Faith Dixon was found guilty by a Burleigh County Jury Friday of taking grant money from the state meant for her daycare and distributing it to businesses owned by family members. She also used some of the roughly $131,000 for personal reasons.

Dixon last year pleaded guilty, and would have spend between 4-11 months in jail as part of a plea deal. She backed out of the deal before she could be sentenced, and told the judge her she was given “bad legal advice” and “would never have pleaded guilty” if she understood the terms of the agreement.

Dixon will spend over 4 years in prison.

Her ex-husband, Charles Dixon, took a plea deal for similar charges. He will spend 3 years on probation.

“This is the time of year that zebra mussels can be microscopic and most easily transported from waterbody to waterbody,” said Tanner Davis, Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator. “It is important for all boaters and water users to remember to Clean, Drain, Dry every time they leave the water.”

GFP fisheries staff recently confirmed the presence of zebra mussels in Bitter Lake, which is located in Day County in northeast South Dakota.

“After a suspect report came in from a fishing guide on Bitter Lake, fisheries staff from Webster followed up and were able to find zebra mussels on the flooded trees south of the inlet on the northwest side of Bitter Lake,” continued Davis. “With South Rush being positive for several years and due to direct water connectivity, additional detections were anticipated over time.”

Bitter Lake, along with other connected waters such as Goose Lake and Solomon Slough, are now considered positive for zebra mussels.

“This was a great example of a boater reporting a suspect mussel and staff confirming presence,” concluded Davis. “If you find something you suspect is a zebra mussel or other AIS species, please submit a suspect report on the Citizen Monitoring page, contact your local or regional GFP office, or contact me directly at Tanner.Davis@state.sd.us.” ]]> https://froggyweb.com/2026/06/13/summer-brings-reminder-to-clean-drain-dry/feed/ 0 https://froggyweb.com/2026/06/13/gfp-news-gfp-commission-holds-june-meeting/ https://froggyweb.com/2026/06/13/gfp-news-gfp-commission-holds-june-meeting/#respond Sat, 13 Jun 2026 09:22:46 +0000 Sports/Outdoors 2026-06-13T09:22:46+00:00 https://cms.socaststrm.com/?scsyn_origin_object=2431_1318239

GFP Commission Holds June Meeting

MOSCOW, June 13 (Reuters) – In a quiet cafe popular for its free Wi-Fi and good coffee, a Russian interior designer logs onto a virtual private network so she can chat with friends abroad using the U.S. messaging service WhatsApp, which is blocked inside Russia.

Later, she toggles off the VPN to buy a ticket on the Russian Railways website, which bars anyone using the tools to obscure their location. She then picks up a second phone to check for messages from clients on the state-controlled app MAX.

Since the Kremlin ratcheted up control over the internet this year, Russians have been turning to increasingly convoluted technical solutions to circumvent state monitoring and restrictions ​on popular foreign apps like Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp and the Telegram messenger.

The biggest crackdown of its kind under President Vladimir Putin has at times disrupted banking, transport and e-commerce, irritating people ahead of a September parliamentary election, according to statements ‌from Kremlin-friendly opposition parties, prominent bloggers and business leaders. Even some social media influencers, who usually stay clear of politics, criticized the restrictions.

Frustration over the curbs – together with rising prices, tax hikes and war fatigue – is widely believed to have contributed to Putin’s falling approval ratings, which dropped from 75.1% in February to 65.6% in April, according to state pollster VTsIOM, their lowest level since he launched the all-out conflict in Ukraine in 2022. They now stand at nearly 67%.

Officials have been pushing Russians to use state-backed alternatives to foreign apps and websites in a drive for “digital sovereignty”. But some users are wary following warnings from Kremlin critics and some Western tech companies that MAX could be used to track them, which technology giant VK, its owner, denies.

Quarantining the app on a second phone feels safer, said Irina, the 41-year-old interior designer.

“Of course this is all a huge pain in the backside, but what else can we do?” she said, ‌asking to be ​identified by one name due to the sensitivity of the matter. “You get used to it and spend your days turning VPNs on and off, toggling between different messengers and ⁠switching between different virtual countries or phones to use the apps and websites ⁠you need.”

VPN DOWNLOADS SURGE

VPNs work by routing a user’s internet connection through private servers outside Russia. In March alone, there were 9.2 million downloads of the five most popular VPN services from the Google Play store, 14 times more than the same month last year, the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported, citing data from Digital Budget, a Moscow-based consultancy that tracks online behavior.

“We’ve never seen this kind of take-up rate before,” said Sarkis Darbinyan, a Russian internet freedom activist based in Lisbon.

Moscow has designated Darbinyan a “foreign agent,” a term it applies to people it views as engaged in anti-Russian activity.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said repeatedly that internet controls are necessary when Russia is locked in what officials cast as an existential clash with the ​West over Ukraine. But Putin instructed the government in April to tread more softly, telling lawmakers it was “counterproductive” to “focus solely on bans and restrictions.”

Government officials did not respond to questions for this article.

While many authoritarian countries impose strict limits on internet use, Russians had grown accustomed to a degree of online freedom. Security services have long sought to silence domestic critics, but authorities rarely interfered with people’s ability to use foreign apps or access Western media content before the Ukraine war.

Since last year, the FSB security service, successor to ⁠the Soviet-era KGB, has been ordering telecom companies to shut down the mobile internet for days at a time in regions across Russia, saying Ukrainian attack drones ⁠can use it to aid navigation.

Authorities have also been blocking or slowing connections to a growing list of apps and websites, which state communications regulator Roskomnadzor alleges are platforms for illegal and extremist ​content.

WhatsApp and Telegram have accused Russia of trying to force people to use less secure, government-mandated apps.

The disruptions intensified in March with a nearly three-week outage in Moscow, upsetting senior bureaucrats who need the internet and Telegram to corral votes for the ruling United Russia party, ​according to two sources close to the Kremlin and some analysts.

“The issue is not whether the regime will be able to secure the outcome it wants (it will), but whether the electoral process will be ‌a smooth one,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote in April.

Even loyal government officials download VPNs and carry multiple phones to keep government-backed apps like MAX separate from the rest of their digital lives, the sources told Reuters.

Some also remove the microphone and camera from devices with MAX installed in case the FSB can access them, one source said.

“Even if you’re not up to any mischief, nobody wants the FSB reading your messages,” the source said.

‘GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE’

Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, does not try to hide his VPN use, posting regularly on X, which cannot be accessed inside Russia without one.

While it is not illegal to use VPNs, Roskomnadzor has restricted access to hundreds of them, setting up a game of cat and mouse with users who must keep downloading new services ⁠to access content they want.

In April, government offices, banks and major online retailers – acting on the regulator’s instructions – started preventing people with a VPN enabled from accessing their sites. The move coincided with a 10% drop in internet traffic for Wildberries, Russia’s Amazon equivalent, according to Digital Budget.

“As market participants note, many users do not switch off their VPN to access the site and simply lose interest in making a purchase if they cannot open the product page,” Digital Budget said in a Telegram post.

The percentage of Russians ⁠who acknowledge using a VPN increased from 23% in 2022 to 36% this year, according to the ‌Levada Center, a non-government pollster that is on Moscow’s foreign agent list.

Younger, tech-savvy adults will sometimes buy VPN subscriptions for their parents or set up their own custom-designed VPNs. But many Russians ⁠prefer to use apps and websites that work without them.

MAX, which launched last year, has over 85 million daily users, its owner said in May.

Interviewed by Reuters TV near Moscow’s Bolshoi ​Theatre, half a dozen ‌office workers and passers-by offered a snapshot of public opinion. Half expressed irritation with the digital environment; others said they had adapted and didn’t use VPNs.

“Most Russians simply do not ​see the need to go ⁠to any extra trouble – what is readily available is quite sufficient for them,” Levada’s director, Denis Volkov, wrote in April.

When navigation apps stopped working in Moscow in March, delivery drivers for Flowwow, an online flower and gift marketplace, used vendors’ Wi-Fi connections to download directions to customers’ addresses, said Yuri Semichastnov, the site’s logistics head.

Sales of paper maps more than doubled in the capital during the shutdown, according to Wildberries data.

With frustration building, the Kremlin softened its rhetoric in recent weeks, assuring the public that the mobile internet shutdowns are temporary.

A plan to have mobile service providers charge customers extra for using more than 15 gigabytes of foreign data in a month was postponed in May, Russian media reported, saying the requirement targeting VPN users would probably be introduced after the election.

Putin has also asked the government and FSB to work together to ensure critical services like healthcare platforms and online payment systems remain operational.

Irina, the interior designer, is not expecting her digital life to get easier anytime soon, though.

“In Russia, we have a saying: Nothing is more permanent than the temporary,” she said.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Reuters TV; ​Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya in London; Editing by Alexandra Zavis)

BENGALURU, June 13 (Reuters) – An Indian pollution regulator has alleged wastewater discharged from a Tata components factory for Apple’s iPhone has contaminated the groundwater for nearby farms and warned of a forced shutdown unless Tata gives a satisfactory explanation.

India’s Tata Electronics ​is central to Apple’s push to diversify iPhone production beyond China and is the second-biggest supplier ‌to Apple in South Asia after Taiwan’s Foxconn.

The Tata plant under investigation is in Hosur in southern Tamil Nadu state and makes back panels and other components for iPhones. Farmland owners near the plant had complained for months to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board that wastewater from the factory was contaminating their land and open wells.

The complaints led to five state inspections ‌between ​December 2025 and May 2026, according to details from a previously unreported ⁠regulatory notice dated May 25 and ⁠reviewed by Reuters.

The inspections found that Tata discharged wastewater into a rainwater harvesting pond inside its facility and that the pond overflowed to contaminate “groundwater in the open wells located in the adjacent agricultural lands”, the pollution board’s warning notice to Tata said.

Tata had not taken any corrective actions on instructions issued ​by the pollution board in a previous letter dated December 23, 2025, it said in the three-page notice.

Tata Electronics told Reuters in a statement it had commissioned an independent analysis through an accredited laboratory and ⁠that the study determined the company was “in full compliance with ⁠all regulatory norms”.

Tata said it was “committed to responsible business practices and protection of the ​environment and local communities”, and that it had responded to pollution authorities, although giving no further details.

The pollution board ​in its May notice asked Tata to explain why power to the unit should ‌not be cut and the unit closed for its alleged breach of the rules.

Apple, which has strict rules on how its suppliers handle wastewater, and the Tamil Nadu government did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

APPLE’S STRUGGLES IN INDIA

Companies have often faced disciplinary action from pollution authorities in India. In 2024, Mercedes-Benz improved wastewater ⁠and air pollution management at its only car factory in India after officials detected lapses in compliance with environmental law.

India’s environment ministry told parliament in February that 4.4% of 544,364 industries were found non-compliant with environmental standards ⁠in the last five years, and ‌3,600 were shut down by pollution control departments.

The Tata notice adds to a ⁠series of issues that have dogged Apple’s India supply chain. A fire at ​Tata’s Hosur ‌plant in September 2024 halted iPhone component production briefly, while a fire ​in September 2023 ⁠at former supplier Pegatron’s iPhone plant shut production for days.

In 2024, a Reuters investigation found that major Apple supplier Foxconn systematically excluded married women from iPhone assembly jobs at one of its plants in India, although the company said at the time that it complied with all laws.

India is projected to make 26% of all iPhones globally in 2026, from just 6% four years ago, according to research firm Counterpoint.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya ​Kalra; Editing by Tom Hogue)

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – Omega’s Constellation watch has been flashed in campaigns, movies and at the Met Gala by stars like George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, turning it into a symbol of luxury and glamour.

But with gold prices near record highs struck in January, some such classic watches are being melted down as the value of their metal content outstrips their resale ​worth.

Used models by the likes of Omega and LVMH’s TAG Heuer are most hit by the trend, according to Reuters interviews with ‌over a dozen traders, industry experts, and investment advisers.

British dealer Jon White of Gold Traders melted down an 18-carat late-1970s Constellation in excellent condition in May, one of dozens of mainstream luxury watches he has had scrapped this year as demand for investment gold has risen.

“Beautiful watch. But in reality, had the customer consigned that to auction, what would they have achieved?” White, who also manages an auction house, told Reuters.

The gold content of the Constellation watch, one of many models produced by Swatch-owned Omega, was worth £5,750 ($7,749), 35% more than its estimated £4,000-4,500 auction ‌value, ​White said.

James Lamdin, founder of Watches of Switzerland’s second-hand unit Analog Shift, said melting was “primarily happening with contemporary ⁠pre-owned and also with older vintage watches that ⁠are not already collectible.”

Spokespersons for Swatch and Rolex said they would not comment for this story. LVMH, Richemont, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet did not respond to requests for comment.

LIQUID GOLD

Gold prices surged to a record $5,600 an ounce in January as geopolitical concerns and trade worries pushed investors towards safe-haven precious metals. Gold now hovers around $4,200 per ounce, almost double its 2024 average.

The market price for used watches has not moved in the ​same way, however.

“I find it very sad, because obviously once something has been melted, it’s gone forever,” said Adrian Hailwood, a specialist in horological history.

There are no official figures showing how many luxury watches are being melted. World Gold Council data shows overall gold recycling in the first quarter rose 5% ⁠to 366 tonnes, while gold jewellery demand rose 31% in value to $47 billion.

Watches can hold ⁠anything from a sliver of gold to more than 200 grams, meaning their scrap value can run into tens of ​thousands of dollars. In an Omega Constellation, the gold can be found in the case and the strap.

With gold expected to reach between $5,400 and $6,300 an ounce this ​year, the pressure to dismantle some watches will continue, especially as traders that resell them must cover costs and the ‌expense of providing a warranty.

New watches that are over-produced might also be melted down.

“I’ve seen a lot of totally mediocre watches get melted down,” said Lamdin. “There’s a lot of unsold overstock in the Swiss market. And those watches are basically brand new, unworn, and they’re just getting stripped down… they made too many of them.”

“But when you have something that’s vintage and rare and has some story or some patina, that’s where it becomes a short-sighted tragedy.”

THE RESALE TRAP

High-end brands that tightly ⁠manage new production like privately owned Patek Philippe and Rolex command the highest premiums over melt value, three industry experts said.

For some models “the wait lists are astronomical. You’re talking anything from two to eight years,” said Simon Lazarus, head of PR and content at online luxury watch platform Chrono Hunter.

Rolex accounted last ⁠year for 61% of the sales value of new Swiss ‌watches priced above 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,770), up from 57% in 2023 despite lower volumes, according to Vontobel.

Less exclusive ⁠brands like TAG Heuer, Breitling and Omega struggle to command high new retail prices, however, as buyers can ​buy a second-hand ‌timepiece for much less.

Models like Omega’s Speedmaster often depreciate sharply once sold, exposing them to scrapping, three experts ​said.

TO SELL OR ⁠NOT TO SELL

Higher gold prices motivated retired New York engineer Mitchell Talisman to sell two gold watches and a chain containing a combined 35 grams of gold with 58% purity for $2,660 cash in December.

“I’d had a bunch of stuff sitting in a safety deposit box for over 10 years,” he told Reuters.

For some owners however, the idea of selling a watch only for it to be melted by a dealer is too much to bear.

“It may be a family piece, it may be their first watch,” said Hailwood.

“They don’t like the idea of it being destroyed, so they keep it.”

($1 = 0.7421 pounds)

($1 = 0.7873 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk, ​Editing by Lisa Jucca and Alexandra Hudson)

DAKAR, June 13 (Reuters) – The meetings have become routine. Every few months, jihadists in Mali affiliated with al Qaeda summon the men of Poutchi to a mud-brick mosque to collect tax on their crops and cattle, and later distribute food, medicine and animals to the poor.

Five years ago, the same militants threatened to slit the throat of anyone in Poutchi – including the imam – who questioned their interpretation of Islam, recalls Amadou, a herder who lives in the village by the Niger River.

“Now, they don’t talk like that,” Amadou said, describing how the militants focused more on spreading their religious message without threats or violence. “The dynamic has really changed.”

The jihadists are from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), a group that pledged allegiance to al Qaeda when it was ​founded in 2017 and has spent the last decade imposing itself through fear and force across the Sahel region of West Africa, banning music, smoking and wedding celebrations as it goes.

Initially confined to desert and mountain hideouts, JNIM has gained in strength since the Malian army ‌officers who seized power in 2020 kicked out some 15,000 French and U.N. soldiers and turned to Russian mercenaries to help keep the insurgents in check.

JNIM demonstrated its newfound power with audacious attacks across Mali in April, hitting the airport in the capital Bamako, killing the defence minister and seizing a string of army bases in the north in coordination with Tuareg-led separatists.

Mali’s government describes both groups as terrorists responsible for violence and instability in the country. Moscow has pledged to continue fighting insurgents in Mali.

Yet the jihadist group now sits at the heart of an expanding belt of militants aligned with al Qaeda and Islamic State stretching 3,000 km (1,900 miles) across West Africa. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in November that the groups were linking up and presented a growing global threat.

Away from the high-profile military successes, however, a shift is taking place in areas where JNIM’s authority is established, residents said.

Its rhetoric has softened. Militants are assuming administrative roles, resolving festering land disputes between herders and farmers, allowing aid groups to come and go and letting some government employees return to JNIM villages to spend holidays with relatives, ‌according to seven ​people living under JNIM rule in central Mali who spoke to Reuters.

“The stronger they have become, the less brutal they have to be,” said Corinne Dufka, a Sahel expert who has studied the growth of ⁠jihadists in Mali for over a decade.

Dufka said JNIM was succeeding to govern in its ⁠strongholds, but that residents’ acquiescence was also a survival strategy.

“There is a combination of coercion, fear and persuasion,” she said. “For many villagers, including those who have lived, married, and grown up under the group, they have just accepted that this is the new reality.”

For fear of reprisals, the residents spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, or that only their first names be used.

Neither Mali’s government nor the military’s spokesperson responded to requests for comment for this story.

GOVERNMENT REJECTS DIALOGUE

The shift illustrates the evolution of the Islamist militant movement in Mali over the last 15 years.

Jihadist groups first seized swathes of Mali in 2012 after allying with Tuareg separatists. The mix of local and foreign militants imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, with public executions, floggings and the destruction of centuries-old mausoleums in the city of Timbuktu.

JNIM, formed from four of those groups, is increasingly seeking to ​show it can govern areas it seizes peacefully and thereby earn political legitimacy, according to Sahel experts and Tuareg-led separatists working with JNIM.

Bilal Ag Cherif, a veteran of the separatist movement that has maintained an on-off alliance with the Islamist insurgents and teamed up with JNIM in April, said he had noticed “positive changes” within the group, such as an openness to local interpretations of Islam and calls for a more “inclusive” Mali.

“They were open to discussing peace and stability in this region, to discuss important factors for us about their view of the future, to talk with everyone, to have peace,” Cherif, leader of the separatists now ⁠called the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), told Reuters by phone from northern Mali.

He also said the FLA was encouraging JNIM fighters to cut ties with al Qaeda and focus on local issues.

“JNIM ⁠is dealing with this point positively, and we consider that very, very important,” he said, adding that it was hard to see a solution to the conflict in northern Mali without JNIM’s involvement.

JNIM has said its immediate goals are to ​force Russian troops out of Mali and to oust the army officers who seized power after coups in 2020 and 2021.

Following the April attacks, JNIM shifted its messaging, publishing a rare French-language statement calling on Malians to join them in ousting the government and building a new Mali founded on Islamic law. JNIM increasingly ​uses videos with a Malian fighter speaking Bambara, a language mostly used in southern Mali, far from the jihadi heartlands.

JNIM doesn’t hold major cities and does not, for now, appear intent on seizing the capital, unlike the Islamist rebels once ‌aligned with al Qaeda who took power in Syria in 2024.

Another video filmed by fighters and released on social media after the April attacks shows JNIM fighters processing captured Malian troops for release in Tessit. In the aftermath of previous victories, Islamist militants have executed captured soldiers.

Analysts say JNIM wants a role in talks about Mali’s political future – something the military government rejects.

“The government does not intend to engage in dialogue with the lawless armed terrorist groups who bear responsibility for the tragic events that our people have been experiencing for years,” Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said in May, referring to JNIM and FLA.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters was unable to reach JNIM for comment.

‘WE ARE NOT KILLED’

The group has been accused of massacres and remains capable of grisly violence.

In January, JNIM fighters killed 12 people in an attack on a fuel convoy – some of whom had their throats slit – and areas that resist face collective punishment. The insurgents attacked ⁠two villages in central Mali in May, killing about 50 people.

Nevertheless, the residents living under JNIM rule who spoke to Reuters described a form of governance that is often more predictable, less corrupt and less violent than Mali’s military and allied forces.

“Since JNIM has controlled the area, we are safe. Even though their rule is difficult to respect, we have gotten used to it,” said Aminata, from Birga-Peul village in the Mopti region, which JNIM took over in 2017. “We are not killed.”

“They aren’t violent like the foreigners who were there at the beginning,” she said, referring to jihadists who had come from outside Mali. ⁠She said the movement was now much more embedded in the community. “They are tolerant and turn a blind eye to ‌many things, like football and Android phones.”

Where JNIM has not taken control, it sometimes enforces blockades. In the village of Diafarabe, also in the Mopti region, one resident said 13 children and 40 adults, including the elderly, had ⁠died from a lack of food and medicine after JNIM imposed a blockade a year ago.

“People can’t even go 500 metres from the village … so there’s no more fish, no more meat, no more firewood,” the ​person said.

Reuters was unable to independently ‌confirm the figures, nor reach JNIM for comment.

‘IT’S A GOOD RELATIONSHIP’

The restrictions on freedoms imposed by Islamist militants in Mali, such as banning wedding celebrations, are at odds with West Africa’s long history of Islam, ​where Islamic teaching was traditionally ⁠blended with local customs.

However, reformist movements have gained influence in recent decades, often by funding health and education in poor communities. Experts say this – coupled with the abuse of civilians by government troops, allied militias and Russian forces – has created opportunities for jihadists to exploit.

Hambarke, 57, who lives in a village in central Mali controlled by JNIM for seven years, recalled how they barred men from shaving and women from engaging in trade.

He said punishments were initially severe, including public whippings, but now the “radical rhetoric” had eased, with sermons focused on calls for unity and social cohesion and JNIM giving warnings before meting out punishments.

Mali’s military has been accused by the U.N. and human rights groups of executing civilians suspected of collaboration with JNIM and other insurgents.

Malian soldiers and their Russian partners have killed three to four times more civilians than jihadists have over the last two years, according to data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), a conflict monitoring group.

Mali’s government has denied accusations its forces have targeted civilians, saying they had killed terrorists.

Six of the residents who spoke to Reuters reported abuse of civilians by the army or allied militias, with most saying this had driven young men in their villages to join JNIM.

“People have more faith in them, and it’s a good relationship,” said Amadou, the herder in Poutchi.

(Reporting by Robbie Corey-Boulet and ​Portia Crowe in Dakar and David Lewis in London; Editing by David Clarke)

ZVERNEC, Albania, June 13 (Reuters) – When Kostaq Konomi approached what he says is his land on the seafront in southern Albania last month, he was met with a barbed wire fence and men in black uniforms who refused him entry.

The land, he later learned from news reports, was now part of a luxury resort planned by international investors including U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The property, which sits on a hillside of flowering gorse that slopes down to a deserted cove where cows saunter in the shallows, had been taken ​away once by the state in communist times, and he could not bear to see that happening again.

“I was ready to get a rifle and start shooting,” Konomi, 81, told Reuters. “I was a ‌small boy when I put my feet in that water. Now I am an old man and they say I cannot.”

Konomi is one of a dozen residents from the village of Zvernec who told Reuters that their land was wrongfully sold for development since 2024 by a rival claimant. Several showed Reuters property deeds and tax records that they said supported their assertions. None received compensation.

Reuters found no evidence of wrongdoing by Kushner, who isn’t directly involved in the villagers’ dispute. The news agency was unable to determine who rightfully owned the various plots, which are subject to an ongoing legal fight.

The villagers’ legal claims complicate what is already a contentious multi-billion-euro development on an island and a pristine piece of mainland that includes a protected wetland home to migrating flamingos, seals and sea turtles.

Mass ‌protests erupted ​this week in the capital Tirana demanding that the work be halted, and the European Union has also expressed concern about the impact on local ⁠wildlife.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, who championed the deal in an interview ⁠with Reuters this week, asserts that the development is legal and that habitats would be protected.

Kushner did not respond to requests for comment through his investment arm, Affinity Partners.

A company called Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, which is developing the project, did not provide answers to questions about the plans or the land dispute. A spokesperson referred Reuters to a statement posted on X on Friday from the company’s chairman, Asher Abehsera.

“Our goal is simple: celebrate Albania’s natural beauty, create jobs, and build something future generations can be proud of,” he said.

The spokesperson said Sazan’s partners, who include Kushner, were investing in a personal capacity, rather than ​through Affinity. Reuters was unable to independently confirm this.

JARED AND IVANKA WOOED BY ALBANIAN COAST

Zvernec is on a narrow peninsula separated from the mainland by a lagoon where flamingos flock in summer. The ocean side is lined with empty beaches, olive groves and imposing cliffs.

The scenery won over Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, when they saw the land from a yacht a few years ago.

Rama met them on that trip, and Kushner told him he ⁠was interested in investing when they ran into each other again at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Rama told Reuters.

“You are ⁠an American investor, and this country is open to every American investor,” Rama said he recalled telling Kushner.

In 2024, Kushner announced the plans on social media with an ​artist’s rendering showing the land covered in a hotel, houses, pools and jetties for yachts.

The group of villagers in their 70s and 80s have other plans. Their lawyer, Kostandin Beko, said they planned to file a court order seeking to ​halt the project.

Their claims on the land highlight the problems of investing in Albania, where poor record-keeping, complex history and local corruption mean land disputes are common, lawyers and ‌officials said.

LAND DISPUTES A HANGOVER FROM COMMUNIST TIMES

Under Ottoman rule for centuries until 1912, Albania was then cut off from the world for five decades after World War Two by a communist government that fell in the early 1990s.

Properties passed down through generations were requisitioned by the state under communism. When democracy returned, attempts were made to return seized land, but plots were often disputed.

The residents of Zvernec have been in a legal battle with Artur Shehu, who sold the disputed property. He says his family’s claim on the land dates back to the Ottoman Empire.

Reuters was unable to reach Shehu or his lawyer, but he told an Albanian TV show last week that his claim on the land was “undisputed”.

Shehu, ⁠who said he has lived in Miami for 26 years, told the show that he sold the disputed land to investors through a middleman he did not name, and did not know who had bought it.

Reuters was unable to confirm Shehu’s assertions about his rights to the property or the circumstances of the sale.

The Zvernec residents said he had no right to sell. In 2013, an Albanian court ruled that they owned the land. Shehu appealed, ⁠and the case remains unresolved, according to the residents’ lawyer, Beko, and legal documents ‌related to the case he shared with Reuters.

In a phone call with Reuters on Friday, Rama rejected those concerns.

“Just because there is a court trial does not ⁠automatically mean that the property is frozen,” he said.

RESIDENTS MAKE THEIR CLAIMS

The residents showed Reuters what they said were property deeds issued by local authorities dated ​in the 1990s, when ‌the land was given back to residents after communism.

The residents and their lawyer said they were not consulted before the land was sold off and received ​no payment.

“We thought Rama ⁠would offer us money,” Thoma Kola, 84, said.

He and others said it should not have been sold while subject to a legal dispute.

Protests started when the fence was erected in May, blocking off a large area around Zvernec and restricting sea access. Several people were injured in clashes with private security guards, and footage of the incident went viral.

The fence has since been taken down and the bulldozers that last month cut a new road across the land have gone. It is unclear when work will restart.

Stavri Hysa rents deckchairs and serves beer and burgers to beachgoers in the area. The brief closure of the shorefront reminded him of communist times, when the authorities would only give access for a few months each year.

“When I found out that they had blocked access to the sea, I couldn’t sleep for 15 days,” he told Reuters as he fought back tears. “I do not agree with giving away parts of the beach. This ​should be public.”

(Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Jake Bauers hit a three-run homer for Milwaukee, but the standout star for the Brewers was clearly Misiorowski (8-2), whose previous career highs were seven innings and 12 strikeouts. He has posted a 0.17 ERA over his last eight starts, having allowed one earned run in 54 1/3 innings.

Misiorowski faced the minimum and needed only 95 pitches (74 strikes). He did not walk a batter while lowering his season ERA to 1.34. The right-hander also threw a 104.5 mph fastball — a record for a starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era.

Kyle Schwarber’s fourth-inning single was the only hit for Philadelphia, which had won seven of its previous nine games. Phillies opener Tanner Banks (0-4) allowed a run in the first inning.

Astros ​10, Royals 8

Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer and grand slam during a nine-run first inning for Houston, which then hung on for a victory at Kansas City.

Alvarez joined Lee May (1974) and Jeff Bagwell (1994) as the only Astros to homer twice in one inning. According to ESPN, Alvarez and David ‌Ortiz (2008) are the only players since 1920 to hit two home runs and post six RBIs in a first inning. Christian Walker and Brice Matthews also homered for Houston.

The Royals responded with a five-run first of their own as neither team’s starters made it out of the opening inning. Kansas City’s Luinder Avila (1-3) allowed eight runs on five hits over two-thirds of an inning, while Houston’s Tatsuya Imai gave up five runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Mets 7, Braves 5

Bo Bichette hit two homers and tied a career high with six RBIs for host New York in a victory over Atlanta.

Juan Soto also homered for the Mets, who have won two straight. Reliever Cionel Perez (3-3) earned the victory, and Devin Williams handled the last 1 1/3 innings to notch his 10th save.

Matt Olson went deep for the Braves, who matched their worst run of the season with a third straight loss. Spencer Strider (4-2) surrendered seven runs on six hits over three-plus innings.

Marlins 8, Pirates 3

Liam Hicks belted a two-run homer among his three hits and Sandy Alcantara won his third straight start, fueling Miami to a win at Pittsburgh.

Alcantara recorded the 1,000th strikeout of his career when he caught Tyler Callihan looking to ‌end the fourth ​inning. He finished the night with 1,002 strikeouts to supplant Ricky Nolasco (1,001) as the franchise’s career leader. Owen Caissie ripped a two-run double to highlight a four-run seventh inning, helping the Marlins extend their season-high winning streak to ⁠six games.

Pittsburgh’s Endy Rodriguez went deep to lead off the fifth inning. Brandon Lowe added his ⁠team-leading 17th homer in the eighth inning for the Pirates, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Guardians 3, Tigers 2

Tanner Bibee struck out eight over seven-plus innings in a combined two-hitter and Brayan Rocchio had an RBI triple as Cleveland never trailed in a victory over visiting Detroit.

Patrick Bailey and Steven Kwan added run-scoring singles for Cleveland, which snapped a four-game losing streak. The Guardians moved within percentage points of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the American League Central.

The Tigers only managed two hits off Bibee (2-7) on solo homers from James Outman in the third and Spencer Torkelson leading off the eighth. The right-hander walked two and threw 91 pitches, winning his second start in a row.

Diamondbacks 5, Reds 2

Cincinnati left fielder Blake Dunn dropped a fly ball with two outs in the ninth that scored the go-ahead run as visiting Arizona beat Cincinnati.

Geraldo Perdomo came up with runners on first and second against Reds reliever Brock Burke (2-3) ​and hit a sinking liner to Dunn in left that was misplayed for an error, scoring Gabriel Moreno for a 3-2 lead. Jordan Lawlar followed with a two-run single to make it 5-2.

Five relievers combined to blank Cincinnati over the final 6 1/3 innings with Kevin Ginkel (2-2) earning the win and Paul Sewald recording his 16th save. Noelvi Marte homered for the Reds, who have lost seven of eight.

Orioles 7, Padres 3

Samuel Basallo’s two-run home run in the first inning gave Baltimore the lead for good en route a win over visiting San Diego.

Gunnar Henderson also homered among his three hits and Shane Baz (4-6) allowed two earned runs over five innings for the Orioles, who ⁠scored six of their runs in the first two innings to open a 6-2 lead.

Gavin Sheets drove in two runs with two hits and Manny Machado also had two hits for the Padres. Griffin ⁠Canning (0-5) allowed seven runs over five innings.

Blue Jays 8, Yankees 5

Alejandro Kirk had three hits, a walk and two RBIs on his return from a fractured thumb as Toronto defeated visiting New York.

Kazuma Okamoto and George Springer each hit a two-run homer for ​the Blue Jays, who have won four of their past six. Trey Yesavage (3-3) gave up five runs on four hits and six walks in five-plus innings. Louis Varland pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save.

Cody Bellinger hit a two-run blast for the Yankees, whose four-game winning streak ended. Ryan Weathers (2-5) permitted six runs on five hits in 4 ​1/3 innings.

Red Sox 10, Rangers 1

Willson Contreras, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela each homered to lead Boston to a runaway victory over visiting Texas.

Contreras, Abreu and Rafaela each had three hits in the win. Sonny Gray (8-1) pitched six innings for the Red Sox, ‌holding Texas to one run on five hits as Boston snapped a four-game skid and improved to 11-21 at home this season.

Rangers starter Jack Leiter (3-6) lasted five innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on eight hits. Texas received two hits from both Joc Pederson and Wyatt Langford, with the latter providing the only RBI on a first-inning single.

White Sox 8, Dodgers 2

Tristan Peters punctuated a seven-run fifth inning with a two-run triple and Anthony Kay pitched five strong innings as surging Chicago defeated visiting Los Angeles.

Bryan Hudson, Trevor Richards and Chris Murphy combined for four innings of perfect relief after Kay (6-1) scattered two runs and four hits in five innings. Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas had three hits apiece for the White Sox, who outhit the Dodgers 10-4.

Miguel Rojas collected two hits for the Dodgers, including an RBI double. Roki Sasaki (3-4) allowed seven runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Shohei Ohtani sat after leaving the Thursday game with left knee inflammation, but he isn’t expected to go on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts said.

Twins 9, Cardinals 8

Royce Lewis and ⁠Brooks Lee homered in the eighth inning, lifting Minnesota to a victory over St. Louis in Minneapolis.

Kody Clemens belted a three-run home run for the Twins, who won the opener of a three-game series for just their second victory in six games. Byron Buxton doubled twice and hit a solo homer.

Jordan Walker hit a three-run double and Alec Burleson homered and drove in a pair for the Cardinals, who have lost two in a row immediately after a six-game winning streak.

Mariners 10, Nationals 2

Dominic Canzone homered for the second straight game to go with a two-run triple, Bryce Miller pitched eight strong innings and visiting Seattle beat Washington.

Colt Emerson and Josh Naylor also ⁠homered for the Mariners, who had lost two straight but took control early in this game with a five-run second inning. Miller (3-0) ‌allowed two runs on four hits. He has gone five or more innings in each of his six appearances this season and has given up two or fewer runs each time.

James Wood had two hits, including a homer, and Dylan Crews ⁠also homered for the Nationals, who fell back to .500 after their fourth straight home loss. Washington starter Zack Littell (6-5) allowed five runs on four hits over 1 2/3 innings, taking his first loss since April 28.

Athletics 6, Rockies 4

Shea ​Langeliers and Nick Kurtz slugged back-to-back ‌mammoth homers and Lawrence Butler scored the tiebreaking run on an error and later added an RBI single as the Athletics recorded a victory over Colorado in Las Vegas.

The Athletics won their third straight game and improved to ​3-1 on their six-game Las Vegas “homestand.” ⁠A’s reliever Mason Barnett (1-0) allowed one hit in 1 2/3 innings, and Hogan Harris retired all four batters he faced for his sixth save.

Cole Carrigg hit a three-run homer for the Rockies, who lost for the sixth time in eight contests. Colorado reliever Zach Agnos (0-2) permitted four runs, three earned, in 2 2/3 innings.

Cubs 5, Giants 1

Michael Busch bombed a three-run homer into the San Francisco Bay, Javier Assad combined with two relievers on a four-hitter and Chicago opened a three-game road series with a victory.

Assad (4-1) yielded three hits in six scoreless innings. Seiya Suzuki had two doubles and an RBI as the Cubs won their second game in a row.

Giants starter Landen Roupp (5-7) was charged with four runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. Bryce Eldridge collected three of San Francisco’s four hits, including a ninth-inning homer.

Angels 4, Rays 3

Trey Mancini hit a two-run triple and Logan O’Hoppe had two hits and an RBI to lead Los Angeles to a victory over Tampa Bay in Anaheim, Calif.

Nick Madrigal went 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, an RBI and a run for the Angels, who won their third straight game. Angels starter Sam Aldegheri (2-1) allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits over five innings. Ryan Zeferjahn struck out Cedric Mullins with the bases loaded in the ninth to pick up his second save.

Jonathan Aranda went 2-for-5 with three RBIs for the Rays, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Tampa Bay starter ​Shane McClanahan (6-4) gave up four runs on eight hits in four innings.

–Field Level Media

After Giants starter Landen Roupp (5-7) had matched zeroes with Assad (4-1) for three innings, the Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Seiya Suzuki and a sacrifice fly by Nico Hoerner.

Busch’s homer, his ‌eighth ​of the season, came an inning later after ⁠Roupp had been pulled ⁠with two on and two out after a double by Alex Bregman.

In a lefty-on-lefty matchup against Erik Miller, Busch took a pair of sliders before blasting a third over the high right-field wall ​for a 5-0 lead.

Making his second start since he returned earlier this month after a demotion to Triple-A Iowa in May, ⁠Assad allowed a leadoff single to Luis ⁠Arraez in the first and singles to Bryce Eldridge ​in the fourth and sixth before calling it a night after throwing ​85 pitches in six innings. He walked one and ‌struck out five.

Hoby Milner threw a 1-2-3 seventh and Trent Thornton retired the first four batters he faced in the eighth and ninth before serving up a solo homer to Eldridge, his fifth of the ⁠season, to spoil the shutout.

Suzuki finished with a pair of doubles for Chicago, which lost two of three when it hosted the Giants last week. ⁠Five of the ‌Cubs’ six hits went for extra bases, including ⁠four doubles.

Roupp was charged with four runs on four ​hits ‌in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and ​struck out ⁠five.

Promoted to second in the batting order after a hot streak that included a walk-off grand slam Wednesday against Washington, Eldridge had three of the Giants’ four hits. It was his eighth multi-hit game of the season.

The loss was the Giants’ sixth in their last seven home games.

– ​Field Level Media