By BERNARD CONDON

NEW YORK (AP) — When the Trump family unveiled a new phone before a giant American flag at its headquarters earlier this month, the pitch was simple and succinct, packed with pure patriotism: “Made in the U.S.A.”

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The Trumps are apparently having second thoughts.

How about “proudly American”?

Those are the two words that have replaced the “Made in the USA” pitch that just a few days ago appeared on the website where customers can pre-order the so-called T-1 gold-toned phones with an American flag etched on the back. Elsewhere on the site, other vague terms are now being used, describing the $499 phone as boasting an “American-Proud Design” and “brought to life right here in the U.S.A.”

The Federal Trade Commission requires that items labeled “Made in USA” be “all or virtually all” produced in the U.S. and several firms have been sued over misusing the term.

The Trump Organization has not explained the change and has not responded to a request for comment. Neither did an outside public relations firm handling the Trumps’ mobile phone business, including a request to confirm a statement made to another media outlet.

“T1 phones are proudly being made in America,” said Trump Mobile spokesman Chris Walker, according to USA Today. “Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”

The language change on the website was first reported by the news site The Verge.

An expert on cell phone technology, IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo, said he’s not surprised the Trump family has dropped the “Made in the USA” label because it’s nearly impossible to build one here given the higher cost and lack of infrastructure to do so.

But, of course, you can claim to do it.

“Whether it is possible or not to build this phone in the US depends on what you consider ‘build,’” Jeronimo said. “If it’s a question of assembling components and targeting small volumes, I suppose it’s somehow possible. You can always get the components from China and assemble them by hand somewhere.”

“You’re going to have phones that are made right here in the United States of America,” said Trump’s son Eric to Fox News recently, adding, “It’s about time we bring products back to our great country.”

The Trump family has flown the American flag before with Trump-branded products of suspicious origin, including its “God Bless the USA” Bibles, which an Associated Press investigation last year showed were printed in China.

The Trump phone is part of a bigger family mobile business plan designed to tap into MAGA enthusiasm for the president. The two sons running the business, Eric and Don Jr., announced earlier this month that they would offer mobile phone plans for $47.45 a month, a reference to their father’s status as the 45th and 47th president. The call center, they said, will be in the U.S., too.

“You’re not calling up call centers in Bangladesh,” Eric Trump said on Fox News. “We’re doing it out of St. Louis, Missouri.”

The new service has been blasted by government ethics experts for a conflict of interest, given that President Donald Trump oversees the Federal Communications Commission that regulates the business and is investigating phone service companies that are now Trump Mobile rivals.

Trump has also threatened to punish cell phone maker Apple, now a direct competitor, threatening to slap 25% tariffs on devices because of its plans to make most of its U.S. iPhones in India.

By ITZEL LUNA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police are investigating a break-in at a home reportedly owned by Brad Pitt, who has been on a globe-spanning promo tour for his new movie, “F1.”

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The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed they responded to a break-in Wednesday night at a house on the 2300 block of North Edgemont Street in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Three suspects broke into the residence through the front window, ransacked the home and fled with miscellaneous property, said Officer Drake Madison.

Madison said he could not identify who owned or lived in the home, and no information is currently available on what was stolen.

Pitt reportedly bought the home for $5.5 million in April 2023, according to Traded, a commercial real estate website.

A Pitt representative declined comment.

Pitt has been out of the country on a promotional tour for the “F1” movie. He attended the international premiere in London on Monday. The movie will be in U.S. theaters Friday.

The burglary was first reported Thursday by NBC News.

By MARTÍN ADAMES

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Wander Franco, the suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop charged in a sexual abuse case, was found guilty on Thursday but received a two-year suspended sentence.

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Franco was arrested last year after being accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time, and of transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to the illegal relationship.

Franco, now 24, also faced charges of sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking, but was found not guilty of those.

Judge Jakayra Veras García said Franco made a bad decision as she addressed him during the ruling.

“Look at us, Wander,” she said. “Do not approach minors for sexual purposes. If you don’t like people very close to your age, you have to wait your time.”

Prosecutors had requested a five-year prison sentence against Franco and a 10-year sentence against the girl’s mother, who was found guilty and will serve the full term.

“Apparently she was the one who thought she was handling the bat in the big leagues,” Veras said of the mother and her request that Franco pay for her daughter’s schooling and other expenses.

Franco’s attorney, Irina Ventura, said she would appeal the judge’s ruling: “Evidently, justice was not done.”

Meanwhile, prosecutor Luis Martínez said he was pleased with the rulings but did not say whether the government would appeal.

Before the three judges issued their unanimous ruling, Veras orally reviewed the copious amount of evidence that prosecutors presented during trial, including certain testimony from 31 witnesses.

“This is a somewhat complex process,” Veras said.

More than an hour into her presentation, Veras said: “The court has understood that this minor was manipulated.”

As the judge continued her review, Franco looked ahead expressionless, leaning forward at times.

Franco, who was once the team’s star shortstop, had signed a $182 million, 11-year contract through 2032 in November 2021 but saw his career abruptly halted in August 2023 after authorities in the Dominican Republic announced they were investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor. Franco was 22 at the time.

In January 2024, authorities arrested Franco in the Dominican Republic. Six months later, Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list, which cut off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave.

He was placed on that list because he has not been able to report to the team and would need a new U.S. visa to do so.

While Franco awaited trial on conditional release, he was arrested again in November last year following what Dominican authorities called an altercation over a woman’s attention. He was charged with illegally carrying a semiautomatic Glock 19 that police said was registered to his uncle.

That case is still pending in court.

After the ruling, Major League Baseball issued a brief statement noting it had collectively bargained a joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy “that reflects our commitment to these issues.”

“We are aware of today’s verdict in the Wander Franco trial and will conclude our investigation at the appropriate time,” MLB said.

Associated Press writers Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ron Blum in New York contributed.

Now that the 12-Day War of Israel’s pinpoint airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear targets and Iran’s blind ballistic missiles slamming into Israeli apartment buildings and hospitals has ended by the Trump Truce (with some salty language from the president) the ultimate goal must continue: To completely deny Iran from having atomic arms.

That can be back at the negotiating table or back on the battlefield, which the U.S. joined by bombing nuclear sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The choice is that of the ayatollah.

Forbidding the mullahs’ medieval theocratic regime, the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, atomic arms, is not just something that Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and President Donald Trump want. No nukes for Iran has been the bipartisan U.S. policy for 30 years, going back to Bill Clinton’s time in the Oval Office.

Following Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Joe Biden all in turn have insisted that Tehran cannot have nukes.

Last week, at their summit in Alberta, the G-7 nations of the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain were united: “We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.” The key word is “never.”

Even Iran’s pal, Vladimir Putin, invader of Ukraine, who has been using Iranian drones against the Ukrainians, doesn’t want a nuclear Iran. The same for the Arab states threatened by Iran.

Whether Iran’s centrifuges and uranium enrichment facilities have been permanently destroyed or merely temporarily damaged drives home the same point: The two dominant military powers in the region, the U.S. and Israel, will act with force if needed to stop an Iranian nuke.

If the underground plant at Fordo didn’t collapse, but only had its entrances blocked by the bombardment of the bunker buster bombs dropped by B-2s, Fordo remains a target.

Of course, the Iranians will try again and the estimated 400 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium they have squirreled away needs to be pursued by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the words of the world have now been reinforced with decisive military action.

The IDF’s Operation Rising Lion and the Pentagon’s Operation Midnight Hammer could only happen and successfully bomb Iran’s bomb factories without risking a reprisal attack from Iran’s proxies because those proxies are all defanged and defeated.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Assad dictatorship in Syria, the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq, once the supposed “Axis of Resistance” ringing Israel and threatening U.S. bases, are all either vanquished or neutered.

Thus the IDF in the air (and the Mossad on the ground) along with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy could get the job done and pound Iran’s nukes.

Denuded of air defenses, the skies over Iran remain free for Israeli and American planes.

So now the ayatollah, who had a symbolic retaliation by firing some nonlethal missiles at the American’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, has to decide his course going forward.

Sit down in Geneva or Vienna or Qatar and fully and permanently surrender this mad nightmare to acquire nukes, or face more of the same devastation. Or give up the chase (and the terror) and join the community of nations.

— The New York Daily News