NEWPORT NEWS — On the biggest day of his team’s history, the newest member of Lionsbridge FC delivered the most important kick in the club’s five years.

Coleman Jennings nailed the fifth of five penalty kicks for Lionsbridge, breaking a tie in the final round against The Villages FC. The 4-3 victory in PKs, after a 1-1 draw, and sent the Lions to the USL League Two national championship match against Ballard FC, which will host the match Saturday in Seattle, Washington.

Jennings, who just joined the club last week, was even-keeled about his new place in the team’shistory.

“I just wanted to deliver for the boys,” said Jennings, who hit a perfect line drive into the right side of the net that sent the home crowd, which filled the TowneBank Stadium bleachers, into a frenzy and ended the hopes of the visitors from central Florida.

What a moment! A memory with my mates that will last forever. UP THE BRIDGE @LionsbridgeFC pic.twitter.com/g9rTz4MkBI

— Andrew Bennett (@ajbennett101) July 31, 2023

Davide Materazzi, Sam Hall and Andrew Bennett also scored on penalty kicks for Lionsbridge.

Jennings’ game-winner was preceded by a crucial save from goalie Tyler Hogan, who stopped a grounder by Pedro Santos to keep the bonus round tied.

Asked if Santos tipped him off about which direction he might send the ball, Hogan said, “I know where I’m going before they (kick) it.”

Lionsbridge (13-2-4) extended its overall unbeaten streak to 10 and its home unbeaten run to 32 games.

The victory ended a rugged stretch for the Eastern Conference champions, who played four playoff games in nine days — including two overtime matches this weekend, the first of which lasted until 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

The first half was scoreless, highlighted by some rough-and-tumble play and few scoring opportunities. The Villages’ Nicolai Muench had the first open shot at goal at the 10-minute mark, receiving a pass within 10 yards of the Lionsbridge goal, with only keeper Hogan to beat. But his attempt from the near right side hit the outside of the goal, getting caught in the netting.

Five minutes later, Lionsbridge midfielder Bennett hooked a 30-yard attempt over the Villages defense and directly toward the top of the goal. But keeper Mathias Tieppo leaped to bat the ball over the crossbar.

Play got chippy in the second half after The Villages took a 1-0 lead when Alvaro Carrera scored in the 46th minute. At the 50-minute mark, a shoving match among several members of both teams broke out near midfield, and two minutes later, Lionsbridge’s Harri Rowe drew a yellow card for upending Muench.

“They’re a physical team,” said Lions coach Chris Whalley. “I think we handled it well.”

The hosts eventually benefited. Lionsbridge earned a free kick from 35 yards after Sam Hall was pushed to the turf while dribbling. Bennett’s kick was recovered by teammate Adam Kirkwood, who turned to deliver a line drive toward the goal. The ball hit the crossbar, but an alert Josh Baker dove to head in the rebound for a game-tying score in the 67th minute.

The good news for Lionsbridge was almost short-lived. The Villages dribbled into the Lions’ zone and sent akick toward the goal in the 72nd minute. The ball started bouncing toward the net, with Hogan caught five yards outside of the goal. Instinctively, he turned to chase the ball, which he managed to bat out of the crease with his right hand, saving what would have been the potential winning goal as the two clubs played to a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.

Neither team scored in the two 15-minute extra-time periods, setting up the shootout and Lionsbridge’s most memorable victory.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Virginia Tech gained a commitment from quarterback Kelden Ryan, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound rising junior from Keller, Texas. He plays for All Saints’ Episcopal School and is rated a 3-star prospect by 247 Sports Composite. He competed for Keller Central in his first two years of high school.

According to 247 Sports, Ryan holds offers from California, Colorado, Duke, Miami, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Texas Tech and numerous other FBS programs.

BASEBALL

Shutout runs Pilots’ winning streak to four

Hunter Cole had four hits, including two triples, as the Peninsula Pilots ran their winning streak to four games with a 6-0 shutout of the Wilmington Sharks at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton.

Sunday night’s victory improved the Pilots to 12-6 in the second half of the Coastal Plain League season. Climbing from an 0-5 start, they have reached .500 for the year (21-21).

Trailing Morehead City (14-6) by a game, the Pilots are off Monday and will face the Tri-City Chili Peppers in a 5:05 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights.

Mason Dunaway scored twice and Trey Morgan was 2 for 3 for Peninsula.

Starter Nick Willard pitched five innings, holding the Sharks to one hit and one walk in five innings. Robert Cook, Michael Caldon, Olvis Genao and Jay Schueler completed the shutout.

Ryan Dooley’s bases-loaded walk put the Pilots ahead 1-0 in the first inning.

Peninsula expanded the margin with a five-run sixth. Cole’s two-run triple and RBI singles by Henry Garcia and Ethan Ott were among the highlights.

The Pilots’ only remaining scheduled home games are against Tri-City on Wednesday and Martinsville on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.

TENNIS

Former ODU player wins title in Dallas

Former Old Dominion women’s standout Yuliia Starodubtseva won her third International Tennis Federation (ITF) event title Sunday with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Yafan Wang of China at the Dallas Open, a $60,000 event held on indoor hard courts on the SMU campus.

Starodubtseva earned a spot in the qualifying bracket for the U.S. Open in New York.

She opened the event with a 6-3, 6-2 win over former North Carolina Tar Heel Jamie Loeb and advanced through the second round a walkover win. She then knocked off top-seeded Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a quarterfinal and YeXin Ma of China 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a semifinal.

In the spring, Starodubtseva won a $25,000 event in Texas. Earlier this summer, she won a $60K event in Sumter, South Carolina.

SWIMMING

UVA standouts capture world golds

Virginia Cavaliers standouts Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh helped Team USA to a gold medal in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay to close the 2023 World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

The gold gave Douglass her sixth medal of the championship, tying for the most by any swimmer at the meet. She won two gold medals, her relay gold on Sunday and an individual gold in the 200-meter individual medley. Douglass anchored four U.S. relays during the meet.

Walsh swam the butterfly leg of the 4×100 medley relay to win her first gold medal of the meet. She finished with three medals, including her first individual medal at the international level with bronze in the 50-meter butterfly Saturday. Walsh also added an 11th-place finish in the 50 freestyle Saturday.

Also closing out her time at the championships was her sister and her UVA teammate, senior Alex Walsh. Alex just missed the podium in the 400-meter IM, placing fourth in 4:34.46. Walsh won silver in the 200-meter IM earlier in the week.

By Hank Kurz

Associated Press

RICHMOND — Chris Buescher pulled away on a restart with three laps to go to win at Richmond Raceway on Sunday and snag one of the final spots in NASCAR’s playoff field.

Buescher led 88 laps and was ahead by nearly six seconds when a caution came out with less than 10 laps to go. That erased his lead over Chesterfield County native Denny Hamlin, who was booed by his hometown crowd before the race.

But Hamlin got a poor final restart and Buescher easily pulled away for his first Cup Series win of the season, the third of his career.

“I knew that last restart was going to be tough, but I knew we had the speed in this thing,” Buescher said.

He and RFK Racing teammate Brad Keselowski led a combined 190 of the 400 laps in their Fords. Keselowski, now a part owner of the team, led 102 laps on the three-quarters-of-a-mile oval.

Buescher started 26th and had to drive through the field for the win that locked him into the 16-driver playoff field with four races remaining in the regular season. Buescher became the 13th race winner this year, and there are three playoff spots up for grabs over the next month.

It was the 139th Cup win for primary team owner Jack Roush, the second since Keselowski joined the ownership group.

Ford now has 723 wins in NASCAR’s top Cup Series.

“Everybody at RFK Racing has worked so hard to get us to this point,” Buescher said.

Hamlin, the winner the previous week at Pocono, finished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kyle Busch was third in a Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, followed by the Fords of Joey Logano from Team Penske and Ryan Preece of Stewart-Haas Racing.

“One win is good, but you get three or four or five and then you feel a lot better,” said Keselowski. “It sure beats not having any at all, but we want to keep going. It’s nice to have one car locked in the playoffs. We need to get both cars locked in the playoffs. We have a good points gap, but we want wins and this is where we need to be.”

Keselowski, despite being winless this season, is still mathematically in contention for the playoffs.

The race was slowed just three times by caution flags, with the final yellow sending the leaders to pit road for four tires with eight laps to go. When the green flag was shown again, Buescher used the inside line to pull away for his third career Cup victory.

Hamlin’s bid for the victory ended on the second lap of the final sprint when he drove in too deep in the first turn and slid up the track. He finished 0.549 of a second behind Buescher.

“I got a bad restart,” Hamlin said. “I had to recover too much ground from what I lost on the frontstretch. Almost got to the outside, and then in Turn 4, almost got to the outside again, and then in Turn 1, I was like, ‘I’m just going to ship it in there and try to get to the outside one more time,’ and I just carried way too much speed and locked up the left front tires.”

Larson-Hamlin

Kyle Larson, angered last week when Hamlin caused him to hit the wall while leading while Hamlin went on to win, was running a few laps down when he nudged Hamlin out of the way with 70 laps to go during Sunday’s race.

Larson, who won at Richmond in April, finished 19th.

“I think he was having a frustrating day,” Hamlin said. “It’s all good.”

Scorcher

With temperatures in the mid-80s, it was about 15 degrees cooler than Saturday, when the temperature approached 100 and the heat index was at least 105.

Nevertheless, points leader Martin Truex Jr. still struggled.

“It was definitely really, really hot,” he said. “It felt longer than 400 laps. I’ll be honest, when we got to the end of stage two, I thought there was no way. I thought that was the checkered flag. It just felt really, really long.”

Truex finished seventh.

Clean race

All 36 cars that started the race were still running at the end.

Up next

The series moves to Michigan, where Kevin Harvick, winless so far in this, his final season, is the defending champion.

By JESSE BEDAYN (Associated Press/Report for America)

DENVER (AP) — As Denver neared triple-digit temperatures, Ben Gallegos sat shirtless on his porch swatting flies off his legs and spritzing himself with a misting fan to try to get through the heat. Gallegos, like many in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods, doesn’t have air conditioning.

The 68-year-old covers his windows with mattress foam to insulate against the heat and sleeps in the concrete basement. He knows high temperatures can cause heat stroke and death, and his lung condition makes him more susceptible. But the retired brick layer, who survives on about $1,000 a month, says air conditioning is out of reach.

“Take me about 12 years to save up for something like that,” he said. “If it’s hard to breathe, I’ll get down to emergency.”

As climate change fans hotter and longer heat waves, breaking record temperatures across the U.S. and leaving dozens dead, the poorest Americans suffer the hottest days with the fewest defenses. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.

As Phoenix weathered its 27th consecutive day above 110 degrees (43 Celsius) Wednesday, the nine who died indoors didn’t have functioning air conditioning, or it was turned off. Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.

“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”

It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.

“The temperature differences … between lower-income neighborhoods, neighborhoods of color and their wealthier, whiter counterparts have pretty severe consequences,” said Cate Mingoya-LaFortune of Groundwork USA, an environmental justice organization. “There are these really big consequences like death. … But there’s also ambient misery.”

Some have window units that can offer respite, but “in the dead of heat, it don’t do nothing,” said Melody Clark, who stopped Friday to get food at a Kansas City, Kansas, nonprofit as temperatures soared to 101. When the central air conditioning at her rental house broke, her landlord installed a window unit. But it doesn’t do much during the day.

So the 45-year-old wets her hair, cooks outside on a propane grill and keeps the lights off indoors. At night she flips the box unit on, hauling her bed into the room where it’s located to sleep.

As far as her two teenagers, she said: “They aren’t little bitty. We aren’t dying in the heat. … They don’t complain.”

While billions in federal funding have been allocated to subsidize utility costs and the installation of cooling systems, experts say they often only support a fraction of the most vulnerable families and some still require prohibitive upfront costs. Installing a centralized heat pump system for heating and cooling can easily reach $25,000.

President Joe Biden announced steps on Thursda y to defend against extreme heat, highlighting the expansion of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which funnels money through states to help poorer households pay utility bills.

While the program is critical, said Michelle Graff, who studies the subsidy at Cleveland State University, only about 16% of the nation’s eligible population is actually reached. Nearly half of states don’t offer the federal dollars for summer cooling.

“So people are engaging in coping mechanisms, like they’re turning on their air conditioners later and leaving their homes hotter,” Graff said.

As temperatures rise, so does the cost of cooling. And temperatures are already hotter in America’s low-income neighborhoods. Researchers at the University of San Diego analyzed 1,056 counties and in over 70%, the poorest areas and those with higher Black, Hispanic and Asian populations were significantly hotter. That’s in part because those neighborhoods lack tree coverage.

At noon on Friday, Katrice Sullivan sat on the porch of her rented house on Detroit’s westside. It was hot and muggy, but even steamier inside the house. Even if she had air conditioning, Sullivan said she’d choose her moments to run it to keep her electricity bill down.

The 37-year-old factory worker sometimes sits in her car with the air conditioner running. “Some people here spend every dollar for food, so air conditioning is something they can’t afford,” she said.

In the federal Inflation Reduction Act, billions were set aside for tax credits and rebates to help families install energy-efficient cooling systems, but some of those are yet to be available. Rebates are the kind of state and federal point-of-sale discounts that Amanda Morian has looked into for her 640-square-foot home.

Morian, who has a 13-week-old baby susceptible to hot weather, is desperate to keep her house in Denver’s Globeville suburb cool. She got estimates from four different companies for installing a cooling system, but every project was between $20,000 and $25,000, she said. Even with subsidies she can’t afford it.

Instead, she bought thermal curtains, ceiling fans and runs a window unit. At night she tries to do skin-to-skin touch to regulate the baby’s body temperature.

“All of those are just to take the edge off, its not enough to actually make it cool. It’s enough to keep us from dying,” she said.

____

Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Kansas, and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.

—

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Joey Ortiz’s three-run homer and Heston Kjerstad’s three hits and two runs propelled the Norfolk Tides to a 6-3 victory before 5,197 Sunday at Harbor Park over Nashville, giving them a split of the six-game series.

The Tides (63-37, 15-11 in the International League’s second half) cuffed around Sounds starter Jason Alexander (2-2), collecting 10 hits and six runs off him in 4 2/3 innings.

Tides starter Ryan Watson gave up two runs and four hits in 3 2/3 innings, striking out five. The Norfolk bullpen, led by winner Noah Denoyer (3-0) and Kyle Dowdy, shut down the Sounds until Ofreidy Gomez yielded a relatively insignificant run in the ninth.

Kjerstad slugged a first-inning homer, and the Tides went ahead 3-0 in the second. Anthony Bemboom hit an RBI double before Daz Cameron scored on Nashville first baseman Payton Henry’s error.

The Sounds (54-46, 14-12) pulled to 3-2, thanks to Luis Urias’ sacrifice fly and ex-Tide Patrick Dorrian’s homer, but Ortiz’s blast to left in the fourth inning scored Connor Norby and Kjerstad ahead of him, putting Norfolk in control at 6-2. Norby extended his on-base streak to 21 games.

Norfolk is off Monday before playing host to the Charlotte Knights, who have the IL second half’s worst record, in a seven-game, six-day series.

Late Saturday

Sounds 5, Tides 4: Nashville second baseman Josh VanMeter’s redemption brought the Tides frustration.

VanMeter atoned for a costly error by socking a two-run go-ahead homer in the ninth inning of a 94-degree Saturday night, giving the Sounds a victory before 6,710.

Norfolk starter Drew Rom had been in line for the victory. He threw a career-high 105 pitches, lasting 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander gave up eight hits but just two runs, striking out six and walking two.

The Sounds went ahead in the first as VanMeter scored when Skye Bolt blooped a single to right. Norfolk quickly tied the game on Connor Norby’s home run to left in the botttom of the first.

Nashville went up 2-1 in the fourth as Bolt crossed the plate on Monte Harrison’s single to center. But again, the Tides answered in the bottom of the fourth.

Kyle Stowers led off with a double and went to third with one out on Cesar Prieto’s infield single. Josh Lester grounded a tying RBI double to center field. Norfolk went ahead 4-2 when VanMeter mishandled a Lewin Diaz batted ball, allowing Prieto and Lester to score.

Relievers T.J. McFarland and Nick Vespi contained Nashville, preserving the lead. But Logan Gillaspie wasn’t so fortunate in the ninth, when the Sounds went ahead without making an out.

Harrison led off with a double to right, and Luis Urias doubled to left to cut Norfolk’s lead to 4-3. VanMeter belted a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left-center, scoring the go-ahead run.

Gillaspie avoided further damage, but Thyago Vieira retired the Tides 1-2-3 in the ninth for a save.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE SECOND-HALF STANDINGS

(through all but one of Sunday’s games; 1H refers to the team’s first-half record)

Team, W-L, Pct., 1H

Buffalo (Blue Jays), 17-9, .654, -, 34-41

Lehigh Valley (Phillies), 16-10, .615, 1.0, 36-37

Iowa (Cubs), 16-11, .593, 1.5, 43-30

St. Paul (Twins), 16-11, .593, 1.5, 43-31

c-Norfolk (Orioles), 15-11, .577, 2.0, 48-26

Worcester (Red Sox), 15-11, .577, 2.0, 39-36

Indianapolis (Pirates), 15-12, .556, 2.5, 33-41

Rochester (Nationals), 15-12, .556, 2.5, 34-39

*Durham (Rays), 14-12, .538, 3.0, 40-35

Nashville (Brewers), 14-12, .538, 3.0, 40-34

Jacksonville (Marlins), 14-13, .519, 3.5, 32-42

Louisville (Reds), 13-14, .481, 4.5, 40-33

Memphis (Cardinals), 13-14, .481, 4.5, 39-36

Scranton/W-B (Yankees), 12-13, .480, 4.5, 34-40

Columbus (Guardians), 12-14, .462, 5.0, 33-41

Gwinnett (Braves), 12-14, .462, 5.0, 33-42

Omaha (Royals), 12-14, .462, 5.0, 38-34

Syracuse (Mets), 9-17, .346, 8.0, 33-41

Toledo (Tigers), 9-18, .333, 8.5, 33-41

*Charlotte (White Sox), 4-21, .160, 12.5, 35-40

*Does not include Sunday’s result.

c-clinched first-half title and berth in championship series in September.

Mike Christmas earned MVP honors in the Hampton Roads 7 Cities Pro-Am summer basketball league for the Harvey Lindsay championship team.

Christmas, a former Landstown High and James Madison Dukes player now with Longwood, averaged 33 points, highlighted by a 50-point game July 23.

Christmas @mikexmas23 just named @7CitiesProAM 2023 League MVP🏆 pic.twitter.com/viCGaG3PhR

— SuperEricRogers (@SuperEricRogers) July 30, 2023

In the final of the league’s one-day playoff tournament in Norview High’s gym, Harvey Lindsay outlasted Jarcam 105-103 Sunday.

In the final, former Cape Henry, Virginia Tech and Texas Tech player Chris Clarke netted 23 points for Harvey Lindsay. Eli White, a Kempsville High alum who competes in college for Bluefield, and Randy Stafford added 19 apiece.

Bluefield’s Eli White. CHAMPION. pic.twitter.com/aOmpPx1RXT

— SuperEricRogers (@SuperEricRogers) July 30, 2023

Jarcam got 31 points from Hampton University’s Jerry Deng and 23 from K.J. Stagger. Lorenzo Cherry added 17 and Nigel Ribeiro — also known as the budding rapper NiE — had 16.

In the semifinals, Clarke scored 30 points as Harvey Lindsay defeated the Wildcats 101-95. White added 19 points and Stafford 17 for the victors.

Jarcam defeated Team Brown 88-81 behind Da’Shawn Cook’s 35 points and Xavier Green’s 25. Deng scored 24 and Cherry added 18 for JarCam.

Earlier, the Wildcats won 79-57 over the Barristers.

Jarcam received a forfeit victory in the first round because the Langley Raptors failed to appear in time, thanks to a traffic incident that clogged traffic around the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

Up for adoption: Except where noted, these animals are available at the Virginia Beach Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 3040 Holland Road. Call 427-0070. Adoptions include spay/neuter, vaccines and microchipping. For adoption fees, visit vbspca.com/adopt/adoption-procedures.

Photos courtesy of the Virginia Beach SPCA

Betty Boop is a 1-year-old mama cat who just recently finished caring for her kittens. Now she’s spayed and ready to find her forever home! Betty Boop can be a little shy at first, so she’d love a quiet household. She loves to play with laser pointers, feather toys and crinkle tunnels.

Diamond is a 1-year-old Terrier mix who needs a special adopter to help build her confidence. She is very loving once she gets to know you but is nervous in new situations and currently on anxiety medication. Because of this, all children in Diamond’s home must be at least 12 years old.

Bama is a 3-year-old tabby who loves snuggling in cat beds and lounging near a window to soak up the sun. He recently had a leg amputated due to a past injury, but he recovered well in a foster home. Bama gets along with older cats and would do best with older, cat-savvy children.

Peaches is an 8-year-old Chihuahua mix who is very friendly to people and animals alike. She has enjoyed hanging out with other small dogs at the Virginia Beach SPCA shelter. Because of her small stature, she would do best in a home with children 6 and older.

Squeak is one of several baby Roborovski hamsters that are available for adoption at the VBSPCA. She and her siblings are all one month old. They are all very friendly since they are used to being handled by humans.

By ANWARULLAH KHAN and RIAZ KHAN (Associated Press)

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in a former stronghold of militants in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least 44 people and wounding nearly 200 in an attack that a senior leader said was meant to weaken Pakistani Islamists.

The Bajur district near the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban government — before the Pakistani army drove the militants out of the area. Supporters of hardline Pakistani cleric and political party leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam generally supports regional Islamists, were meeting in Bajur in a hall close to a market outside the district capital. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally but organizers added tents because so many supporters showed up, and party volunteers with batons were helping control the crowd.

Officials were announcing the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, when the bomb went off in one of Pakistan’s bloodiest attacks in recent years.

Provincial police said in a statement that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting. It said initial investigations suggested the Islamic State group — which operates in Afghanistan and is an enemy of the Afghan Taliban — could be behind the attack, and officers were still investigating.

“There was dust and smoke around, and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs,” said Adam Khan, 45, who was knocked to the ground by the blast around 4 p.m. and hit by splinters in his leg and both hands.

The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that the bombing was aimed at setting Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”

The Afghan Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government in November, and have stepped up attacks across the country.

The bombing came hours before the arrival of Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, where he was to participate in an event to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a sprawling package under which Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan.

In recent months, China has helped Pakistan avoid a default on sovereign payments. However, some Chinese nationals have also been targeted by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.

Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 44 people had been “martyred” and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.

The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. n February, more than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing Peshawar police headquarters.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families. Sharif later, in a phone call to Rehman, the head of the JUI, conveyed his condolences to him and assured him that those who orchestrated the attack would be punished.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned the attack. In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, it expressed its condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims killed in the attack..

Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman’s party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt.

Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work. The bombing drew nationwide condemnation, with the ruling and opposition parties extending condolences to the families of those who died in the attack.

Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.

“Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones,” Rasheed said.

Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.

“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground,” he said. “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones.”

___

Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER (Associated Press)

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit Donald Trump filed against CNN in which the former U.S. president claimed that references in news articles or by the network’s hosts to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election as “the Big Lie” was tantamount to comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

Trump had been seeking punitive damages of $475 million in the federal lawsuit filed last October in South Florida, claiming the references hurt his reputation and political career. Trump is a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination in what is his third run for the presidency.

U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, who was appointed by Trump, said Friday in his ruling that the former president’s defamation claims failed because the references were opinions and not factual statements. Moreover, it was a stretch to believe that, in viewers’ minds, that phrase would connect Trump’s efforts challenging the 2020 election results to Nazi propaganda or Hitler’s genocidal and authoritarian regime, the judge said.

“CNN’s use of the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ in connection with Trump’s election challenges does not give rise to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people,” the judge wrote in his decision.

Email messages seeking comment were sent to Trump’s attorneys in South Florida and Washington. Email messages seeking comment also were sent to CNN attorneys in Atlanta and South Florida.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at @MikeSchneiderAP

Police released the identity of the man shot and killed Saturday in Hampton.

Thelbert Howard, 61, of Newport News died of his injuries after being taken to a hospital, according to a news release from Hampton police.

Police responded to reports of shots fired in the 200 block of Regent Street, near Kecoughtan Road, shortly after 1 p.m. There, they found several people behind a building trying to help Howard, who had multiple gunshot wounds.

Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, [email protected]