Police say driver who plowed into Liverpool soccer fans acted alone, not believed to be terrorism

LONDON (AP) — A 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city’s Premier League championship Monday, injuring more than 45 people as shouts of joy turned into shrieks of terror.

The driver arrested was believed to be the only one involved and the crash was not being investigated as an act of terrorism, police said.

Ambulances took 27 people to the hospital, including two with serious injuries, and another 20 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, said Dave Kitchin of North West Ambulance Service. At least four children were injured.

Four of the victims, including a child, were trapped under the van and firefighters had to lift the vehicle to free them. A paramedic on a bicycle was also struck but was not injured.

“It has cast a very dark shadow over what had been a joyous day for the city,” City Council leader Liam Robinson said at a late night news conference.

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Trump honors fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, while attacking Biden and judges

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump paid tribute to fallen service members during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, in an address that honored the “great, great warriors” yet also briefly veered into politics as he boasted of a nation he is “fixing after a long and hard four years.”

Though the holiday is one that U.S. presidents typically treat with pure solemnity, Trump began it with an all-caps Memorial Day social media post that attacked his predecessor and called federal judges who have blocked his deportation initiatives “monsters who want our country to go to hell.”

Yet at Arlington National Cemetery, where more than 400,000 have been laid to rest, Trump commemorated the sacrifice of U.S. service members and singled out several Gold Star families to tell the stories of their fallen relatives.

“We just revere their incredible legacy,” Trump said. “We salute them in their eternal and everlasting glory. And we continue our relentless pursuit of America’s destiny as we make our nation stronger, prouder, freer and greater than ever before.”

“Their valor,” he said, “gave us the freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth. A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.”

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Russia and Ukraine complete prisoner swap hours after Moscow launches major aerial assault

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners Sunday in the third and last part of a major exchange that was a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the more than three years of war.

Hours earlier, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions came under a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack that killed at least 12 people and injured dozens. Ukrainian officials described it as the largest aerial assault since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Late Sunday, Ukrainian cities came under attack for a third straight night with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting that air defense forces were working in the capital against enemy drones. Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv military administration, said Kharkiv and its suburbs were also under attack by drones.

Information about victims was being clarified, Syniehubov said, urging residents to “stay safe places until the end of the alarm.”

Earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry said each side exchanged 303 soldiers, following the release of 307 combatants and civilians each on Saturday, and 390 on Friday — the biggest total swap of the war.

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A new aid system in Gaza has started operations, a U.S.-backed group says

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A new aid system in Gaza opened its first distribution hubs Monday, according to a U.S.-backed group that said it began delivering food to Palestinians who face growing hunger after Israel’s nearly three-month blockade to pressure Hamas.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is taking over the handling of aid despite objections from United Nations. The desperately needed supplies started flowing on a day that saw Israeli strikes kill at least 52 people in Gaza.

The group said truckloads of food — it did not say how many — had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun. It was not clear where the hubs were located or how those receiving supplies were chosen.

“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” the foundation said in a statement.

The U.N. and aid groups have pushed back against the new system, which is backed by Israel and the United States. They assert that Israel is trying to use food as a weapon and say a new system won’t be effective.

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How has Minneapolis changed since the murder of George Floyd 5 years ago?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Some things have changed for the better in Minneapolis since Memorial Day 2020, when a police officer murdered George Floyd. Some have not.

Sunday marked five years since white Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man’s neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes, leading to his death.

A tidal wave of racial justice protests erupted in U.S. cities. Demonstrators chanted Floyd’s dying words: “I can’t breathe.” The protests were mostly peaceful at first but some turned violent, and parts of Minneapolis have yet to recover from the rioting, looting and arson. And the city is still struggling to decide what should become of the intersection where Floyd was killed.

The Minneapolis Police Department has faced some changes under court supervision that aim to reduce racial disparities. Violent crime, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and after Floyd’s death, is mostly back around pre-pandemic levels, although homicides are inching up.

The intersection where a crowd of concerned onlookers urged Chauvin and other officers to heed Floyd’s dying cries quickly became known as George Floyd Square.

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Former US Rep. Charles Rangel, who spent nearly 50 years representing New York, has died

NEW YORK (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 94.

His family confirmed the death in a statement provided by City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent. He died at a hospital in New York, Stent said.

A veteran of the Korean War, he defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to start his congressional career. During the next 40-plus years, he became a legend himself as dean of the New York congressional delegation and, in 2007, the first African American to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

He stepped down from that committee amid an ethics cloud, and the House censured him in 2010. But he continued to serve in Congress until his retirement in 2017.

Rangel was the last surviving member of the Gang of Four — African American political figures who wielded great power in New York City and state politics. The others were David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan Borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and New York secretary of state.

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King Charles III arrives in Canada to underscore its sovereignty after Trump annexation threats

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Britain’s King Charles III arrived Monday in Ottawa on a visit that Canada’s leader says will underscore his nation’s sovereignty amid President Donald Trump’s talk of the United States annexing its northern neighbor.

Trump’s repeated suggestion that the U.S. annex Canada prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney to invite Charles to give the speech from the throne that will outline his government’s agenda for the new Parliament.

The king is the head of state in Canada, which is a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies.

“This historic honor matches the weight of our times. It speaks to our enduring tradition and friendship, to the vitality of our constitutional monarchy and our distinct identity, and to the historic ties that crises only fortify,” Carney said in a statement.

“Canada’s strength lies in building a strong future while embracing its English, French, and Indigenous roots — the union of peoples that forms our bedrock.”

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The 2028 podcast primary is underway as Democrats try to reshape their image

The Democrats’ 2028 podcast primary is well underway.

From Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, potential presidential contenders are following the lead of President Donald Trump, who frequently went on podcasts appealing to younger men during his 2024 campaign.

Liberal strategists acknowledge Trump showed that Democratic candidates need to master the podcast space, which is typically looser and more freewheeling than a press conference or a traditional media interview.

“The way that politicians communicate and need to be seen by their audience is changing,” said Liz Minnella, who fundraised for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and this year launched Connect Forward, a group to support liberal influencers. “I hate to give him credit, but he found a way to connect with people, talk to them like human beings in non-political speak.”

Newsom, long derided by conservatives as a San Francisco liberal, has welcomed conservatives onto his podcast and agreed with them on issues such as trans participation in women’s sports. Beshear, a lower-profile Democrat in a red state, hosted his teenagers to teach him how to use the youth slang “skibidi.”

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What’s open and closed on Memorial Day?

In what had long been celebrated every May 30 to honor America’s fallen soldiers, Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the last Monday in May.

Businesses increasingly have chosen to stay open, leading to what is now one of the biggest retail sales and travel weekends of the year.

Here’s what is open and closed this year on Memorial Day:

Government offices, post offices, courts and schools are closed.

U.S. stock markets and banks are closed Monday.

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‘Duck Dynasty’ patriarch and conservative cultural icon Phil Robertson dies

WEST MONROE, La. (AP) — Phil Robertson, who turned his small duck calling interest in the sportsman’s paradise of northern Louisiana into a big business and conservative cultural phenomenon, died Sunday, according to his family. He was 79.

Robertson’s family announced in December on their Unashamed With the Robertson Family podcast that the patriarch of the clan had Alzheimer’s disease. The statement on social media from Robertson’s daughter-in-law didn’t mention how he died.

“Thank you for the love and prayers of so many whose lives have been impacted by his life saved by grace, his bold faith, and by his desire to tell everyone who would listen the Good News of Jesus. We are grateful for his life on earth and will continue the legacy of love for God and love for others until we see him again,” Korie Robertson wrote.

Phil Robertson skyrocketed to fame in the early 2010s when the A&E network created a reality show, presented like a sitcom. It followed the adventures of Robertson, his three sons — including Willie, who runs the family’s Duck Commander company, their wives and a host of other relatives and friends.

Phil Robertson and his boys were immediately recognizable by their long beards and their conservative, Christian and family-oriented beliefs.