OAKLAND, Calif. — Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history Wednesday night, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics.

It was the first perfect game since Seattle Mariners ace Félix Hernández threw one against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012. There were three that season, but none since until Germán finished the first no-hitter in the big leagues this year.

The moment Domingo Germán joined an elite list.

(via @Yankees) pic.twitter.com/IZ11SuTqBW

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 29, 2023

He joined Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) as Yankees pitchers to throw perfect games. Larsen’s gem came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Coming off a pair of terrible starts, Germán (5-5) struck out nine of 27 batters against the A’s, who have the worst record in the majors.

The 30-year-old right-hander, a seven-year veteran, had never thrown a complete game in the big leagues. He served a 10-game suspension in May after getting ejected from a game in Toronto for using an illegal sticky substance on the mound.

Winless in six previous outings against Oakland, Germán threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He mixed 51 curveballs and 30 fastballs that averaged 92.5 mph with 17 changeups and one sinker.

With the crowd of 12,479 on its feet for the ninth inning, Germán finished what he started. He got Aledmys Díaz to ground out before Shea Lanegeliers flied out to short center field. When Esteury Ruiz grounded out to end it, the Yankees’ dugout and bullpen emptied as Germán’s teammates raced out to the mound to celebrate.

Six days after allowing a career-high eight runs in a loss to the Seattle Mariners, Germán got his 500th career strikeout and was the definition of perfection.

It was the 13th no-hitter in Yankees history, including Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. Their previous no-hitter came from Corey Kluber on May 19, 2021, against the Texas Rangers.

Seth Brown came the closest to reaching base for the A’s, hitting a sharp grounder in the fifth to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who made a diving stop and tossed to Germán for the out.

Giancarlo Stanton homered for the first time in more than two weeks and drove in three runs, and former Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson added three RBIs to help the Yankees to their 15th win in 21 games against the A’s since Aug. 31, 2019.

Stanton crushed a 422-foot homer on a first-pitch fastball from former Yankees pitcher JP Sears (1-6) in the fourth. The ball was hit so hard that Ruiz in center field and Brown in right didn’t move, but just turned their heads and watched it sail out to left-center.

Stanton added a two-run single off Shintaro Fujinami in the fifth when the Yankees scored six runs and benefited from two errors by the A’s.

Kyle Higashioka had an RBI double, then scored when Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single and Sears flipped the ball wildly into foul territory. Volpe took second on the error, stole third then scored on DJ LeMahieu’s single.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who walked leading off the inning and scored, capped the uprising with a two-out RBI single.

But the night belonged to Germán, who was loudly cheered as the game unfolded. Many fans in Oakland were decked out in Yankees colors or jerseys.

MLB perfect games

• Domingo Germán, New York (AL) at Oakland, June 28, 2023
• Félix Hernández, Seattle vs. Tampa Bay, 1-0, Aug. 15, 2012.
• Matt Cain, San Francisco vs. Houston, 10-0, June 13, 2012.
• Phil Humber, Chicago at Seattle, 4-0, April 21, 2012.
• Roy Halladay, Philadelphia at Florida, 1-0, May 29, 2010.
• Dallas Braden, Oakland vs. Tampa Bay, 4-0, May 9, 2010.
• Mark Buehrle, Chicago (AL) vs. Tampa Bay, 5-0, July 23, 2009.
• Randy Johnson, Arizona at Atlanta (NL), 2-0, May 18, 2004.
• David Cone, New York (AL) vs. Montreal, 6-0, July 18, 1999.
• David Wells, New York (AL) vs. Minnesota, 4-0, May 17, 1998.
• Kenny Rogers, Texas vs. California (AL), 4-0, July 28, 1994.
• Dennis Martinez, Montreal at Los Angeles (NL), 2-0, July 28, 1991.
• Tom Browning, Cincinnati vs. Los Angeles (NL), 1-0, Sept. 16, 1988.
• Mike Witt, California at Texas (AL), 1-0, Sept. 30, 1984.
• Len Barker, Cleveland vs. Toronto (AL), 3-0, May 15, 1981.
• Catfish Hunter, Oakland vs. Minnesota (AL), 4-0, May 8, 1968.
• Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles vs. Chicago (NL), 1-0, Sept. 9, 1965.
• Jim Bunning, Philadelphia at New York (NL), 6-0, June 21, 1964.
• x-Don Larsen, New York (AL) vs. Brooklyn (NL), 2-0, Oct. 8, 1956.
• Charles Robertson, Chicago at Detroit (AL), 2-0, April 30, 1922.
• Addie Joss, Cleveland vs. Chicago (AL), 1-0, Oct. 2, 1908.
• Cy Young, Boston vs. Philadelphia (AL), 3-0, May 5, 1904.
• John Richmond, Worcester vs. Cleveland (NL), 1-0, June 12, 1880.
• John Ward, Providence vs. Buffalo (NL), 5-0, June 17, 1880.

x-World Series

Unofficial perfect games

y-Ernie Shore, Boston vs. Washington (AL), 4-0, June 23, 1917.

z-Harvey Haddix, Pittsburgh vs. Milwaukee (NL), 0-1, 13 innings, May 26, 1959.

a-Pedro Martinez, Montreal at San Diego, June 3, 1995, 1-0, 10 innings.

y-Entered game after starter Babe Ruth walked Ray Morgan, and following an argument, was ejected by umpire Brick Owens. Morgan was caught stealing and Shore retired the remaining 26 batters.

z-Pitched 12 perfect innings, lost in 13th on an error, sacrifice bunt, walk and double.

a-Pitched 9 perfect innings, allowed leadoff double in 10th and was replaced by Mel Rojas, who finished one-hitter in 1-0 win.

By MICHAEL WAGAMAN (Associated Press)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history Wednesday night, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics.

It was the first perfect game since Seattle Mariners ace Félix Hernández threw one against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012. There were three that season — but none since until Germán finished the first no-hitter in the big leagues this year.

He joined Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) as Yankees pitchers to throw perfect games. Larsen’s gem came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“So exciting,” Germán said through a translator. “When you think about something very unique in baseball, not many people have an opportunity to pitch a perfect game. To accomplish something like this in my career is something that I’m going to remember forever.”

Coming off a pair of terrible starts, Germán (5-5) struck out nine of 27 batters against the A’s, who have the worst record in the majors.

The 30-year-old right-hander, a seven-year veteran, had never thrown a complete game in the big leagues. He served a 10-game suspension in May after getting ejected from a game in Toronto for using an illegal sticky substance on the mound.

Winless in six previous outings against Oakland, Germán threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He mixed 51 curveballs and 30 fastballs that averaged 92.5 mph with 17 changeups and one sinker.

With the crowd of 12,479 on its feet for the ninth inning, Germán finished what he started. He got Aledmys Díaz to ground out before Shea Lanegeliers flied out to short center field. When Esteury Ruiz grounded out to third baseman Josh Donaldson to end it, the Yankees’ dugout and bullpen emptied as Germán’s teammates raced out to the mound to celebrate.

“That last inning was very different — very different. I felt an amount of pressure that I’ve never felt before,” Germán said. “I’m trying to visualize what I want to execute there. At the same time, I don’t want to miss. So much pressure, but yet so rewarding.

“The key there was not to overthrow,” he added. “I was feeling the pressure in that inning but at the same time I wanted to not overthrow, keep that same focus from the first inning, understand the lanes of attack we were using during the game and keep executing.”

Six days after allowing a career-high 10 runs (eight earned) and four homers over 3 1/3 innings in a loss to the Mariners at home, Germán got his 500th career strikeout and was the definition of perfection.

It was the 13th no-hitter in Yankees history, including Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. Corey Kluber pitched their previous no-hitter against the Texas Rangers on May 19, 2021.

Seth Brown came the closest to reaching base for the A’s, hitting a sharp grounder in the fifth to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who made a diving stop and tossed to Germán for the out.

Giancarlo Stanton homered for the first time in more than two weeks and drove in three runs, and Donaldson added three RBIs against his former team to help the Yankees to their 15th win in 21 games against the A’s since Aug. 31, 2019.

Stanton crushed a 422-foot homer on a first-pitch fastball from former Yankees pitcher JP Sears (1-6) in the fourth. The ball was hit so hard that Ruiz in center field and Brown in right didn’t move but just turned their heads and watched it sail out to left-center.

Stanton added a two-run single off Shintaro Fujinami in the fifth when the Yankees scored six runs and benefited from two errors by the A’s.

Kyle Higashioka had an RBI double, then scored when Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single and Sears flipped the ball wildly into foul territory. Volpe took second on the error, stole third then scored on DJ LeMahieu’s single. A’s first baseman Ryan Noda also had a fielding error that allowed to reach.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who walked leading off the inning and scored, capped the uprising with a two-out RBI single.

But the night belonged to Germán, who was loudly cheered as the game unfolded. Many fans in Oakland were decked out in Yankees colors or jerseys.

“Unfortunately, two days ago an uncle of mine passed away and I cried a lot yesterday in the clubhouse. So I had him with me throughout the whole game. I was thinking about him,” Germán said. “This game is a tribute to him. He would have been so happy. He was always someone that really brought a joy to our family and it happened for him to watch it this way, from up there.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By OLEG CETINIC and ANGELA CHARLTON (Associated Press)

NANTERRE, France (AP) — Police clashed with protesters overnight just hours after French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting death of a 17-year-old delivery driver by police “inexcusable” and pleaded for calm while justice takes its course.

It was the second night of violence in the Paris suburb of Nanterre even as the government heightened the police presence in Paris and other big cities Wednesday after the killing triggered a night of scattered violence.

Fires could be seen burning at some intersections in the suburb and protesters shot fireworks at police, video from the suburb showed.

The death of 17-year-old Nael during a traffic check Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre elicited nationwide concern and widespread messages of indignation and condolences. French soccer star Kylian Mbappe tweeted: “I hurt for my France.” Nael’s surname has not been released by authorities or by his family.

Nael’s mother called for a silent march Thursday in his honor on the square where he was killed, while French activists renewed calls to tackle what they see as systemic police abuse. Government officials condemned the killing and sought to distance themselves from the police officer’s actions.

“Nothing justifies the death of a young person,” Macron told reporters in Marseille, calling what happened “inexplicable and inexcusable.”

Videos of the incident shared online show two police officers leaning into the driver-side window of a yellow car before the vehicle pulls away as one officer fires into the window. The car is later seen crashed into a post nearby.

The victim, who was driving the car, was wounded by a gunshot and died at the scene, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. A passenger in the car was briefly detained and released, and police are searching for another passenger who fled.

Anger over the killing spawned unrest in multiple towns around Paris. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 31 people were arrested, 24 police officers injured and 40 cars burned in overnight unrest.

The police officer suspected of firing on Nael remains in custody and faces potential manslaughter charges, according to the Nanterre prosecutor’s office.

The Nanterre neighborhood where Nael lived remained on edge Wednesday, with police on guard around the regional administration and burned car wreckage and overturned garbage bins still visible in some areas. Bouquets of orange and yellow roses were tied to the post where the car crashed after the shooting, on Nanterre’s Nelson Mandela Square.

Speaking to Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said, “the shocking images broadcast yesterday show an intervention that clearly appears as not complying with the rules of engagement of our police forces.”

Deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the United States. Tuesday’s death unleashed anger in Nanterre and other towns, including around housing projects where many residents struggle with poverty and discrimination and feel police abuse is under-punished.

Several people have died or sustained injuries at the hands of French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability. France also saw protests against racial profiling and other injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota.

Macron called for calm and for respect for Nael’s loved ones. Asked about police abuses, he said justice should be allowed to run its course.

Interior Minister Darmanin said 1,200 police were deployed overnight and 2,000 would be out in force Wednesday in the Paris region and around other big cities to “maintain order.”

A lawyer for Nael’s family, Yassine Bouzrou, told The Associated Press they want the police officer pursued for murder instead of manslaughter, and want the investigation handed to a different region because they fear Nanterre investigators won’t be impartial.

The lawyers rejected a reported statement by the police officers that they believed their lives were in danger because the driver had threatened to run them over.

Mbappe, who grew up in the Paris suburb of Bondy, was among those who were shocked by what happened.

“I hurt for my France. Unacceptable situation. All my thoughts go to the family and loved ones of Nael, this little angel gone much too soon,” he tweeted.

___

Charlton reported from Paris. Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

The Norfolk Tides opened the second half of the season just like they played the first — in dominating fashion.

Grayson Rodriguez pitched six strong innings to improve to 4-0 with Norfolk and Maverick Handley drove in three runs with a pair of doubles as the Tides rolled to a 12-5 victory over the Charlotte Knights before 10,213 fans who enjoyed Turn Back the Clock Night at Harbor Park on Wednesday.

It is the 13th time the Tides (49-26) have scored in double digits this season. They finished 4.5 games ahead of Iowa to win the International League’s first half and clinch a spot in the three-game League Championship Series in late September.

Photos: Tides Turn Back the Clock Night

Rodriguez allowed two runs — one earned — on four hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. Since the Baltimore Orioles optioned him in late May, he has posted a 2.22 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 12 walks in 28.1 innings.

The Tides gave him a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Josh Lester hit a two-run single off Charlotte starter Chase Solesky (0-2) and Joey Ortiz added an RBI groundout in his first game back with Norfolk since June 13.

Norfolk scored single runs in the second and third innings on Colton Cowser’s RBI double and Connor Norby’s ninth homer of the season to go up 5-1.

The Tides broke it open with a four-run sixth. Handley hit an RBI double, Ryan Mountcastle added a two-run single and Heston Kjerstad capped it with an RBI single to make it 9-2.

Handley’s two-run double sparked a three-run seventh. He finished with two hits along with Cowser, Mountcastle, Norby and Ortiz. The Tides outhit the Knights 13-7.

The teams will play a 12:05 p.m. game Thursday. Norfolk is expected to start left-hander Drew Rom (5-5, 5.16), while the Knights will counter with left-hander Sammy Peralta (3-2, 4.89).

By HANNA ARHIROVA (Associated Press)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday arrested a man they accused of helping Russia direct a missile strike that killed at least 11 people, including three teenagers, at a popular pizza restaurant in eastern Ukraine.

The Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded 61 other people, Ukraine’s National Police said. It was the latest bombardment of a Ukrainian city, a tactic Russia has used heavily in the 16-month-old war.

The strike, and others across Ukraine late Tuesday and early Wednesday, indicated that the Kremlin is not easing its aerial onslaught, despite political and military turmoil at home after a short-lived armed uprising in Russia last weekend.

There has been no apparent military push by Ukraine to exploit that turmoil, though the government has been tight-lipped about recent battlefield developments as it seeks to gain momentum in its recently launched counteroffensive.

The Kremlin reeled from the weekend mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner private army of prison recruits and other mercenaries. Wagner has played a key combat role for Russia in Ukraine. The rebellion posed the most serious threat so far to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

Trying to repair the damage to his authority, Putin met with military staff in the Kremlin on Tuesday and flew to the Caspian city of Derbent, in the mostly Muslim region of Dagestan, on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday. He visited an ancient citadel and a historic mosque, met with officials, and walked to cheering crowds next to a fountain, talking to people and shaking hands — rare behavior for the secretive and reserved Russian leader.

Prigozhin went into exile in neighboring Belarus on Tuesday, according to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, after Russia said he wouldn’t face charges for the revolt. Prigozhin’s whereabouts could not be independently confirmed.

Lukashenko has said his country would allow Wagner to set up a temporary camp in Belarus, but it remained unclear how many mercenaries would move there.

Wagner’s impending deployment to Belarus has rattled its neighbors. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling party, announced plans to strengthen the country’s eastern border, saying about 8,000 Wagner troops are expected to arrive in Belarus.

And Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis noted Tuesday that the mutiny “shows how fast detachments from within Russia mobilize and move within its territory,” underlining “a more volatile, more unpredictable environment for our region.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy played down concerns that Wagner would pose a threat from Belarus. He said the group’s mercenaries probably wouldn’t go there in significant numbers, and added that Ukraine’s military believes security along the Belarusian border will remain “unchanged and controllable.”

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the unrest had weakened Putin, though he added that it’s “hard to tell” to what extent.

“He’s clearly losing the war in (Ukraine),” Biden said of Putin before departing Washington for Chicago. “He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said Putin has been weakened by the rebellion, which showed “the autocratic structures, the structures of power have cracks.” Speaking to German public broadcaster ARD, he acknowledged that Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had been surprised by the rebellion.

In Kramatorsk, two sisters, both age 14, died in the attack, the city council’s educational department said. “Russian missiles stopped the beating of the hearts of two angels,” it said in a Telegram post.

The other dead teenager was 17, according to Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin.

The attack also damaged 18 multistory buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping center, an administrative building and a recreational building, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Rescuers were still searching the rubble for bodies and more survivors in a city where last year, about six weeks after the start of war, 52 civilians were killed in a Russian missile strike on a train station.

Officials initially blamed Tuesday’s strike in Kramatorsk on an S-300 missile, a surface-to-air weapon that Russia’s forces have repurposed for loosely targeted strikes on cities, but the National Police later said Iskander short-range ballistic missiles were used.

Kramatorsk is a front-line city that houses the Ukrainian army’s regional headquarters. The pizza restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers, as well as local residents.

The Security Service of Ukraine said the man it detained, an employee of a gas transportation company, is suspected of filming the restaurant for the Russians and informing them about its popularity.

It provided no evidence for its claim. Russia has insisted during the war that it doesn’t aim at civilian targets, although its air strikes have killed many civilians. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated that claim on Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces hit a facility used by Ukrainian army officers in Kramatorsk but did not mention the pizza restaurant that was struck.

Kramatorsk is in Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian provinces that Russia annexed last September but does not fully control. In 2014, Russia also annexed Ukraine’s Crimea.

The Kremlin demands that Kyiv recognize the annexations, while Kyiv has ruled out any talks until Russian troops pull back from all occupied territories.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the biggest impediment now to negotiating peace is “Putin’s conviction that he can outlast Ukraine and he can outlast all of us.”

“The more we are able to disabuse him of that notion, the more likely it is that at some point he’ll come to the table,” Blinken said at the Council on Foreign Relations. He added that the NATO summit in Lithuania in two weeks will offer “a very robust package for Ukraine, political and practical.”

In other developments:

Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, was to meet with an aide to Putin, Yury Ushakov, in Moscow on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the talks would include “possible ways of political-diplomatic settlement.”

Francis dispatched Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives, to Moscow in hopes of helping spur peace negotiations after his visit to Kyiv earlier this month. At the Vatican on Wednesday, Francis again appealed for an end to the war, praying that Ukrainians “may soon find peace: There is so much suffering in Ukraine, let us not forget that.”

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Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Edith M. Lederer in New York, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — An Amtrak train carrying nearly 200 passengers struck a county water truck and derailed on Wednesday in Southern California, critically injuring the truck’s driver, authorities said.

Three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. Fourteen people on the train were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, while the truck driver was taken to a trauma center with a head injury, McGrath said.

Parts of the demolished Ventura County Public Works truck were scattered all around the derailed train cars. McGrath initially said the truck’s driver was believed to have gotten out of the vehicle before the crash, but later clarified that the circumstances leading up to the wreck weren’t known.

“No one’s talked to him, so the whole situation is still being investigated,” he said.

The derailed train cars remained upright on tracks adjacent to an orchard and bare sections of land.

Mindy Faver was seated facing the rear of the train after a trip with her mother, Shari Peterson, returning from visiting family in Oregon.

“All of a sudden: Smack!” Faver said, describing the impact. Then Faver saw what she later found out was the water truck’s tank tumbling past her window.

Most of the passengers were able to get off the train cars on their own or with the aid of first responders, McGrath said. TV news helicopters showed numerous people, many carrying luggage, milling about in a field as firefighters worked the scene.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Faver told the Ventura County Star.

The train was on its way to Los Angeles from Seattle when “it struck a water truck obstructing the tracks” at 11:15 a.m., Amtrak said in a statement.

“There were approximately 198 passengers and 13 crew onboard who were evacuated from the train, with no reports of serious injuries,” the statement said. “Amtrak is working with customers to make alternate travel arrangements. Amtrak, in coordination with local authorities, is conducting a full investigation.”

Crews were able to quickly douse a small fire, McGrath said.

Moorpark is a city of some 35,000 people located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s 23 largest banks passed the Federal Reserve’s so-called stress tests this year, a sign that the nation’s banking system remains resilient despite the recent banking crisis that led to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.

The Fed’s report issued Wednesday did show some relative weakness among the midsize banks and “super regional” banks, with some getting a passing grade with a smaller cushion than usual. Those results could raise eyebrows among investors and policymakers.

Fed policymakers also hinted that they could make the tests harder in future iterations, due to the banking crisis earlier this year.

“We should remain humble about how risks can arise and continue our work to ensure that banks are resilient to a range of economic scenarios, market shocks, and other stresses,” said Michael Barr, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, in a statement.

The “stress tests” have become an annual report card for the nation’s financial system since being implemented after the Great Recession and 2008 financial crisis. The tests vary from year to year, but generally involve the Fed testing to see how steep the losses in the banking industry would be if unemployment were to skyrocket and economic activity were to severely contract.

The Fed has also used current events to determine their scenarios. For example, the central bank has previously tested banks against the possibility of a double-dip recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the 2023 tests, the Fed hypothesized a scenario where there was a severe global recession that caused a 40% decline in commercial real estate prices and a substantial increase in office vacancies, as well as a 38% decline in home prices. Under the Fed’s worst scenario, the unemployment rate would rise to 10% — it’s currently 3.7%.

Commercial real estate has been a worry spot for investors and bank regulators for some time, as post-pandemic work-from-home policies have allowed companies to reduce the amount of office space they need. Many of the banks heavily invested in commercial real estate are small-to-midsize banks that have been under some pressure this year.

In this scenario, the 23 largest banks would have collective losses of $541 billion and their capital ratios would fall from 12.4% to 10.1%. That’s comparable to previous years, the Fed said.

A bank must have a stressed capital ratio of at least 4.5% to be considered for a passing grade. The collective average was well above that figure. Failing the test would subject a bank to automatic restrictions on its ability to pay out dividends to shareholders and buy back shares.

Banks likely will start announcing their plans for returning capital to shareholders on Friday after the market closes.

The banks that had the lowest capital ratios under these tests were the midsize banks, such as M&T Bank and Citizens Bank, and super regionals, or banks with a national presence and over $500 billion in assets, such as US Bancorp and Truist, While investors have not been worried about these banks as much as their smaller peers, it does show how banks that are not considered “too big to fail” are struggling under high interest rates and inflation.

Under the Fed’s test, US Bank would have a ratio of 6.6%, Truist would be at 6.7% and Citizens Financial would be at 6.4%.

The Fed further tested the balance sheets of eight banks with large trading books to see if they could withstand a market shock caused by a surge of inflation and rising interest rates. The results showed that these banks would be able to withstand such a shock.

The 23 banks tested this year was down from 34 banks in 2022, as the Fed decided in 2019 to allow banks with between $100 billion and $250 billion in assets to be tested every other year.

By MARIA SHERMAN (AP Music Writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Madonna has postponed her career-spanning Celebration tour due to what her manager called a “serious bacterial infection.”

Manager Guy Oseary wrote on Instagram Wednesday that the singer had spent several days in an intensive care unit after becoming ill on Saturday. He said the 64-year-old singer is expected to make a full recovery.

The tour was set to kick off in Vancouver on July 15.

“Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care,” Oseary wrote.

Live Nation confirmed the tour postponement, citing Oseary’s post.

The Celebration tour is scheduled to make stops in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta and Boston, among other cities, and its first leg was slated to end on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas. Oseary said details about rescheduled dates would be shared soon.

By HANNA ARHIROVA (Associated Press)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday arrested a man they accused of helping Russia direct a missile strike that killed at least 11 people, including three teenagers, at a popular pizza restaurant in eastern Ukraine.

The Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded 61 other people, Ukraine’s National Police said. It was the latest bombardment of a Ukrainian city, a tactic Russia has used heavily in the 16-month-old war.

The strike, and others across Ukraine late Tuesday and early Wednesday, indicated that the Kremlin is not easing its aerial onslaught, despite political and military turmoil at home after a short-lived armed uprising in Russia last weekend.

There has been no apparent military push by Ukraine to exploit that turmoil, though the government has been tight-lipped about recent battlefield developments as it seeks to gain momentum in its recently launched counteroffensive.

The Kremlin reeled from the weekend mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner private army of prison recruits and other mercenaries. Wagner has played a key combat role for Russia in Ukraine. The rebellion posed the most serious threat so far to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

Trying to repair the damage to his authority, Putin met with military staff in the Kremlin on Tuesday and flew to the Caspian city of Derbent, in the mostly Muslim region of Dagestan, on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday. He visited an ancient citadel and a historic mosque, met with officials, and walked to cheering crowds next to a fountain, talking to people and shaking hands — rare behavior for the secretive and reserved Russian leader.

Prigozhin went into exile in neighboring Belarus on Tuesday, according to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, after Russia said he wouldn’t face charges for the revolt. Prigozhin’s whereabouts could not be independently confirmed.

Lukashenko has said his country would allow Wagner to set up a temporary camp in Belarus, but it remained unclear how many mercenaries would move there.

Wagner’s impending deployment to Belarus has rattled its neighbors. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling party, announced plans to strengthen the country’s eastern border, saying about 8,000 Wagner troops are expected to arrive in Belarus.

And Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis noted Tuesday that the mutiny “shows how fast detachments from within Russia mobilize and move within its territory,” underlining “a more volatile, more unpredictable environment for our region.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy played down concerns that Wagner would pose a threat from Belarus. He said the group’s mercenaries probably wouldn’t go there in significant numbers, and added that Ukraine’s military believes security along the Belarusian border will remain “unchanged and controllable.”

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the unrest had weakened Putin, though he added that it’s “hard to tell” to what extent.

“He’s clearly losing the war in (Ukraine),” Biden said of Putin before departing Washington for Chicago. “He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said Putin has been weakened by the rebellion, which showed “the autocratic structures, the structures of power have cracks.” Speaking to German public broadcaster ARD, he acknowledged that Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had been surprised by the rebellion.

In Kramatorsk, two sisters, both age 14, died in the attack, the city council’s educational department said. “Russian missiles stopped the beating of the hearts of two angels,” it said in a Telegram post.

The other dead teenager was 17, according to Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin.

The attack also damaged 18 multistory buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping center, an administrative building and a recreational building, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Rescuers were still searching the rubble for bodies and more survivors in a city where last year, about six weeks after the start of war, 52 civilians were killed in a Russian missile strike on a train station.

Officials initially blamed Tuesday’s strike in Kramatorsk on an S-300 missile, a surface-to-air weapon that Russia’s forces have repurposed for loosely targeted strikes on cities, but the National Police later said Iskander short-range ballistic missiles were used.

Kramatorsk is a front-line city that houses the Ukrainian army’s regional headquarters. The pizza restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers, as well as local residents.

The Security Service of Ukraine said the man it detained, an employee of a gas transportation company, is suspected of filming the restaurant for the Russians and informing them about its popularity.

It provided no evidence for its claim. Russia has insisted during the war that it doesn’t aim at civilian targets, although its air strikes have killed many civilians. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated that claim on Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces hit a facility used by Ukrainian army officers in Kramatorsk but did not mention the pizza restaurant that was struck.

Kramatorsk is in Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian provinces that Russia annexed last September but does not fully control. In 2014, Russia also annexed Ukraine’s Crimea.

The Kremlin demands that Kyiv recognize the annexations, while Kyiv has ruled out any talks until Russian troops pull back from all occupied territories.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the biggest impediment now to negotiating peace is “Putin’s conviction that he can outlast Ukraine and he can outlast all of us.”

“The more we are able to disabuse him of that notion, the more likely it is that at some point he’ll come to the table,” Blinken said at the Council on Foreign Relations. He added that the NATO summit in Lithuania in two weeks will offer “a very robust package for Ukraine, political and practical.”

In other developments:

Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, was to meet with an aide to Putin, Yury Ushakov, in Moscow on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the talks would include “possible ways of political-diplomatic settlement.”

Francis dispatched Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives, to Moscow in hopes of helping spur peace negotiations after his visit to Kyiv earlier this month. At the Vatican on Wednesday, Francis again appealed for an end to the war, praying that Ukrainians “may soon find peace: There is so much suffering in Ukraine, let us not forget that.”

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Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Edith M. Lederer in New York, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By FREIDA FRISARO (Associated Press)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A former NFL quarterback, a firefighter from Georgia and two fathers who drowned while trying to save their children are among at least 11 recent victims of dangerous rip currents along Gulf of Mexico beaches stretching across Florida’s Panhandle to Mobile, Alabama.

Many of the deaths have occurred on days with double red flags — which are posted at beach entrances and on lifeguard stations — that warn beachgoers of potential rip currents. Seven deaths since mid-June have occurred around Panama City Beach, including ex-NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett, 35, drowned Tuesday in nearby Destin after getting caught up in a strong rip current.

Three people drowned off the coast of Alabama between June 20 and June 23, according to the Gulf Shores Police Department.

The Gulf of Mexico’s white sandy beaches are a draw for tourists, and as the busy Fourth of July holiday approaches, officials are hoping beachgoers will take extra precaution.

“I’m beyond frustrated at the situation that we have with tragic and unnecessary deaths in the Gulf,” Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford wrote in a Facebook post, accompanied by an aerial view that shows deep trenches that rip currents dug into the shoreline along Panama City Beach. “I have watched while deputies, firefighters and lifeguards have risked their lives to save strangers. I have seen strangers die trying to save their children and loved ones, including two fathers on Father’s Day.”

Ford says his deputies have been cursed at as they’ve tried to warn visitors of the “life-threatening dangers” in the Gulf of Mexico.

He said deputies have handed out $500 fines when they’ve seen people in the water during double red flag days.

“We don’t have the resources or time to cite every single person that enters the water but we do our absolute best to use it as a deterrent to entering the water,” Ford said, explaining that an arrest is only authorized upon a second offense, unless the person resists law enforcement.

The sheriff notes there is only so much local officials can do, so he’s asking tourists and residents to pay close attention to the flag status at the beach.

“Personal responsibility is the only way to ensure that no one else dies,” he wrote.

That message is echoed by Greg Dusek, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ocean service unit. He said that people can’t always see the deep channels on the shoreline caused by rip currents, or even tell how dangerous conditions are by the weather.

“Waves can happen when there’s a storm where you are, but they can also happen from storms far away,” Dusek said. “It can be a really nice day at the beach, beautiful, not even much wind. But you have swells coming in from storms hundreds of miles away potentially, and those waves are big enough to drive in rip currents.”

Those are the days that officials often see higher numbers of water rescues and drownings.

“That’s why I think one of the big messages needs to be: Understand the flag system for the beach you are going to, and follow that guidance,” he said.

A rip current is a powerful, narrow channel of water flowing away from the beach and often extending through the breaker zone where waves form. They can emerge on sunny days, and can quickly sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea.

“A rip current, basically, is water likes to go downhill. When breaking waves hit the shore, they get pushed up the beach,” said Daniel Noah, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Ruskin, Florida. “It’s trying to find the easiest way to get back into the water. And it finds these rip current channels and it can rapidly move back into the Gulf or the ocean.”

“The movement of water has a lot of force,” he added. “It’s dangerous for kids, it’s dangerous for adults, it’s dangerous for vehicles.”

While the popular Shark Week documentaries and the movie “Jaws” may have etched the fear of sharks into many beachgoers, drownings caused by rip currents claim many more lives. For example, in 2022 there were 108 documented shark bites of all types on humans worldwide, according to the International Shark File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Of those, Florida accounted for 16 bites, all nonfatal, among the 41 in the U.S. There was one fatality in Hawaii.

Meanwhile, through June 24, 2023, NOAA statistics show 55 deaths related to rip currents in the U.S. The seven deaths in Panama City Beach came between June 15 and 24.

“Even if there are red flags flying, people look at the water and say, ‘Oh, I’ve been in waves that big before. It doesn’t look that dangerous,’” Dusek said.

“Many times people don’t think about it, and they’re caught off guard by the risk,” he said. “I guess that’s natural human mentality. You get to the beach, you just want to have a good time with your family. You’re not necessarily thinking about what can go wrong.”

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Associated Press reporters Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, Laura Bargfeld in Ruskin, Florida and Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama contributed to this report.