Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. Willacy was sentenced to death a year later upon a 9-3 jury recommendation after being convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson.

Court records indicate Sather had returned to her Palm Bay home for her lunch break in September 1990 and found Willacy burglarizing her home. He struck her in the head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull, and then bound her hands and ankles with wire and tape, according to investigators.

Willacy attempted to strangle Sather with a telephone cord, and when that didn’t work, he doused her in gasoline and set her on fire, records show. An autopsy determined that Sather had died from smoke inhalation, indicating she was still alive when she was set ablaze.

Willacy also stole Sather’s car and other items from her home, and used the woman’s ATM card to steal cash, officials said. When Sather failed to return from her break, her employer caller her family. Her son-in-law went to check on her and found her body.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing in 1994 because the trial judge failed to allow defense attorneys a chance to rehabilitate a potential juror who indicated she could not recommend the death penalty. Willacy was resentenced to death in 1995 with an 11-1 recommendation by a new jury.

This would be Florida’s fifth execution in 2026 following a record 19 executions in the state last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.

The Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Willacy last Wednesday. He had made claims based on the state’s refusal to grant public records requests about executions and lethal injection.

Willacy’s final appeals were pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as the execution date loomed.

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a long line of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.

Another execution has been scheduled in Florida for later this month. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to received a lethal injection on April 30. He was convicted of beating and choking his 13-year-old niece to death.

All Florida executions are by lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

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A proposed constitutional amendment backed by Democratic officials would bypass the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission to allow use of new congressional districts approved by state lawmakers in this year’s midterm elections.

The referendum tests Democrats’ ability to push back against President Donald Trump, who started the gerrymandering competition between states after successfully urging Texas Republicans to redraw congressional districts in their favor last year. Virginia would be the second state, after California last fall, to put the question to voters.

It also tests voters’ willingness to accept districts gerrymandered for political advantage — coming just six years after Virginia voters approved an amendment meant to diminish such partisan gamesmanship by shifting redistricting away from the legislature.

Even if Democrats are successful Tuesday, the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the redistricting plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless.

Virginia Democrats are following California’s lead

Congressional redistricting typically is done once a decade after each U.S. census. But Trump urged Texas Republicans to redistrict ahead of the November elections in hopes of winning several additional seats and maintaining the GOP’s narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party that is out of power during midterms.

The Texas gambit led to a burst of redistricting nationwide. So far, Republicans believe they can win up to nine more House seats in newly redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.

Democrats think they can win up to five more seats in California, where voters approved a mid-decade redistricting effort last November, and one more seat under new court-imposed districts in Utah. Democrats hope to offset the rest of that gap in Virginia, where they decisively flipped 13 seats in the state House and won back the governor’s office last year.

Leaders of both major parties see Tuesday’s vote as crucial to their chances to have a House majority in the fall. Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rallied with opponents of the measure Monday night, calling the redistricting plan “dishonest” and “brazenly deceptive.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day that a vote to approve the redraw “will serve as a check and balance on this out-of-control Trump administration.”

He said he expected the election to be close.

The back-and-forth battle over congressional districts is expected to continue in Florida, where the Republican-led legislature is scheduled to convene April 28 for a special session that could result in a more favorable map for Republicans.

A lobster-like district could aid Democratic efforts

In Virginia, Democrats currently hold six of the 11 U.S. House seats under districts that were imposed by the state Supreme Court in 2021 after a bipartisan commission failed to agree on a map based on the latest census data.

The new plan could help Democrats win as many as 10 seats. Five are anchored in Democratic-heavy northern Virginia, including one shaped like a lobster that stretches into Republican-leaning rural areas.

Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, southern Virginia and Hampton Roads dilute the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. And a reshaped district in parts of western Virginia lumps together three Democratic-leaning college towns to offset other Republican voters.

The Virginia redistricting plan is “pushing back against what other states have done in trying to stack the deck for Donald Trump in those congressional elections,” Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger said during an online rally last week.

Ads for the “yes to redistricting” campaign featuring former President Barack Obama have flooded the airwaves.

Opponents have distributed campaign materials citing past statements from Obama and Spanberger criticizing gerrymandering, but those were before Trump pushed Republican states to redraw their congressional maps in advance of this year’s midterms.

Democrats “were all against gerrymandering before they were for it,” Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Ryer said.

Virginia court weighs whether lawmakers acted illegally

Virginia lawmakers endorsed a constitutional amendment allowing their mid-decade redistricting last fall, then passed it again in January as part of a two-step process that requires an intervening election for an amendment to be placed on the ballot.

In February, they passed a new U.S. House map to take effect pending the outcome of the redistricting referendum. Republicans have filed multiple legal challenges against the effort.

A Tazewell County judge ruled that the redistricting push was illegal for several reasons. Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. said lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.

He ruled that their initial vote failed to occur before the public began casting ballots in last year’s general election and thus didn’t count toward the two-step process. He also ruled that the state failed to publish the amendment three months before that election, as required by law.

If the state Supreme Court agrees with the lower court, the results from Tuesday’s vote could be rendered moot.

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Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

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Inflation is worsening as the Iran war has spiked gas prices, making it much harder for the Fed to implement the interest rate cuts President Donald Trump so desperately seeks. The conflict could also slow the economy as well as hiring. And if Warsh ultimately becomes chair, he may very well find his predecessor, Jerome Powell, still sitting on the Fed’s governing board, an uncomfortable arrangement that hasn’t occurred since the late 1940s.

Warsh, a former top official at the Fed and a wealthy investor, will likely face a range of tough questions at the hearing. Democrats on the committee have already signaled they will press him about what they argue is a lack of transparency regarding some of his vast financial holdings, which total more than $100 million, according to a recent disclosure.

Another top issue will be Trump’s repeated demands for cuts in the Fed’s short-term interest rate, which has created the perception that Warsh was nominated to do the president’s bidding. Most other Fed officials have said they support keeping the central bank’s key rate unchanged, now that inflation has begun to rise again.

Warsh expressed support for the Federal Reserve’s independence in written remarks released Monday that he will deliver at the hearing.

He said such political independence is “essential,” but he also said it wasn’t threatened when “elected officials — presidents, senators, or members of the House — state their views on interest rates.” Trump has repeatedly urged that Powell cut the Fed’s key rate from its current level of about 3.6%.

Warsh also underscored his commitment to one of the Fed’s two congressional mandates: Keeping inflation low. He did not mention the other, which is pursuing maximum employment.

“Inflation is a choice, and the Fed must take responsibility for it,” Warsh said in his prepared remarks. A tight focus on inflation typically leads officials to keep interest rates high to cool spending, rather than reducing rates to boost the economy, as Trump has demanded.

While the long-delayed hearing is a necessary step for Warsh, it’s not clear when the committee may even be able to vote on his nomination. The Justice Department is investigating Powell and the Fed over a building renovation, and Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, has said he would effectively block Warsh until the probe is dropped.

“Clearly there’s a majority of the committee that’s not going to move this nomination forward, especially while this sham of a criminal investigation is going on,” Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, told reporters on a conference call Monday. “It feels a bit like we’re going through the motions when we really have not addressed the fundamental challenges that this nomination has.”

The turmoil could make a potential transition from Powell to Warsh an unusually turbulent one for the world’s most important central bank, which has typically seen smooth transfers of power. Should the change in leadership prove particularly bumpy, it could unnerve markets and lift longer-term interest rates.

Powell’s term as chair ends May 15. He said last month that he would remain as chair until a successor is named. Powell also is serving a separate term as a member of the Fed’s governing board that lasts until January 2028. Fed chairs typically leave the board when their terms as chairs ends, but Powell also said last month he would remain on the board, even if a new chair is approved, until the investigation is dropped.

When asked about Powell’s comments, Trump said he would fire Powell if he tried to stay at the Fed. Yet Trump’s previous attempt to remove a Fed governor, Lisa Cook, has been tied up in courts. During oral arguments in January, a majority of justices on the Supreme Court appeared to lean towards letting Cook keep her job.

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The procedure will be performed Wednesday at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles, and Díaz is not expected back until the second half of the season.

The Dodgers placed the 32-year-old right-hander on the 15-day injured list and recalled left-hander Jake Elder from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Elder, was acquired from the Washington Nationals on April 1 for cash, has allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings this season with Oklahoma City.

Díaz is 1-0 with a 10.50 ERA, 10 strikeouts and four saves in five opportunities over seven appearances. He gave up three runs without recording an out in Sunday’s 9-6 loss at Colorado. He has allowed three earned runs in each of his past two appearances.

“It gives other guys opportunities, but losing your closer is a big loss,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers beat the Rockies 12-3 on Monday night. “Other guys are going to have to step up. Fortunately for us, we’ve got a lot of depth and we’ve got some other guys who should be coming here in the next few weeks.”

The Dodgers signed the three-time All-Star to a three-year, $69 million deal last December after he opted out of the final two years and $38 million of his contract with the New York Mets.

The two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers split their four-game series at Colorado. Their seven-game trip continues with a series at San Francisco that starts Tuesday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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McCollum led a late surge that was almost for naught when he missed two free throws with 5.6 seconds remaining. The Knicks rushed the ball up the court without any timeouts left, but Mikal Bridges missed a jumper as time expired.

“It’s a long game,” McCollum said. “You’ve got to play to zero.”

The Hawks had trailed the whole second half and were down 12 after three quarters. Atlanta chipped away and a basket by McCollum gave the Hawks a 101-100 lead — their first of the series in the second half — with 2:09 to play. He made another for a three-point lead, and after Jalen Brunson tied it with a 3-pointer, McCollum answered with another jumper to make it 105-103 with 33 seconds to play.

Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points off the bench and Jalen Johnson scored 17, including a basket with 10 seconds left for a four-point lead for the No. 6 seeds, who host Game 3 on Thursday.

Brunson had 29 points for the Knicks and Karl-Anthony Towns added 18.

The Knicks are trying to reach the second round for a fourth straight season, their longest stretch since the 1991-92 to 1999-2000 seasons, and seemed well on their way.

“This is a game we should have won,” New York’s Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs you can’t give away games.”

Towns, who had four points in the first half, scored 14 in the third quarter as the Knicks extended the lead to 78-64. They were still ahead by eight with under five minutes remaining.

But their young players who sparked the Hawks’ surge after the All-Star break finally made some plays before McCollum — ignoring profane jeers after he and Jose Alvarado went nose-to-nose and were each given technical fouls in the third quarter — then closed it out.

McCollum was acquired from Washington in the January trade for Trae Young, the Hawks star who was a former playoff villain at Madison Square Garden. He filled the role perfectly Monday, outplaying Brunson in the second half and stealing a game that looked lost.

Hart had 15 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Knicks.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

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Tuesday

MLB

Tuesday

American League

National League

Interleague

National Hockey League (NHL)

Tuesday

Consensus odds provided by Sportradar

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Patrick Muldoon, known for his roles on shows including Days of Our Lives and films including Starship Troopers, has died at age 57, his representative confirmed to ABC News Monday.

Muldoon rose to fame in the early 1990s with his role on Days of Our Lives, on which he originated the role of Austin Reed. He later starred on the primetime soap opera Melrose Place and had a recurring role on Saved By the Bell.

Days of Our Lives paid tribute to its former star on Monday, writing in an Instagram post, “The Days of our Lives family is saddened by the news of Patrick’s untimely passing.”

“As the original ‘Austin Reed,’ he left an indelible mark in Salem both personally and professionally. Our thoughts are with his loved ones, and he will be missed by all of us,” the soap opera posted, alongside a series of photos of Muldoon.

Allison Sweeney, who co-starred with Muldoon on Days of Our Lives, shared memories of the actor in a post on X Monday, writing, “Pat was a rare kind of person—brilliantly talented, endlessly kind, and generous in spirit. I was so lucky to have worked with him when I first started at Days, he made me feel at ease right away. He brought his unique charm and humor to work every day. A truly gifted guy, and one who will be profoundly missed.”

Lisa Rinna, who also starred alongside Muldoon on Days, posted a photo of the pair together in an Instagram Story, alongside a broken heart emoji.

In addition to his TV roles, Muldoon acted on the big screen, including the 1997 movie Starship Troopers, playing the role of Zander Barcalow.

Over his decadeslong acting career, Muldoon accrued nearly 100 acting credits, as well as more than one dozen producing credits and several soundtrack credits, according to IMDb.

Just days before his death, Muldoon shared a post on Instagram promoting a new film he was working on, Kockroach, starring Chris Hemsworth, Taron Egerton and Zazie Beetz.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Martinook — who was stopped on a penalty shot in the first OT — kept the winning play alive by chasing down a loose rebound toward the boards to keep the possession in the offensive zone. Moments later, Nikolaj Ehlers found Martinook between the circles to beat Ullmark, who was partially shielded by Carolina captain Jordan Staal at the top of the crease.

That set off a mob celebration by the Hurricanes around Martinook in a corner of the ice, ending a game that saw them hang on despite blowing a 2-0 lead and having an apparent winner by Mark Jankowski waved off in the first overtime due to an offside call on review.

The series moves to Canada’s capital for Game 3 on Thursday.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency confirmed that it has asked prosecutors to request a court warrant for Bang’s arrest. Representatives of Bang’s agency, HYBE, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bang has been under investigation since November over allegations that he misled investors in 2019 by telling them HYBE had no plans to go public, inducing them to sell their shares to a private equity fund before the company proceeded with an initial public offering. Police believe that the fund may have paid Bang around 200 billion won ($136 million) in a side deal that promised him 30% of post-IPO stock sale profits.

Bang, a music executive and producer who founded HYBE as Big Hit Entertainment in 2005, is widely seen as one of the most powerful figures in K-pop, overseeing some of the industry’s most popular acts, including Seventeen, Le Sserafim and Katseye in addition to BTS.

Bang’s legal troubles are a major public relations setback for HYBE, coming as BTS embarks on a global tour after a nearly four-year hiatus as its members served for mandatory military service.

BTS performed in front of tens of thousands of international fans at a free comeback concert in Seoul last month and have also held several concerts in South Korea’s Goyang city and Tokyo. The group is to kick off a series of U.S. events with a concert in Tampa, Florida, later this month.

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Central Division

West Division

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Central Division

West Division

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

Sunday’s Games

Pittsburgh 6, Tampa Bay 3

N.Y. Yankees 7, Kansas City 0

Cleveland 8, Baltimore 4

St. Louis 7, Houston 5, 10 innings

Cincinnati 7, Minnesota 4, 10 innings

Seattle 5, Texas 2

Toronto 10, Arizona 4

Chicago White Sox 7, Athletics 4

San Diego 2, L.A. Angels 1

Detroit 6, Boston 2

Monday’s Games

Boston 8, Detroit 6

Houston 9, Cleveland 2

Cincinnati 6, Tampa Bay 1

Toronto at L.A. Angels, 9:38 p.m.

Athletics at Seattle, 9:40 p.m.

Baltimore 7, Kansas City 5, 12 innings

Tuesday’s Games

Houston (Weiss 0-2) at Cleveland (Messick 3-0), 6:10 p.m.

Cincinnati (Burns 1-1) at Tampa Bay (Matz 3-0), 6:40 p.m.

Milwaukee (Harrison 1-1) at Detroit (Montero 1-1), 6:40 p.m.

N.Y. Yankees (Gil 0-1) at Boston (Early 1-0), 6:45 p.m.

Minnesota (Woods Richardson 0-3) at N.Y. Mets (McLean 1-1), 7:10 p.m.

Baltimore (Baz 0-2) at Kansas City (Bubic 2-1), 7:40 p.m.

Pittsburgh (Mlodzinski 1-0) at Texas (Rocker 0-1), 8:05 p.m.

Toronto (Corbin 0-0) at L.A. Angels (Kochanowicz 2-0), 9:38 p.m.

Athletics (Lopez 1-1) at Seattle (Castillo 0-1), 9:40 p.m.

Chicago White Sox (Burke 0-2) at Arizona (Kelly 1-0), 9:40 p.m.

Wednesday’s Games

Cincinnati at Tampa Bay, 1:10 p.m.

Houston at Cleveland, 1:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Kansas City, 2:10 p.m.

Toronto at L.A. Angels, 3:07 p.m.

Athletics at Seattle, 4:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Detroit, 6:40 p.m.

N.Y. Yankees at Boston, 6:45 p.m.

Minnesota at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Texas, 8:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Arizona, 9:40 p.m.

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

Sunday’s Games

Pittsburgh 6, Tampa Bay 3

Washington 3, San Francisco 0

Miami 5, Milwaukee 3

Chicago Cubs 2, N.Y. Mets 1, 10 innings

St. Louis 7, Houston 5, 10 innings

Cincinnati 7, Minnesota 4, 10 innings

Colorado 9, L.A. Dodgers 6

Toronto 10, Arizona 4

San Diego 2, L.A. Angels 1

Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 2

Monday’s Games

Cincinnati 6, Tampa Bay 1

Miami 5, St. Louis 3

Atlanta 9, Washington 4

Chicago Cubs 5, Philadelphia 1

L.A. Dodgers 12, Colorado 3

Tuesday’s Games

Cincinnati (Burns 1-1) at Tampa Bay (Matz 3-0), 6:40 p.m.

Milwaukee (Harrison 1-1) at Detroit (Montero 1-1), 6:40 p.m.

St. Louis (May 2-2) at Miami (Paddack 0-3), 6:40 p.m.

Atlanta (López 1-0) at Washington (Griffin 2-0), 6:45 p.m.

Minnesota (Woods Richardson 0-3) at N.Y. Mets (McLean 1-1), 7:10 p.m.

Philadelphia (Luzardo 1-3) at Chicago Cubs (Imanaga 1-1), 7:40 p.m.

Pittsburgh (Mlodzinski 1-0) at Texas (Rocker 0-1), 8:05 p.m.

San Diego (Vásquez 1-0) at Colorado (TBD), 8:40 p.m.

Chicago White Sox (Burke 0-2) at Arizona (Kelly 1-0), 9:40 p.m.

L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 2-1) at San Francisco (Roupp 3-1), 9:45 p.m.

Wednesday’s Games

St. Louis at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Tampa Bay, 1:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Detroit, 6:40 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington, 6:45 p.m.

Minnesota at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs, 7:40 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Texas, 8:05 p.m.

San Diego at Colorado, 8:40 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Arizona, 9:40 p.m.

L.A. Dodgers at San Francisco, 9:45 p.m.

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Sidney Crosby and company will need to rely on it, maybe a lot of it, if they want their postseason appearance to be more than a token cameo.

It took the Philadelphia Flyers roughly 48 hours to take all the good vibes Pittsburgh generated during a resurgent season and make them a distant memory. Winning a pair of games on the road and shutting down one of the top offenses in the NHL will do that.

The Penguins were visibly frustrated on the ice and notably chastened off it following a 3-0 loss in Game 2 on Monday night that dropped them in a significant hole when the series shifts east to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

“I think we’ve been in some tough spots all year,” said Crosby, who was held without a point for the second straight game. “We’ve always responded really well to adversity. It seems like it’s brought out the best in all of us.”

Pittsburgh’s best will likely be required against the young Flyers, who have had no trouble carrying their searing finishing kick to the regular season into the playoffs. While Philadelphia didn’t put on a defensive clinic as it did for most of Game 1, when the Penguins were limited to just 17 shots, the Flyers largely limited Pittsburgh to firing away from the outside.

The Penguins generated 27 shots on goal and generated another 48 that either missed the net or were blocked. The ones that found their way to Dan Vladar were turned away. The ones that didn’t were mostly long blasts from the outside that missed the mark.

“Everything’s harder, it’s supposed to be harder, it’s the NHL playoffs,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “You’re going to have to do those little things that can give you an extra inch, finding a shot lane a little bit quicker, working to get to the net front a little bit faster.”

Pittsburgh’s power play, which was ranked a respectable seventh during the regular season, is now 0 for 7 through two games. The Penguins were actually outscored when they were up a man on Monday. Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway produced a short-handed goal late in the second to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead, though teammate Owen Tippett did the hard work, fending off two yellow-clad opponents to set Hathaway up.

“We don’t really get in sync yet,” Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “You would think that we would dictate what we want to do out there, but they’re doing a good job and we’re not. That’s the bottom line.”

And time is running out. The Penguins have fallen behind 2-0 in a series 15 times and only rallied to win a third of them, the last in the 2009 Stanley Cup finals against Detroit.

Those Pittsburgh teams had featured a young Crosby and longtime running mate Evgeni Malkin still in the nascent stages of their careers. They’re both nearing 40 — Malkin will get there in July — and while they remain a threat every time they hop over the boards, the franchise icons and their teammates have been outskated and outplayed over the course of 120 minutes against a team that has 10 players making their playoff debut in this series.

“We’ve played 82 games,” Karlsson said. “We know how to play hockey in here. I think maybe we’re overthinking things a little too much. We’re not playing on our instincts.”

And as a result, the Penguins are playing from behind.

This isn’t the first time in the last seven months that Pittsburgh seems to have been on the verge of letting a promising season get away. The Penguins have navigated extended absences by both Crosby and Malkin and occasionally shaky play in net, among other things, on their way to a playoff spot that seemed like a longshot when training camp began.

The league’s third-highest-scoring team found a way to respond each time. On Tuesday, they’ll hop on a plane and make the short flight across the state hoping it’s not the final road trip of the year.

“I think that getting on the road and having a situation like this,” Crosby said, “hopefully brings out the best in us again.”

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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The approval by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet of the new guideline clears a final set of hurdles for Japan’s postwar arms sales and facilitate its future sale of weapons such as a next-generation fighter jet and combat drones.

The move comes as the country accelerates its military buildup in the face of growing security challenges in the region. While the change of policy met with China’s criticism, it has been largely welcomed by Japan’s defense partners like Australia and attracted interests from Southeast Asia and Europe.

Opponents say the change violates Japan’s pacifist constitution and will increase global tensions and threaten the safety of the Japanese people.

The new policy would “ensure safety for Japan and further contribute to the peace and stability in the region and the international society as the security environment around our country rapidly changes,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters. “The government will strategically promote defense equipment transfer to create a security environment that is desirable for Japan and to build up the industrial base that can support fighting resilience.”

From helicopter and radar to fighter jet, destroyer and missile

Japan had long prohibited most arms exports under its post-World War II pacifist constitution. It has made recent changes due to rising global and regional tensions, but exports were limited to five areas: rescue, transport, alert, surveillance and minesweeping.

The new guideline scraps those limits and allows the export of equipment such as fighter jets, missiles and destroyers — a major change from existing exports such as flak jackets, gas masks and civilian-use vehicles Japan has sent to Ukraine and intelligence radar sold to the Philippines.

The export, for now, will be limited to 17 countries that have signed defense equipment and technology transfer agreements with Japan. They also must be approved by the National Security Council and the government will monitor how the weapons are managed afterward.

In principle, Japan still will not export lethal weapons to countries at war.

In 2014, Japan began to export some non-lethal military supplies, and in December 2023 it approved a change that would allow sales of dozens of lethal weapons and components that it manufactures under licenses from other countries back to the licensors such as the United States.

An earlier easing in 2023 was to clear the way for Japan to sell U.S.-designed Patriot missiles to America to make up for munitions that Washington has sent to Ukraine. The revision was also to pave the way for Japan to jointly develop a sixth-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy.

In its biggest deal ever, Japan formalized a deal last week to deliver the first three of a $6.5 billion fleet of Japanese-designed frigates for the Australian navy and jointly build eight others in that country.

Arms industry for growth strategy

Due to its wartime past, Japan adopted a postwar constitution that limits its military to self-defense and long maintained a strict export control on arms exports, while heavily relying on U.S. military presence in the region and imports of expensive American arsenals.

It’s domestic defense industry had long catered to only the Self-Defense Force and Defense Ministry, making it an unattractive sector that didn’t help profits or corporate image. Dozens of contractors had withdrawn.

That is changing. Japan has accelerated a buildup of its military and defense industry to play more offensive roles in the face of threats from China, North Korea and Russia. It has increased funding for startups and academic researches. Japan is also aiming to achieve a defense system using a network of drones for surveillance and combat against threats to defend southwestern islands.

Japan also has increasingly added combat roles in multinational military drills and is participating in a joint exercise with the U.S. and the Philippines in which it was to fire a T88 missile.

The defense industry is one of 17 strategic areas for growth under the Takaichi government, a growing number of major companies and startups are showing interest, especially in dual-use goods and drones.

Outlook for potential customers

Australia on Saturday signed with Japan for a delivery of three of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ upgraded Mogami-class frigates and jointly produce eight others and welcomed Tokyo’s new policy as a move to deepen their defense partnership.

“The relaxation of these controls is going to be really important to developing the seamless defense industrial base,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, told a joint news conference after the signing ceremony with his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi.

New Zealand has also showed interest in the Japanese frigates. Several other countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, have also expressed interests in Japanese defense equipment, Koizumi said.

MHI, accelerating mass-production of long-range missiles for deployment that started in southern Japan in March, has said it expects positive outlook from the booming defense contracts and plans a significant staffing increase in missile and shipbuilding sectors.

Last week, a group of 30 NATO representatives visited Japan to discuss further deepening of their ties as the U.S. commitment to its alliance has shaken by U.S. President Donald Trump. They visited a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corp., which is part of the trilateral fighter jet project and also known for its satellite technology.

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There is a case to be made that Pope Leo XIV, the careful, reserved, Midwestern Augustinian, found his voice on his epic trip through Africa, blasting the “handful of tyrants” and “chains of corruption” that have held parts of the continent hostage for centuries.

But the fact is, Leo has been preaching this kind of message for a while now, including in the context of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. It just took U.S. President Donald Trump’s unprecedented broadside and Vice President JD Vance’s claims of theological superiority for many people to pay attention, especially American Catholics.

“Yes, Pope Leo might give the impression that he is engaging, in his quiet way and with authority, and this is how it looks to the world press and social media,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, a top Vatican official and aide to Leo, told The Associated Press.

“But in fact the Holy Father’s homilies and talks in Africa have been prepared, well in advance, in terms of the local African reality and the church,” Czerny said. “So, if they seem relevant to the current wars, controversy, this reminds us of Jesus saying, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!’”

Leo tried to make that point when he came to the back of Air Pope One on April 18, en route from Cameroon to Angola, and complained that “a certain narrative” had taken hold suggesting he was in a feud with Trump over the Iran war and his peace messages in Africa were directed at the president.

Leo insisted his words about tyrants and the religious justification for war had been wrongly interpreted and he was referring only to the African context, and to a separatist conflict in western Cameroon, in particular.

The thin line of the pope’s explanation

But Leo also was trying to have it both ways. Yes, he was talking about the separatist conflict at a peace meeting in Bamenda. Yes, he was preaching the Gospel message of peace and fraternity. But he also has been talking about Trump, a lot.

“That distancing of Pope Leo from some interpretations was really a move to de-escalate a very dangerous situation,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Trinity College Dublin. “Because the Vatican needs the United States to restore some kind of peaceful — not order — but a horizon of peace, a hope of peace.”

Leo criticized Trump, directly, before he got to Africa. And in one remarkable comment two weeks ago, he encouraged the faithful to contact their congressional representatives to demand an end to the war.

The headline from the April 7 encounter outside Leo’s country house in Castel Gandolfo was that Leo had called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable.”

But the more significant message followed. “I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen, to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war,” Leo said.

Faggioli termed the comment “the Vatican’s nuclear option,” making a direct appeal to U.S. voters to take a stand, because it genuinely feared Trump was about to take the Iran war in a vastly more catastrophic direction.

What came before Leo’s unprecedented appeal

The Holy See had never resorted to such a directly political message from a pope even at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when a Catholic president — John F. Kennedy — was on the verge of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union, Faggioli said.

At that moment, Pope John XXIII did make a public appeal — his famous Oct. 25, 1962, radio address — with a strong, direct plea for peace including to “those who have the responsibility of power” to “do everything in their power to save the peace.”

The pope also sent private letters to Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and worked behind the scenes through diplomatic channels to de-escalate the situation. But he didn’t urge U.S. voters to essentially choose which Catholic to listen to: their president or their pope.

“What is at stake now is that at a time of war, loyalties of Catholics are tested in a particular way,” Faggioli said. He added that however the situation ultimately resolves itself, the tension will complicate any future political aspirations of Catholics seeking high office, whether Vance on the Republican side or California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the Democratic side, as long as a U.S.-born pope is still in Rome.

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, director of the Global Catholic Research Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, said Leo has consistently operated “on a higher plane” but American Catholics are used to church discussion of morality in the context of sexuality, gender and abortion, and it’s jarring to process foreign policy through a moral lens.

“So JD Vance can say the pope should stick to morality,” she said, “but war and peace are ancient moral issues.”

The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the under-secretary in the Vatican’s culture department, said Leo is continuing in the tradition of popes past to preach the Gospel message of peace. What has changed, he said, was how Trump reacted.

“The strong reaction arrived from America,” he said. “It was America that reacted to Leo’s words, and not vice versa.”

Even with his direct comments about Trump, Leo was not engaging in an attack, Spadaro said.

“It’s very dangerous to imagine that the pope is fighting with Trump, because it means demeaning the pope to a level of contrast, one against the other, which Trump may want but that the pope has no intention of doing,” he said.

New role, same Leo, Vatican official says

Spadaro added that from his perch, Leo hasn’t changed at all from when he was known as Robert Prevost, the Chicago-born missionary priest.

“I see the Prevost I’ve always seen,” Spadaro said. “Let’s say it’s the backdrop that has changed, so his calm yet very direct style stands in stark contrast to a chaotic scenario, and that’s why it’s striking.”

For better or worse, the incredible saga of Trump, the war and geopolitics seems far removed from Leo’s day-to-day ministering to his flock in Africa, who have turned out in droves to welcome the American pope in each stop on his four-nation tour.

The polyglot pope has made it easy for them to hear his words, delivering speeches, homilies and prayers in the languages of the faithful: French in Algeria, English and French in Cameroon, Portuguese in Angola and, starting Tuesday, Spanish in Equatorial Guinea.

Lucineia Francisco left her family behind on Sunday so she could see Leo at the Shrine of Mama Muxima, Angola’s most popular pilgrimage destination. Some 30,000 people turned out for Leo’s rosary prayer.

“My kids were crying to come, but I said no,” Francisco said. “This is a spiritual journey that I’m really going to face on my own.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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This version corrects the title for Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the under-secretary in the Vatican’s culture department

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The federal jury in Charlotte awarded the plaintiff $5,000 in damages, said Ellyn Hurd, one of the plaintiff’s lawyers.

The so-called bellwether case is part of a broader group of sexual assault lawsuits filed against Uber in multiple jurisdictions around the country and is the third to go to trial. In February, a federal jury in Arizona ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a woman who said one of its drivers raped her during a trip using the platform. Last year, a California jury found Uber not liable for the alleged assault of a rider.

Uber, in an emailed statement, took note of the relatively small financial judgment in the North Carolina case and that the jury found that battery had occurred and not sexual assault.

“The jury’s award here should further bring these cases back to reality, as it represents a tiny fraction of previous demands,” the Uber statement said, adding that the company has strong grounds for appeal because it believes the jury was incorrectly instructed on the question of liability.

The AP does not typically name people who have said they were sexually abused unless they have given consent through their attorneys or come forward publicly.

Hurd said the verdict bodes well for other plaintiffs, saying that Uber, not the plaintiffs, selected the North Carolina case as a test case for the broader group of pending lawsuits.

“This was a case that they thought going in that they were going to win,” Hurd said. “They picked all the criteria — this is the case that they picked, that they wanted to try. And the jury believed the plaintiff and they lost.”

The lawsuits follow years of criticism of Uber’s safety record, including thousands of incidents of sexual assault reported by both passengers and drivers. Because Uber drivers are categorized as gig workers — working as contractors, rather than company employees — the platform has long maintained it’s not liable for their misconduct.

The judge presiding over the group of lawsuits, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer, ruled that Uber was a “common carrier” under North Carolina law and was thus liable for the driver’s action. Breyer said Uber holds itself out to the public as a transportation provider through its advertising and the control it exerts over Uber rides and the safety of its passengers. North Carolina could have explicitly exempted Uber and other rideshare providers from its common carrier liability, as Florida and Texas have, but did not, he said.

Hurd said that means the North Carolina jury only had to decide whether the attack happened.

The driver denied touching the plaintiff, Uber said. The company said the plaintiff never reported the incident to law enforcement and it only learned of it when the lawsuit was filed three years later.

Hurd said just because the plaintiff didn’t report it to law enforcement doesn’t mean it’s not true. During the trial, which started Wednesday and wrapped up Monday, the jury heard testimony from the driver, the plaintiff and friends of the plaintiff who corroborated her story, Hurd said.

Breyer, who is based in San Francisco in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is due to hear two more sexual assault test case trials against Uber. The next is scheduled for mid-September in San Francisco.

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