Fire in eastern Oregon, which has scorched more than 1,200 square kilometers (459 square miles) but was at least 95% contained as of Friday, according to authorities. At one point it was the biggest fire in the country.

California’s Park Fire has since become the largest, burning more than 1,710 square kilometers (660 square miles) and destroying more than 600 structures. A man was arrested and accused of starting the fire by pushing a burning car into a gully in a wilderness park outside the Sacramento Valley city of Chico.

Also in California, the Crozier Fire in El Dorado County has burned about 7.7 square kilometers (3 square miles) and was 5% contained as of Friday evening, according to Cal Fire. The fire is burning in steep and rugged terrain and threatens 4,017 structures. The weather is expected to remain hot and dry through the weekend.
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Will the youth vote send Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to the White House? Organizers on both sides have seen a swell of voter enthusiasm and support, particularly among young people. But the younger demographic has had a historically low turnout at the polls. VOA’s Tina Trinh explores whether that could change come November.
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moscow — Moscow on Saturday launched a “counter-terror operation” in three border regions adjoining Ukraine to halt Kyiv’s biggest cross-border offensive in the two-and-a-half year conflict.

Ukrainian units stormed across the border into Russia’s western Kursk region on Tuesday morning in a shock attack and have advanced several kilometers, according to independent analysts.

Russia has deployed additional troops and equipment, including tanks, rocket launchers and aviation units to stop the advancing troops.

Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said late Friday it was starting “counter-terror operations in the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions … in order to ensure the safety of citizens and suppress the threat of terrorist acts being carried out by the enemy’s sabotage groups.”

Under Russian law, security forces and the military are given sweeping emergency powers during “counter-terror” operations.

Movement is restricted, vehicles can be seized, phone calls can be monitored, areas are declared no-go zones, checkpoints introduced, and security is beefed up at key infrastructure sites.

The anti-terrorism committee said Ukraine had mounted an “unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions of our country.”

It called Ukraine’s incursion a “terrorist attack” and said Kyiv’s troops had wounded civilians and destroyed residential buildings.

Ukrainian leaders have remained tight-lipped on the operation, and the United States, Kyiv’s closest ally, said it was not informed of the plans in advance.

But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appeared to tout his troops’ early successes, saying earlier this week that Russia must “feel” the consequences of the full-scale offensive it has waged against Ukraine since February 2022.

Russia’s defense ministry published footage on Saturday of tank crews firing on Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region, as well as an overnight air strike, after it said Friday it had deployed yet more units to the border region.

It also said it had downed 26 Ukrainian drones that tried to attack the region overnight.
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BANGKOK — In Bangladesh, weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs turned into a broad uprising that forced the prime minister to flee the country and resign.

The demonstrations began peacefully last month and were primarily led by students frustrated with the system that they said favored those with connections to the ruling party.

But it turned violent on July 15 as student protesters clashed with security officials and pro-government activists. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled this week after the unrest during which nearly 300 people died, including both students and police officers.

Students or other young people have frequently played pivotal roles in popular uprisings that have brought down governments or forced them to change policies. Here are some other major cases:

Gota Go Gama protests in Sri Lanka

Like in Bangladesh, widespread protests in Sri Lanka in 2022 were able to bring down a government, and youth played a key role.

Scattered demonstrations turned into months-long protests starting in March 2022 as an economic crisis worsened in the Indian Ocean island nation, leading to a shortage of fuel, cooking gas and other essentials as well as an extended power outage.

In April, protesters primarily led by university students and other young people occupied an esplanade adjoining President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in the capital Colombo, demanding he and his government resign.

More people joined daily, setting up a tent camp dubbed “Gota Go Gama,” or “Gota Go Village,” a play on Gotabaya’s nickname “Gota.”

The protest site was peaceful, with organizers offering free food, water, toilets and even medical care for people. Camp leaders, many of whom were university students, held daily media briefings and made regular speeches, while the crowd was entertained by bands and plays.

The government reacted by imposing a curfew, declaring a state of emergency, allowing the military to arrest civilians and restricting access to social media, but were unable to stop the protest.

Under pressure, many ministers resigned but President Rajapaksa and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa remained.

In May, Rajapaksa supporters attacked the protest camp, drawing widespread condemnation from across the country and forcing Prime Minister Rajapaksa to resign.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa clung to power until July, when protesters stormed his official residence, forcing him to flee the country. After taking temporary refuge in the Maldives, Rajapaksa later resigned.

His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in one of his first moves as new president ousted protesters from occupied government buildings and shut down their camp, dismantling their tents in the middle of the night.

The situation has since calmed, and Wickremesinghe has been able to address the shortages of food, fuel and medicine and restore power.

Complaints continue, however, about the rise in taxes and electric bills that are part of the new government’s efforts to meet International Monetary Fund loan conditions. Former Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa will be running in the presidential elections this September.

Athens Polytechnic uprising in Greece

In November 1973, students at Athens Polytechnic university rose up against the military junta that ruled Greece with an iron fist for more than six years.

Military officers seized power in a 1967 coup, establishing a dictatorship marked by the arrest, exile and torture of its political opponents.

The regime’s brutality and hardline rule gave rise to a growing opposition, particularly among students, culminating in the November uprising.

The protest began peacefully on November 14, with students staging a strike at the Athens Polytechnic university and occupying the campus. By the next day, thousands from around Athens had joined in to support the students and the demonstrations grew, as did calls to end the dictatorship.

On November 17, the military crushed the revolt when a tank smashed through the university’s gates in the early hours of the day, killing several students. The number of fatalities is still disputed, but at the time the regime had announced 15 dead.

Days after the uprising, another military officer staged a coup and implemented an even harsher regime. It was short lived however, after a series of events led to a return to democracy in Greece, its birthplace, in 1974.

A prosecutor’s report issued after the return to civilian government, estimated fatalities at 34, but mentioned only 18 names. There were more than 1,100 injured.

Today, annual marches in Athens to commemorate the pro-democracy student uprising still attract thousands of people.

Kent State demonstrations in the United States

American students had long been protesting the U.S. involvement in Vietnam when President Richard Nixon authorized attacks on neutral Cambodia in April 1970, expanding the conflict in an attempt to interrupt enemy supply lines.

On May 4, hundreds of students at Ohio’s Kent State University gathered to protest the bombing of Cambodia, and authorities called in the Ohio National Guard to disperse the crowd.

After failing to break up the protest with teargas, the National Guard advanced and some opened fire on the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others.

The confrontation, sometimes referred to as the May 4 massacre, was a defining moment for a nation sharply divided over the protracted conflict, in which more than 58,000 Americans died.

It sparked a strike of 4 million students across the U.S., temporarily closing some 900 colleges and universities. The events also played a pivotal role, historians argue, in turning public opinion against the conflict in Southeast Asia.

Soweto Uprising in South Africa

In the decades-long struggle against white minority rule in South Africa, a pivotal moment came in 1976 in the Soweto area of Johannesburg.

In a series of demonstrations starting June 16, Black students from multiple schools took to the streets to protest against being forced to study in Afrikaans, the Dutch-based language of the white rulers who designed the system of racial oppression known as apartheid.

The protests spread to other areas in South Africa, becoming a flashpoint for anger at a system that denied adequate education, the right to vote and other basic rights to the country’s Black majority.

Hundreds are estimated to have died in the government crackdown that followed.

The bloodshed was epitomized by a photograph of a dying student, Hector Pieterson. The image of his limp body being carried by another teenager was seen around the world and galvanized international efforts to end South Africa’s racial segregation, though apartheid would linger for nearly two more decades.

South Africa achieved democracy with majority rule elections in 1994 and today June 16 is a national holiday.

Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia

As the Communist governments of Eastern Europe teetered in 1989, widespread demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia after riot police suppressed a student protest in Prague on November 17.

On November 20 as the anti-Communist protests grew, the students being joined by scores of others and some 500,000 took to the streets of Prague.

Dubbed the “Velvet Revolution” for its non-violent nature, the protests led to the resignation of the Communist Party’s leadership on November 28.

By December 10, Czechoslovakia had a new government and on December 29, Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who had spent several years in prison, was elected the country’s first democratic president in a half century by a parliament still dominated by communist hard-liners.

In 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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LAHAINA, Hawaii — When a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina on Maui last August, the wall of flames scorched the 151-year-old banyan tree along the historic town’s Front Street. But the sprawling tree survived the blaze, and thanks to the efforts of arborists and dedicated volunteers, parts of it are growing back — and even thriving.

One year after the fire, here’s what to know about the banyan tree and the efforts to restore it.

Why is Lahaina’s banyan tree significant?

The banyan tree is the oldest living one on Maui but is not a species indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. India shipped the tree as a gift to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries to live in Lahaina. It was planted in 1873, a quarter century before the Hawaiian Islands became a U.S. territory and seven decades after King Kamehameha declared Lahaina the capital of his kingdom.

The tree is widely beloved and fondly remembered by millions of tourists who have visited Maui over the years. But for many others it is a symbol of colonial rule that has dispossessed Native Hawaiians of their land and suppressed their language and culture.

For generations, the banyan tree served as a gathering place along Lahaina’s waterfront. By many accounts, it was the heart of the oceanside community — towering more than 18 meters (60 feet) high and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre.

The enormous tree has leafy branches that unfurl majestically and offer shade from the sun. Aerial roots dangle from its boughs and eventually latch onto the soil to become new trunks. Branches splay out widely and have become roosting places for choirs of birds.

What happened to it during the fire?

The 2023 fire charred the tree and blackened many of its leaves. But it wasn’t the flames so much as the intense heat that dried out much of the tree, according to Duane Sparkman, chair of the Maui County Arborist Committee. As a result of this loss of moisture, about half of the tree’s branches died, he said.

“Once that section of the tree desiccated, there was no coming back,” he said.

But other parts of the tree are now growing back healthy.

How was it saved?

Those working to restore the tree removed the dead branches so that the tree’s energy would go toward the branches that were alive, Sparkman said.

To monitor that energy, 14 sensors were screwed into the tree to track the flows of cambium, or sap, through its branches.

“It’s basically a heart monitor,” Sparkman said. “As we’ve been treating the tree, the heartbeat’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”

Sparkman said there are also plans to install vertical tubes to help the tree’s aerial roots, which appear to be vertical branches that grow down toward the ground. The tubes will contain compost to provide the branches with key nutrients when they take root in the soil.

A planned irrigation system will also feed small drops of water into the tubes. The goal, Sparkman said, is to help those aerial roots “bulk up and become the next stabilizer root.” The system will also irrigate the surrounding land and the tree’s canopy.

“You see a lot of long, long branches with hundreds of leaves back on the tree,” Sparkman said, adding that some branches are even producing fruit. “It’s pretty amazing to see that much of the tree come back.”

What other trees were destroyed in the fire?

Sparkman estimates that Lahaina lost some 25,000 trees in the fire.

These included the fruit trees that people grew in their yards as well as trees that are significant in Hawaiian culture, such as the ulu or breadfruit tree; the fire charred all but two of the dozen or so that remained.

Since the blaze, a band of arborists, farmers and landscapers — including Sparkman — has set about trying to save the ulu and other culturally important trees. Before colonialism, commercial agriculture and tourism, thousands of breadfruit trees dotted Lahaina.

To help restore Lahaina’s trees, Sparkman founded a nonprofit called Treecovery. The group has potted some 3,500 trees, he said, growing them in “micro-nurseries” across the island, including at some hotels, until people can move back into their homes.

“We have grow hubs all over the island of Maui to grow these trees out for as long as they need. So, when the people are ready, we can have them come pick these trees up and they can plant them in their yards,” he said. “It’s important that we do this for the families.”
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