DETROIT (AP) — Federal highway safety investigators want Tesla to tell them how and why it developed the fix in a recall of more than 2 million vehicles equipped with the company’s Autopilot partially automated driving system.

Investigators with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have concerns about whether the recall remedy worked because Tesla has reported 20 crashes since the remedy was sent out as an online software update in December.

The recall fix also was to address whether Autopilot should be allowed to operate on roads other than limited access highways. The fix for that was increased warnings to the driver on roads with intersections.

But in a l Tuesday, investigators wrote that they could not find a difference between warnings to the driver to pay attention before the recall and after the new software was sent out. The agency said it will evaluate whether driver warnings are adequate, especially when a driver-monitoring camera is covered.

The agency asked for volumes of information about how Tesla developed the fix, and zeroed in on how it used human behavior to test the recall effectiveness.

The 18-page letter asks how Tesla used human behavior science in designing Autopilot, and the company’s assessment of the importance of evaluating human factors.

It also wants Tesla to identify every job involved in human behavior evaluation and the qualifications of the workers. And it asks Tesla to say whether the positions still exist.

A message was left by The Associated Press early Tuesday seeking comment from Tesla about the NHTSA letter.

Tesla is in the process of laying off about 10% of its workforce, about 14,000 people, in an effort to cut costs to deal with falling global sales. CEO Elon Musk is telling Wall Street that the company is more of an artificial intelligence and robotics firm rather than an automaker.

Phil Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies automated driving safety, said the letter shows that the recall did little to solve problems with Autopilot and was an attempt to pacify NHTSA, which demanded the recall after more than two years of investigation.

“It’s pretty clear to everyone watching that Tesla tried to do the least possible remedy to see what they could get away with,” Koopman said. “And NHTSA has to respond forcefully or other car companies will start pushing out inadequate remedies.”

In the letter, NHTSA also asks Tesla for information about how the recall remedy addresses driver confusion over whether Autopilot has been turned off if force is put on the steering wheel. Previously, if Autopilot was de-activated, drivers might not notice quickly that they have to take over driving.

The recall added a function that gives a “more pronounced slowdown” to alert drivers when Autopilot has been disengaged. But the recall remedy doesn’t activate the system automatically — drivers have to do it. Investigators asked how many drivers have taken that step.

NHTSA is asking Telsa “What do you mean you have a remedy and it doesn’t actually get turned on?” Koopman said.

The letter, he said, shows NHTSA is looking at whether Tesla did tests to make sure the fixes actually worked. “Looking at the remedy I struggled to believe that there’s a lot of analysis proving that these will improve safety,” Koopman said.

The agency has said it will evaluate the “prominence and scope” of Autopilot’s controls to address misuse, confusion and use in areas that the system is not designed to handle.

Safety advocates have long expressed concern that Autopilot, which can keep a vehicle in its lane and a distance from objects in front of it, was not designed to operate on roads other than limited access highways.

Tesla tells owners that the system cannot drive itself despite its name, and that drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.

The agency also says Tesla made safety updates after the recall fix was sent out, including an attempt to reduce crashes caused by hydroplaning and to reduce collisions in high speed turn lanes. NHTSA said it will “assess the timing and driving factors behind these updates, their impacts on subject vehicle performance and Tesla’s basis for not including them” in the original recall.

NHTSA began its Autopilot crash investigation in 2021, after receiving 11 reports that Teslas that were using Autopilot struck parked emergency vehicles. In documents explaining why the investigation was ended due to the recall, NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths.

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An attorney for Daniels, Clark Brewster, told The Associated Press that the porn actor, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is “likely” to be called as a witness in the trial on Tuesday. Trump said earlier Tuesday that he was “recently told” who the witness would be on Tuesday and complained he should’ve been given more notice.

In the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, his then-lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.

Daniels’ testimony, even if sanitized for a courtroom setting and stripped of tell-all details, is by far the most-awaited spectacle in a trial that has toggled back and forth between tabloidesque elements and dry recordkeeping details. Her turn on the witness stand will represent a remarkable moment legally and politically, with courtroom testimony from an adult film performer about an intimidate encounter she says had with Trump adding to the long line of historic firsts in this case.

Trump and his campaign were reeling from the Oct. 7, 2016, publication of the in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals without their permission. He spoke with Cohen and Hope Hicks, his campaign’s press secretary, by phone the next day as they sought to limit damage from the tape and keep his alleged affairs out of the press.

Cohen paid Daniels after her lawyer at the time, Keith Davidson, indicated she was willing to make on-the-record statements to the National Enquirer or on television confirming a sexual encounter with Trump. National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard alerted publisher David Pecker and then, at Pecker’s direction, told Cohen that Daniels was agitating to go public with her claims, prosecutors said. Daniels had previously sought to sell her story to another celebrity gossip magazine, Life & Style, in 2011.

The jury on Monday heard from two witnesses, including a , who provided a mechanical but vital recitation of how the company reimbursed payments that were allegedly meant to suppress embarrassing stories from surfacing and then logged them as legal expenses in a manner that Manhattan prosecutors say broke the law.

The testimony from Jeffrey McConney yielded an important building block for prosecutors trying to pull back the curtain on what they say was a corporate records cover-up of transactions designed to protect Trump’s Republican presidential bid during a pivotal stretch of the race. It focused on a $130,000 payment from Cohen to Daniels and the subsequent reimbursement Cohen received.

McConney and another witness testified that the reimbursement checks were drawn from Trump’s personal account. Yet even as jurors witnessed the checks and other documentary evidence, prosecutors did not elicit testimony Monday showing that Trump dictated that the payments would be logged as legal expenses, a designation that prosecutors contend was intentionally deceptive.

McConney acknowledged during cross-examination that Trump never asked him to log the reimbursements as legal expenses or discussed the matter with him at all. Another witness, Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor, said under questioning that she did not get permission to cut the checks in question from Trump himself.

“You never had any reason to believe that President Trump was hiding anything or anything like that?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked.

”Correct,” Tarasoff replied.

The testimony followed a stern warning from Judge Juan M. Merchan that additional violations of about witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case could result in jail time.

The $1,000 fine imposed Monday marks the second time since the trial began last month that Trump has been sanctioned for violating the gag order. , $1,000 for each of nine violations.

“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan said before jurors were brought into the courtroom. Trump’s statements, the judge added, “threaten to interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue.”

Trump sat forward in his seat, glowering at the judge as he handed down the ruling. When the judge finished speaking, Trump shook his head twice and crossed his arms.

Yet even as Merchan warned of jail time in his most pointed and direct admonition, he also made clear his reservations about a step that he described as a “last resort.”

“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail,” Merchan said. “You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings.”

The latest violation stems from an April 22 interview with television channel Real America’s Voice in which Trump criticized the speed at which the jury was picked and claimed, without evidence, that it was stacked with Democrats.

Prosecutors are continuing to build toward their star witness, , who . He is expected to undergo a bruising cross-examination from defense attorneys seeking to undermine his credibility with jurors.

Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, is charged with in connection with the hush money payments but has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. The trial is the first of to come before a jury.

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Tucker reported from Washington.

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At Foro Italico

Rome

Purse: €7,877,020

Surface: Red clay

ROME (AP) _ Results Tuesday from Internazionali BNL d’Italia at Foro Italico (seedings in parentheses):

Men’s Singles

Qualification

Terence Atmane, France, def. Harold Mayot (19), France, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

Gregoire Barrere (16), France, def. Felipe Meligeni Alves, Brazil, 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Diego Schwartzman, Argentina, def. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Francesco Passaro, Italy, def. Duje Ajdukovic (24), Croatia, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 7-6.

Thiago Monteiro (23), Brazil, def. Corentin Moutet (4), France, 6-3, 6-4.

Maximilian Marterer (9), Germany, def. Richard Gasquet (21), France, 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s Singles

Qualification

Rebecca Sramkova, Slovakia, def. Darja Semenistaja, Latvia, 6-3, 6-4.

Bernarda Pera (4), United States, def. Anna Bondar (16), Hungary, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Rebeka Masarova (11), Spain, def. Laura Pigossi, Brazil, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5.

Renata Zarazua (20), Mexico, def. Viktoriya Tomova (6), Bulgaria, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5).

Women’s Singles

Round of 128

Shelby Rogers, United States, def. Lisa Pigato, Italy, 6-1, 6-0.

Paula Badosa, Spain, def. Mirra Andreeva, Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

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Catalonia declared a in February when its reservoirs fell under 16% capacity after nearly three years of below-average rainfall. But has boosted reserves to nearly 25%. Spain’s reservoirs overall are at 66% full.

The loosened restrictions mean that some 6 million people will now see individual use limits increased from 200 to 230 liters per day (53 to 61 gallons). Catalonia’s water agency says the average resident uses 116 liters (30 gallons) per day at home.

Famers will only have to reduce their average uses by 40%, instead of 80%, while industrial users will only have to save 15% compared to 25%.

David Mascort, who heads Catalonia’s environmental authority, said that plans were still intact to install a off Barcelona’s coast in October. He said that Catalonia’s reserves for the areas fed by the Ter and Llobregat rivers were now near the same level as the previous year.

“We are in the same situation as last year, but this time, we are better prepared. If in May 2023 some 65% of our water came from our reservoirs, now it is only 50%” thanks to an expansion in Catalonia’s water reuse and , Mascort said.

However, Catalonia’s government spokeswoman, Patrícia Plaja, warned that “the drought is not over.”

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An attorney for Stormy Daniels, Clark Brewster, told The Associated Press that the porn actor, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is “likely” to be called as a witness in the trial on Tuesday.

Before began, Judge Juan M. Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for a second time, fining him $1,000 for a single violation and sternly warning the loquacious former president that jail time would be considered for future violations “if necessary and appropriate.”

Two people tied to the Trump Organization took the stand on Monday — former controller Jeffrey McConney and accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff — elaborating on a key piece of the charges against Trump: Michael Cohen’s reimbursement for the $130,000 Daniels payment.

Tuesday’s witness testimony is set to dig further into the events and people involved in what prosecutors have said to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying and burying negative stories about the then-candidate.

The trial is in its 13th day.

Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments — including the payment to Daniels — recording them instead as legal expenses.

Trump has to of falsifying business records.

The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the to reach a jury.

Currently:

— Read on Trump’s most recent gag order violation

— Hush money, catch and kill and more:

— What Trump’s gag order means

— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s

— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See

Here’s the latest:

STORMY DANIELS IS EXPECTED TO APPEAR TUESDAY AS A WITNESS

An attorney for Stormy Daniels says the porn actor is expected to appear as a witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday.

Clark Brewster tells The Associated Press that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is “likely” to be called as a witness in the trial on Tuesday.

Trump said earlier Tuesday that he was “recently told” who the witness would be on Tuesday and complained he should’ve been given more notice.

PROSECUTION IS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass on Monday afternoon told Judge Juan M. Merchan in Donald Trump’s hush money trial that the prosecution’s case is proceeding ahead of schedule.

Steinglass said he estimates being finished with calling witnesses two weeks from Tuesday. While there’s the possibility of rebuttal witnesses, the estimate is related to the primary portions of the trial.

Once the prosecution is done, Trump’s lawyers can then call their witnesses.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS?

The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial fined him $1,000 on Monday for again violating a gag order barring him from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and some others connected to the case.

Judge Juan M. Merchan warned Trump that additional gag order violations could potentially result in jail time.

“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well,” Merchan said. “There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings.”

While prosecutors flagged four prospective violations, Merchan only concurred with one — comments that Trump gave to a program called “Just the News No Noise” on April 22, which is broadcast on Real America’s Voice.

On the program, Trump criticized the speed at which the jury was picked and claimed it was stacked with Democrats. “The jury was picked so fast. 95 percent Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat,” he is quoted as saying.

Trump was fined $9,000 last week for nine earlier violations of the order.

TRUMP TO RETURN TO COURT FOR 13TH DAY OF TRIAL

Donald Trump was set to return to the courthouse in lower Manhattan on Tuesday for the 13th day of his hush money trial.

The third week of witness testimony began on Monday with two people tied to the Trump Organization taking the stand to elaborate on the hows and whys of Michael Cohen’s financial reimbursement for a $130,000 hush money payment paid to lawyer Keith Davidson in exchange for porn actor Stormy Daniels’ silence about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.

During the course of testimony, jurors saw notes, bank statements and other documents related to the financial reimbursement that is at the heart of the charges against the former president.

The 34 felony counts of falsifying business records accuse Trump of labeling the money paid to Cohen in his company’s records as legal fees. Prosecutors contend that by paying him income and giving him extra to account for taxes, the Trump executives were able to conceal the reimbursement.

Source

The Hyderabad, India-based company said it had net income of 94 cents per share.

The pharmaceutical posted revenue of $850 million in the period.

For the year, the company reported profit of $668 million, or $4.01 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.35 billion.

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This story was generated by (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a at https://www.zacks.com/ap/RDY

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Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were detained on suspicion of enacting the plan drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, a statement said. The colonels were recruited before in February 2022, according to the statement.

It quoted the head of the State Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, as saying the plot foresaw an attack before Russian President for a fifth term on Tuesday. Maliuk said that he personally oversaw the top-secret operation to track the plot.

Ukrainian claims of Russian efforts to kill Zelenskyy aren’t new. Zelensky said in 2022 there has been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him, and now the war with Russia has stretched into its third year.

Also, prosecutors in Poland said last month that a on allegations of being ready to spy on behalf of Russia’s military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy’s movements are , and his visits around the country are publicly announced only after he has left. News of events he holds in Kyiv is usually embargoed until they are over.

Zelenskyy has proved to be a valuable asset for his country as the war against Ukraine’s bigger neighbor grinds on, and as wait for more troops and weapons. He has urged his people to keep fighting and that Ukraine can prevail.

The Ukrainian statement said the Russian intelligence agents targeting Zelenskyy sought out members of the Ukrainian military close to the president’s security detail who could take the head of state hostage and later kill him. The operation was run from Moscow, it said, providing the names of three alleged Russian spies behind the conspiracy.

The broader plan was to identify the location of senior Ukrainian officials and target them with a rocket attack, followed by drones and missiles.

The two Ukrainian colonels were arrested on suspicion of treason, which carries a life sentence, the statement said.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at

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The protesters had put up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around the tents. Most had covered their faces with medical masks and had draped kufiyah scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as “Viva, viva Palestina.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a similar pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam.

In Berlin, police called on the students via loudspeakers to leave the campus. Police could also be seen carrying some students away and some scuffles erupted between police officers and protesters.

Police used pepper spray against some of the protesters. The school’s administrators said in a statement that the protesters had rejected any kind of dialogue and they had therefore called in police to clear the campus.

“This form of protest is not geared towards dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus,” university president Guenter Ziegler said. FU is the abbreviation for Free University. “We are available for academic dialog — but not in this way.”

The administrators said some protesters attempted to enter rooms and lecture halls at Free University in order to occupy them. The protest organizers, which say they are made up of students from various Berlin universities and other individuals, had called on other students and professors to take part in the action, the university statement said.

In recent days, students have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and Britain, following earlier protests at U.S. campuses.

Amsterdam police said on the social media platform X that their action was “necessary to restore order” after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS shows police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents. Protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.

The demonstrators occupied a small island at the university son Monday, calling for a break in academic ties with .

After clearing the Amsterdam protest by early afternoon Tuesday, police closed off the area by metal fences. Students sat along the banks of a nearby canal. The school said in a statement that police ended the demonstration at its Roeterseiland campus overnight Tuesday “due to public order and safety concerns.”

“The war between Israel and Hamas is having a major impact on individual students and staff,” it said. “We share the anger and bewilderment over the war, and we understand that there are protests over it. We stress that within the university, dialogue about it is the only answer.”

In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki, saying they would stay there until the university, which is Finland’s largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.

In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen, erecting about 45 tents outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The university said students can protest but called on them to respect the rules on campus grounds.

“Seek dialogue, not conflict and make room for perspectives other than your own,” the administrators said on X.

The administration “cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students about political matters, including about the ongoing conflict” in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the statement said.

On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing the school’s investments from companies with ties to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have been in vain.

“We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action,” the group said.

In Italy, students at the University of Bologna, one of the world’s oldest universities, set up a tent encampment over the weekend to demand an end to the war in Gaza as Israel prepared an offensive in Rafah, despite pleas from its Western allies against it. Groups of students organized similar protests in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.

More than a dozen tents were set up in a piazza named for a university student who fought against fascist rule during World War II. Some were decorated with Palestinian flags and a banner read “Student Intefadeh,” or “Student Uprising.”

In Spain, dozens of students have spent over a week at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Valencia campus. Similar camps were set up Monday at the University of Barcelona and at the University of the Basque Country. A group representing students at Madrid’s public universities announced it would step up protests against the war in the coming days.

In Paris, student groups called for gatherings in solidarity with Palestinians later Tuesday.

On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of Palestinians.

On Tuesday, students at the prestigious institution, which counts French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unobstructed to take exams as police stood at the entrances.

Protests took place last week at some other universities in France, including in Lille and Lyon. Macron’s office said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.

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Surk reported from Nice, France, and De Cristofaro from Berlin. Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin; Nicole Winfield in Rome; Joe Wilson in Barcelona, Spain; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland, contributed to this report.

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Tim Cindric, who oversees all of Team Penske’s operations and is the strategist for Indy 500 defending winner Josef Newgarden, is the top name to receive a two-race suspension. Also suspended was team managing director Ron Ruzewski, Newgarden engineer Luke Mason and senior data engineer Robbie Atkinson.

Ruzewski and Atkinson both work on Will Power’s car — Ruzewski is his strategist — and Power is the only of the three Penske drivers not accused of any wrongdoing in the push-to-pass scandal.

The suspensions are for two races, which cover this weekend’s event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the Indy 500, which Penske is trying to win for a record-extending 20th time.

“I recognize the magnitude of what occurred and the impact it continues to have on the sport to which I’ve dedicated so many decades,” Penske said in a statement. “Everyone at Team Penske along with our fans and business partners should know that I apologize for the errors that were made and I deeply regret them.”

The team said an internal review was completed following IndyCar discovering that all three Penske cars had an illegal software system installed that allowed the drivers to use the push-to-pass function on starts and restarts. The system is controlled by IndyCar and disabled on starts and restarts, when the extra boost of horsepower is illegal.

IndyCar discovered it on the Penske cars in the morning warm-up at Long Beach when a glitch to the software knocked it out of all cars except the three Penske entries. IndyCar’s investigation later showed that the software had been in place in the season-opening race and Newgarden used it to his advantage an admitted three times.

Scott McLaughlin said he used it once at St. Petersburg and Power never illegally used the software. IndyCar stripped Newgarden of the St. Pete win and McLaughlin of his third-place finish, while all three drivers were fined $25,000 and docked 10 points.

Penske owns the race team, IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and has been in damage control since series officials discovered the manipulation late last month. Cindric said the software was inadvertently left on the cars since last August when it was installed to test IndyCar’s upcoming hybrid engine.

IndyCar has said it is working on its processes to determine how it wasn’t found through inspection at the first three events to open the season.

Newgarden, meanwhile, maintains he thought there had been a rule change and the P2P system was now legal on restarts. McLaughlin said he hit the button out of habit and gained no advantage from the horsepower boost that lasted less than 2 seconds.

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AP Motorsports:

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On a per-share basis, the Burnaby, British Columbia-based company said it had a loss of 14 cents.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 13 cents per share.

The fuel cell technology company posted revenue of $14.5 million in the period, also falling short of Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $16.5 million.

The company’s shares closed at $2.83. A year ago, they were trading at $4.32.

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This story was generated by (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BLDP

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But nothing kills that vibe quicker than stinky, slimy, wilted flowers poking out of a vase full of brown water.

Bacteria is one of the main causes of premature bouquet deaths. Its presence in vase water clogs stems and speeds up decay. Dehydration, either from a lack of water or a stem’s inability to absorb it, results in wilting. And exposure to ethylene gas exuded by neighboring decaying flowers or ripening fruit hastens aging.

But with proper preparation and care, you can greatly increase the lifespan of your bouquets.

First, I’d like to put an end to some bad advice that’s been floating around: Despite what you might have read, smashing the cut ends of flower stems does not increase water uptake. In fact, it would destroy a portion of the stems’ vascular system, responsible for transporting water through the stem. It would also expose fresh plant tissue to water, which accelerates rotting. Don’t do it.

If you are , do so in the morning when stems are the most hydrated, then immediately place them into a container of water.

Regardless of whether your bouquets are picked or purchased, these tips will greatly improve their longevity.

1. Always start with a clean vase.

2. Remove any leaves that land below the container’s water line, or they will introduce bacteria as they rot.

3. Using a clean, sharp knife or garden pruners, trim 1-2 inches off the bottom of each stem at a 45-degree angle. This will maximize the surface area, allowing flowers to take up more water and preventing blockages that can result when stems lay flat against container bottoms. For woody stems, scrape a bit of bark away from the sides of angled cuts.

4. Add flower food. The little packet that comes with your bouquet contains sugar, citric acid and bleach, which lower the water’s pH and inhibit bacterial growth. Follow the dosing instructions on the packet; using too much can burn foliage and shorten the life of your flowers.

5. Add ¼ cup of sugar-sweetened citrus soda or a tablespoon of vodka (or other clear spirit) as a booster. Soda helps keep water acidic and feeds flowers; vodka inhibits spoilage.

6. Keep flowers away from drafts, such as open windows, ceiling fans, forced-air heaters or air conditioning units, out of direct sunlight and away from fruit, which releases ethylene gas as it ripens.

7. Wash the vase, remove fading flowers and leaves, trim another one-quarter to one-half inch off stem bottoms and replace flower food and booster every other day.

8. There’s a reason florists store flowers in a refrigerated case. Just as it does food, refrigeration keeps flowers fresher longer. Tuck your bouquet into the fridge every night to slow the aging process.

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Jessica Damiano writes regular gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning . You can for weekly gardening tips and advice.

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For more AP gardening stories, go to .

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Mientras tanto, Lupillo sigue en plan conquistador, y todos se preguntan quién se quedará con el corazón de Aleska., y tras una dura eliminación el lunes, Patricia se marchó definitivamente de la casa, mientras Romeh regresó más fuerte que nunca.

Esta noche de martes viviremos en vivo la prueba del primer finalista, y alguno de los habitantes obtendrá su pase directo a la final, todo esto de la mano de la invitada especial, Laura Bozzo.

Así lo hizo: este 2 de mayo la Cancillería de Colombia anunció la ruptura de relaciones diplomáticas con Israel que “no ha respetado los principios de distinción, proporcionalidad ni precaución que sustentan el derecho internacional humanitario”. La medida fue criticada por Israel, celebrada por Hamas y levantó polémica en sectores políticos de centro y derecha de Colombia, principalmente..

Petro ha insistido en que las acciones de Israel en Gaza constituyen un “genocidio”. Israel ha rechazado continuamente esa acusación, que no solamente hace Colombia, sino otros gobiernos como el de Brasil y Sudáfrica, este último llevó el caso a la Corte Internacional de Justicia de La Haya en diciembre de 2023.

Desde el ataque de Hamas a Israel, en el que murieron unas 1.200 personas y fueron secuestradas más de 200, Israel lanzó una ofensiva en Gaza matando hasta ahora más de 34.000 personas, según cifras del Ministerio de Salud de Gaza.

En enero, la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ), máximo tribunal de la ONU, dio que Israel debe tomar “todas las medidas” para prevenir el genocidio en Gaza, pero no pidió en ese momento un alto el fuego ni dijo explícitamente que hubiese genocidio. La relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los territorios palestinos, Francesca Albanese ha dicho que hay “motivos razonables” para decir que lo que ocurre en Gaza es un genocidio.

Colombia dice que “tampoco puede ser indiferente al enorme e indescriptible sufrimiento humano que esto causa”.

Tras el anuncio de Petro, el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores israelí, Israel Katz, acusó a Petro de recompensar a Hamas, “los monstruos más despreciables conocidos por la humanidad” y lo llamó un “presidente antisemita y lleno de odio”.

La embajada palestina en Colombia agradeció en un comunicado “el valiente gesto de humanidad ofrecido por el Gobierno del hermano pueblo Colombiano”.

Lo que sigue ahora es la retirada de los funcionarios diplomáticos de ambos países, que la Cancillería en un comunicado este martes no especificó cuándo regresarán, ni detalló si los diplomáticos israelíes deberán abandonar el país.

Sectores de derecha y centro de Colombia reaccionaron contra la decisión de Petro y pusieron en duda que la medida de protesta tenga funciones prácticas para lograr que el primer ministro Benjamin Netanyahu termine las acciones en curso en Gaza.

¿Qué significa en la práctica este rompimiento de relaciones?

Un niño sostiene una bandera de Palestina junto a un cartel en el que se lee “América Latina está con Palestina” durante una manifestación de apoyo a los palestinos en Cali, Colombia, el 19 de octubre de 2023, en medio de los ataques aéreos israelíes contra Gaza en represalia por un ataque sorpresa de Hamas el 7 de octubre de 2023. (Crédito: JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP vía Getty Images)

Cooperación militar

Colombia e Israel tienen una larga historia que se remonta a 1949, cuando Bogotá reconoció a Israel como Estado y en 1957 establecieron relaciones diplomáticas. La posición histórica del país sudamericano se ha caracterizado por el reconocimiento de Israel “a vivir dentro de fronteras seguras, reconocidas internacionalmente, libres de amenaza y actos de fuerza”. En agosto de 2018, poco antes de dejar su cargo, el Gobierno del presidente Juan Manuel Santos reconoció a Palestina como Estado luego de firmar la paz con las hoy extintas FARC.

En su historia diplomática, Israel y Colombia han firmado acuerdos de cooperación en educación, son estrechamente cercanos en materia económica y muy cercanos en el frente militar, una de las mayores preocupaciones de quienes se oponen a la ruptura de relaciones diplomáticas.

En materia de cooperación militar, Petro dijo que Colombia dejará de comprar armas a Israel. Pero este 30 de abril, el ministro de Defensa Iván Velásquez se refirió a ello en un debate de control político en el Senado y dijo que Colombia tiene contratos firmados con Israel para la compra de sistemas de misiles Barak y obuses Atmos, equipos de mantenimiento y soporte logístico de los aviones KFIR.

“Existen unos contratos vigentes con Israel y esos contratos se van a cumplir”, aseguró Velásquez, señalando que algunos tienen vigencia hasta diciembre de 2024 y otros hasta 2026.

“No estamos poniendo en riesgo ni la capacidad ni la seguridad, pero que en todo caso se pretende diversificar proveedores para reducir dependencias específicas”, agregó el ministro de Defensa.

La cuestión de los aviones KFIR es clave: “Son los únicos aviones de combate que tiene Colombia. El mantenimiento tiene que ser dado por empresas israelíes”, dijo a CNN Marcos Peckel, profesor de relaciones internacionales y director ejecutivo de la Confederación de Comunidades Judías de Colombia.

En enero de 2023 el Ministerio de Defensa dijo que la flota de aviones KFIR empezó su etapa de obsolescencia a partir de diciembre de 2023 por lo que tendrá un retiro gradual. La flota actual de aviones de guerra tiene más de 42 años de antigüedad.

Este martes, Velásquez dijo que el Ministerio de Defensa está conformando un comité de “transición, sustitución y diversificación” con el fin de diversificar proveedores para evitar que el Estado esté sujeto “por circunstancias políticas o por condiciones de diverso género a depender de ningún país” para los suministros de equipamientos para las fuerzas militares.

Aviones Kfir de la Fuerza Aérea Colombiana sobrevuelan una bandera colombiana durante una ceremonia conmemorativa del Día de la Independencia de Colombia en Bogotá el 20 de julio de 2021. (Foto de Juan BARRETO / AFP) (Foto de JUAN BARRETO/AFP vía Getty Images)

Colombia pierde interlocución con Israel

Otra de las consecuencias que traerá la ruptura de relaciones es que Colombia perderá interlocución con los actores del conflicto para eventuales negociaciones de paz. En enero de este año el presidente Petro le propuso a Netanyahu crear una comisión para lograr la paz entre Israel y los palestinos, así como la liberación de rehenes. Pero con este paso, Bogotá ya no será reconocido como interlocutor, al menos no por Tel Aviv.

“Colombia queda en ese momento sin un esquema de diálogo con Israel en un conflicto en el que permanentemente habla de la solución de dos Estados y habla de una conferencia internacional de paz”, agregó Peckel, que criticó la medida por ser “inconveniente”.

“Se puede ser muy crítico de Israel. Hemos visto gobiernos de izquierda en América Latina muy críticos como el caso de Chile, caso Brasil, caso México, pero no han llegado al rompimiento de las relaciones”, agregó.

El expresidente Santos (2010-2018) expresó también la inconveniencia de la medida porque esto, dijo, no contribuye a la solución del conflicto entre Israel y Palestina.

“Romper relaciones con Israel para nada contribuye a esa solución y tiene consecuencias negativas para los colombianos. Nuestra política exterior debe siempre defender la solución pacífica de los conflictos”, dijo en X el expresidente Santos.

Para Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, analista internacional y profesor universitario, la decisión de Petro es “coherente” con las advertencias que había hecho anteriormente respecto a las acciones de Israel.

“Este rompimiento… es consistente con lo que ha dicho Colombia… por la defensa que ha asumido con el derecho internacional y de los derechos humanos”, dijo Jaramillo Jassir en un video publicado en X. Dice que la decisión puede explicarse, entre otras razones, por las advertencias que ya había hecho Colombia de cortar relaciones con Israel si este no cumplía de manera vinculante la resolución del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas sobre un cese el fuego en Gaza.

Al defender la decisión del Gobierno, Jaramillo Jassir niega que Petro esté “desconociendo” la tradición diplomática de Colombia.

“Colombia está comprometida con la convención de 1948 sobre prevención del genocidio y es básicamente lo que está haciendo el país”, dijo Jaramillo Jassir en X. El analista señala agravantes como por ejemplo que “hoy buena parte del mundo, de los más poderosos (algunos países de Europa Occidental y Estados Unidos) avalan este genocidio”.

“Corresponde al sur global, a países como Colombia, Chile, Brasil, México, protestar, defender el derecho y defender la convención del 48 para que no siga ocurriendo un genocidio en nuestra cara”.

Comercio

Israel es el principal principal socio comercial de Colombia en Medio Oriente y Colombia es el segundo de Israel en Sudamérica después de Brasil.

Israel abarca el 80% de los intercambios comerciales que hace Colombia en Medio Oriente y desde 2020 entró en vigencia un tratado de libre comercio. En 2022 Colombia compró a Israel bienes por US$ 139 millones y les vendió US$ 16 millones, según los datos oficiales del Ministerio de Industria y Comercio de febrero de 2024.

El principal producto de exportación de Colombia fue carbón (expresado como hullas y briquetas en el reporte) y lo que más envía Israel a Colombia son aparatos emisores de radiodifusión, teléfonos, e instrumentos y aparatos de medicina, según cifras oficiales.

La Cancillería de Colombia ha dicho que “todas las comunicaciones relacionadas con este anuncio se harán por los canales oficiales establecidos y no tendrán carácter público”, por lo que poco se conoce sobre el alcance de esta medida.

“Hasta ahora no hay ninguna información de si eso se va a afectar o no”, dijo Peckel.

Y queda por ver cómo sigue desarrollándose la situación porque “hay temas de los que aún no sabemos”, puntualizó Peckel.

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in the upcoming European Parliament elections, has been under scrutiny after an assistant of his was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China.

since his election to the European Union legislature in 2019 — has been accused of of working for a Chinese intelligence service and of repeatedly passing on information on negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament in January. Prosecutors allege that he was also spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany.

The arrest cast an unflattering light on , or AfD, which already faced criticism for having Russia-friendly positions. The will take place June 9 in Germany.

The federal public prosecutor’s office said in Tuesday’s statement that “the European Parliament has consented to enter the premises.”

More than 20 people could be seen in the hallway near Krah’s office on the fifth floor of the European Parliament, but reporters trying to cover the search where not allowed to get close to the office.

An apartment of Guo in Brussels had already been searched last month, the prosecutors’ statement said.

Prosecutors said that on Tuesday both the offices of Krah and Guo in Brussels were searched on the basis of orders issued by the investigating German judge and a European investigation order.

Krah had dismissed his assistant last month after he was arrested, but both the have sharply assailed the Alternative for Germany for its alleged closeness to China and also Russia.

Despite the allegations, Krah remains the AfD’s top candidate for .

News magazine Der Spiegel and public broadcaster ZDF reported last month that Krah was questioned by the FBI at the end of a visit to the United States in December about possible payments from pro-Russian sources.

Krah has denied receiving any such payments. He wrote on the social platform X that the preliminary investigation was expected but added that “we are still in the area of suppositions and insinuations.”

Separately, the no. 2 on the AfD’s list for the European Parliament election, Petr Bystron, last month denied allegations in a Czech daily that he may have received money from a pro-Russian network.

Also last month, German authorities also arrested three other people suspected of spying for China and arranging to transfer information on technology with potential military uses.

Prosecutors said the three German citizens are accused of having acted for Chinese intelligence since before June 2022. They are also suspected of violating German export laws by exporting a special laser without permission.

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Associated Press writer Sylvain Plazy in Brussels contributed to this report.

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One man called his wife from underneath the rubble of the five-story building that had been under construction when it collapsed Monday, the head of the rescue operation said. That enabled emergency responders to locate the man, although he was still trapped and hadn’t yet been brought out.

Six workers have been confirmed dead and there are fears that the death count could rise sharply. There is no news on 37 other people unaccounted-for amid the huge slabs of concrete and metal scaffolding that came crashing down when the building collapsed in the city of George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town.

Twenty-one other workers were rescued from the site and taken to various hospitals, with at least 11 of them suffering severe injuries, the George municipality said.

Colin Deiner, head of the provincial Western Cape disaster management services, said the search-and-rescue operation would likely take at least three days.

“We are going to give it the absolute maximum time to see how many people we can rescue,” Deiner said at a press conference. “It is very, very difficult if you are working with concrete breakers and drillers close to people.”

Deiner said it would take most of Tuesday to rescue the 11 workers that rescue teams were in contact with, some of whom had limbs trapped under concrete and couldn’t move. Four of the workers are in what was the basement of the building, Deiner said.

“Our big concern is entrapment for many hours, when a person’s body parts are compressed.,” Deiner said. “So, you need to get medical help to them. We got our medics in as soon as we possibly could.”

Deiner said it was possible that there were more survivors deeper in the wreckage and a process of removing layers of concrete would begin after the 11 located workers were taken out.

More than 100 emergency services and other personnel worked through the night, using sniffer dogs to try to locate workers. Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to help with the rescue effort and tall spotlights were erected to allow search-and-rescue personnel to work in the dark.

Deiner said a critical part of the rescue operation came when they ordered everyone to remain quiet and shut off machinery so they could listen for any survivors. That’s when they located the 11 workers, he said.

“We were actually hearing people through the rubble,” Deiner said.

Several local hospitals were making space in their trauma units in anticipation that more construction workers might be brought out alive. More than 50 emergency responders had also been brought in overnight from other towns and cities to help, including a specialized team that deals with rescue operations in collapsed structures.

Family and friends of the workers had gathered at the nearby municipal offices and were being supported by social workers, the George municipality said.

Authorities were starting investigations into what caused the tragedy, and a criminal case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building suddenly collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby home showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding collapsing at 2.09 p.m. Monday, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighborhood.

People came streaming out of other buildings after the collapse, with some of them screaming and shouting.

Alan Winde, the Premier of the Western Cape province, said there would be investigations by both the provincial government and the police.

Authorities declined to give out any information on the construction company involved but said that under city law the private company’s engineers were responsible for the safety of the building site until its completion, when it would be handed over to the city to check and clear.

Winde said the priority was the rescue effort and investigations would unfold after that.

“All the necessary support has been offered to emergency personnel to expedite their response. At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage,” Winde said.

The national government was being briefed on the rescue operation, Winde said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement offering his condolences to families of the victims and also called for investigations into the cause of the collapse.

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Associated Press writer Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

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