By JAMEY KEATEN

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s glaciers have faced “enormous” melting this year with a 3% drop in total volume — the fourth-largest annual drop on record — due to the effects of global warming, top Swiss glaciologists reported on Wednesday.

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The shrinkage this year means that ice mass in Switzerland — home to the most glaciers in Europe — has declined by one-quarter over the last decade, the Swiss glacier monitoring group GLAMOS and the Swiss Academy of Sciences said in their new report.

“Glacial melting in Switzerland was once again enormous in 2025,” the scientists said. “A winter with low snow depth combined with heat waves in June and August led to a loss of 3% of the glacier volume.”

Switzerland is home to nearly 1,400 glaciers, the most of any country in Europe, and the ice mass and its gradual melting have implications for hydropower, tourism, farming and water resources in many European countries.

More than 1,000 small glaciers in Switzerland have already disappeared, the experts said.

The teams reported that a winter with little snow was followed by heat waves in June — the second-warmest June on record — which left the snow reserves depleted by early July. Ice masses began to melt earlier than ever, they said.

“Glaciers are clearly retreating because of anthropogenic global warming,” said Matthias Huss, the head of GLAMOS, referring to climate change caused by human activity.

“This is the main cause for the acceleration we are seeing in the last two years,” added Huss, who is also a glaciologist at Zurich’s ETHZ university.

The shrinkage is the fourth-largest after those in 2022, 2023 and back in 2003.

The retreat and loss of glaciers is also having an impact on Switzerland’s landscape, causing mountains to shift and ground to become unstable.

Swiss authorities have been on heightened alert for such changes after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier thundered down a mountainside that covered nearly all of the southern village of Blatten in May.

HONOLULU (AP) — Lawyers for a Hawaii real estate investor and broker who sued Shohei Ohtani and his agent denied any improper use of the star’s likeness for a development project and alleged the agent was trying to deflect blame for cost overruns at the player’s home.

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Ohtani and Nez Balelo of CAA Baseball were sued Aug. 8 in Hawaii Circuit Court for the First Circuit by developer Kevin J. Hayes Sr., real estate broker Tomoko Matsumoto, West Point Investment Corp. and Hapuna Estates Property Owners. They accused Ohtani and Balelo of “abuse of power” that allegedly resulted in tortious interference and unjust enrichment impacting a $240 million luxury housing development on the Big Island’s coveted Hapuna Coast.

Hayes and Matsumoto had been dropped from the development deal by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, the joint venture’s majority owner.

The amended complaint filed Tuesday added Creative Artists Agency and CAA Sports as defendants.

“Balelo and CAA sought to deflect blame by scapegoating Hayes for the cost overruns on Otani’s home — overruns caused entirely by defendants’ own decisions,” the complaint said.

“The allegations as we clarified them make very clear that there was never a breach of the endorsement agreement, the video that was posted on the website promoting specifically this project was sent to Balelo and CAA and another adviser to Ohtani, Mark Daulton, and they were aware of it and never objected to it,” said Josh Schiller, a lawyer for Hayes and the suing entities.

In a motion to dismiss filed Sept. 14, attorneys for Ohtani and Balelo said “plaintiffs exploited Ohtani’s name and photograph to drum up traffic to a website that marketed plaintiffs’ own side project development.”

“This is a desperate attempt to avoid dismissal of a frivolous complaint and, as we previously said, to distract from plaintiffs’ myriad of failures and their blatant misappropriation of Shohei Ohtani’s rights,” Laura Smolowe, a lawyer for Ohtani and Balelo, said in a statement. “Nez Balelo has always prioritized Mr. Ohtani’s best interests, including protecting his name, image, and likeness from unauthorized use.”

Lawyers for Hayes and the plaintiffs claimed they kept Balelo and CAA informed.

“Before the website went live, Hayes submitted a link to the entire site — including its promotional aspects — by email to Balelo and Terry Prince, the director of legal and business Affairs at CAA Sports LLC,” the amended complaint said. “It remained online with no material changes for 14 months before Balelo suddenly objected and threatened litigation — weaponizing the issue in order to create pretext for yet another set of demands and concessions.”

“The sudden demand that Kingsbarn terminate plaintiffs was instead a retaliatory measure against Hayes for resisting the constant and improper demands of Balelo and (Ohtani),” the complaint added. “Defendants further calculated that, with plaintiffs removed, they could more easily extract financial concessions from the project and enrich themselves at plaintiffs’ expense.”

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

It certainly was a choice that playwright Anthony McCarten used “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” to portray the much-loved superstar behind the songs as an absolute jerk.

But that’s what happens in the touring Broadway show, which runs through Sunday at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis.

McCarten framed his take on Diamond’s life and career on an uneasy therapy session with an aged Diamond (Robert Westenberg) who has stopped performing and who has absolutely no interest in discussing his past, his career or his music. Still, his crafty, unnamed therapist (Lisa Renee Pitts) pulls out a book of Diamond’s lyrics and, eventually, gets the musician talking.

Between scenes of that session, we learn how Diamond rose from obscurity to become one of the biggest stars of his generation. Famed Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich (Kate A. Mulligan) takes a chance on Diamond and guides him from writing bubblegum pop for others to performing his own, more serious songs.

Along the way, we meet Diamond’s childhood sweetheart and mother of two daughters Jaye (Tiffany Tatreau) and his second wife and mother of two sons Marcia (Hannah Jewel Kohn), who helps urge him out of his shell and, later, leave his first wife. Diamond’s third and current wife, Katie, who is nearly three decades younger than him, barely gets mentioned and is not portrayed on the stage.

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One of the problems with the script is that Jaye and Marcia are paper thin characters who don’t get much development beyond sweet and innocent (Jaye) and ambitious homewrecker (Marcia). That said, the latter does get a moment to shine with her rendition of “Forever in Blue Jeans.”

We also meet Bert Berns (Michael Accardo), himself a songwriter and head of the mobbed-up Bang Records, who convinces the young Diamond to sign a crooked contract with the promise of artistic freedom. A significant chunk of the first act is dedicated to this ill-fated move, which is wrapped up in a flash, with Berns ripping said contract to pieces. That move seems to suggest Diamond got out of the deal thanks to his sheer awesomeness when the reality is that he had a great lawyer.

“American Idol” champion Nick Fradiani mostly pulls off his portrayal of Diamond. For the first few numbers, he struggled to replicate Diamond’s unique vocals while also carefully enunciating in the Broadway fashion. But he eventually warmed into it and was convincing enough during showcase numbers like “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show,” “America” and “Cherry, Cherry.” (At one point, for no real reason, he took his shirt off to reveal tight abs that had the boomer ladies in the crowd clapping and swooning.)

“A Beautiful Noise” takes place on a relatively sparse set, but inventive staging, costumes and lighting design bring life to the proceedings, as does the diverse chorus of 10 performers. Songs like “Sweet Caroline” and “Holly Holy” crackle with the energy of Diamond’s own concerts.

But Diamond’s gloomy spirit and supposed self-doubt undermine the fun. The therapy scenes drag on too long and come to an absurd climax when Diamond makes a murky breakthrough thanks to his song “I Am… I Said,” the chorus of which reveals that Diamond thinks chairs have the ability to listen to humans.

“A Beautiful Noise” works best if you ignore the morose stuff and focus on the songs, which are the true star of this show.

‘A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical’

When: Through Sunday
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis
Tickets: $235.80-$59 via hennepinarts.org
Capsule: Diamond’s music shines, even if his own story does not.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce on Wednesday announced the anticipated increase in health insurance rates for 2026 — a driving factor in the federal government shutdown that began at midnight.

Under the new rates, Minnesotans covered through the individual market — Affordable Care Act plans accessed through the state’s health insurance marketplace — will see an average rate increase of 22% and those in small group plans will see a 14% increase. The increases are due to both rising health care costs and the expiration of enhanced tax credits under the ACA, officials with the Department of Commerce said Wednesday.

Roughly 200,000 Minnesotans are enrolled in the small group market, while 163,000 are enrolled in the individual market, according to 2024 data from the state Department of Health.

The increased rates came just hours after the federal government shut down, in part over health care disputes such as the expiring ACA credits and Medicaid cuts. Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota health care leaders held a press conference last month, urging Congress to extend the enhanced tax credits.

“We hope that Congress will take swift action to make the enhanced tax credits permanent, because every Minnesotan who has been able to stay covered with this financial help is another Minnesotan able to access the health care they need,” MNsure CEO Libby Caulum said in a news release Wednesday.

The Department of Commerce announces the rates every year on Oct. 1, ahead of the Nov. 1 date for open enrollment, and three months before premiums go into effect on Jan. 1, also when the ACA credits are set to expire.

Caulum said on Sept. 23 that while MNSure can “make technical changes” if Congress acts to extend ACA credits before Jan. 1, the deadline is tight.

“As soon as the rate release happens, there’s a whole host of things that MNsure does to get ready for open enrollment … so we’re really short on time here to keep it from getting confusing,” she said.

MNsure estimates that nearly 90,000 Minnesotans will see an increase in their monthly premium due to the loss of ACA credits if Congress does not extend them.

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