By PATRICK WHITTLE and HOLLY RAMER (Associated Press)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A year after an experimental submersible imploded en route to the Titanic, unanswered questions linger — with no immediate answers.

Tuesday marks one year since the Titan vanished on its way to the historic wreckage site. After a five-day search that captured the world’s attention, officials said the craft had been destroyed and all five people on board killed.

The U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation into what happened. Concerns leading up to the investigation included the Titan’s unconventional design and its creator’s decision to forgo standard independent checks.

A look at the one-year anniversary of the Titan tragedy:

The investigation is taking longer than expected

Coast Guard officials said in a statement last week that they would not be ready to release the results of their investigation by the anniversary. A public hearing to discuss the findings won’t happen for at least two more months, they said.

Investigators “are working closely with our domestic and international partners to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the incident,” Marine Board of Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer said, describing the inquiry as a “complex and ongoing effort.”

The Titan was owned by a company called OceanGate, which suspended its operations last July, not long after the tragedy. OceanGate said in a Tuesday statement that it “has ceased all operations and is continuing to cooperate with authorities, including the U.S. Coast Guard, in their investigations.” The company also said in its statement that it expresses “our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones, as well as everyone impacted by this tragedy.”

The Titan made its last dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. When it was reported overdue that afternoon, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the area, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Monday that there are other submersibles operating within Canadian waters, some of which are not registered with any country.

In addition to OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, the implosion killed two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Remembering those who died

David Concannon, a former adviser to OceanGate, said he will mark the anniversary privately with a group of people who were involved with the company or the submersible’s expeditions over the years, including scientists, volunteers and mission specialists.

Harding and Nargeolet were members of The Explorers Club, a professional society dedicated to research, exploration and resource conservation.

“Then, as now, it hit us on a personal level very deeply,” the group’s president, Richard Garriott, said in an interview last week.

Garriott said there will be a remembrance celebration for the Titan victims this week in Portugal at the annual Global Exploration Summit.

The tragedy won’t stop deep-sea exploration

The Georgia-based company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic plans to visit the sunken ocean liner in July using remotely operated vehicles, and a real estate billionaire from Ohio has said he plans a voyage to the shipwreck in a two-person submersible in 2026.

Several deep-sea explorers told The Associated Press that the Titan disaster shook the worldwide community of explorers, but it remains committed to continuing its missions to expand scientific understanding of the ocean.

Garriott believes the world is in a new golden age of undersea exploration, thanks to technological advances that have opened frontiers and provided new tools to more thoroughly study already visited places. The Titan tragedy hasn’t tarnished that, he said.

“Progress continues,” he said. “I actually feel very comfortable and confident that we will now be able to proceed.”

Veteran deep-sea explorer Katy Croff Bell said the Titan implosion reinforced the importance of following industry standards and performing rigorous testing. But in the industry as a whole, “the safety track record for this has been very good for several decades,” said Bell, president of Ocean Discovery League, a nonprofit organization.

Ramer reporter from Concord, New Hampshire.

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is discontinuing its buy now, pay later service known as Apple Pay Later barely a year after its initial launch in the U.S., and will rely on companies who already dominate the industry like Affirm and Klarna.

It’s an acknowledgement from a company known for producing hit products that building a financial services business from scratch as Apple has been doing for several years is difficult and highly competitive.

Apple Pay Later launched with fanfare in March 2023 as a way for iPhone customers to split purchases of up to $1,000 into four equal payments with no fees or interest. The service was Apple’s answer to the growing popularity of buy now, pay later services globally, and considered a sizeable threat to companies like Klarna, Affirm and others.

But Apple Pay Later was only available where Apple Pay was accepted whereas the other buy now, pay later companies had deeply integrated themselves into millions of merchant websites.

In an acknowledgement of how popular buy now, pay later services had become, Apple said at its developer’s conference this month that it would start allowing banks to offer buy now, pay later plans to their customers through Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. Affirm would be integrated directly into Apple Wallet, and Apple customers would be able to open an Affirm account directly.

“With the introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the U.S.,” Apple said late Monday. “Our focus continues to be on providing our users with access to easy, secure and private payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will enable us to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places across the globe, in collaboration with Apple Pay enabled banks and lenders.”

Apple executives as recently as this month had indicated that the company still had plans for Apple Pay Later despite announcing plans to integrate Affirm directly into Apple Wallet.

Apple Pay Later was unique because Apple needed to create its own bank to offer the loans. The Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs, which means Goldman ultimately decides who gets approved and what spending limits are for each customer.

Apple has discontinued any new Apple Pay Later loans, but customers who have existing Apple Pay Later loans will be able to manage them inside Apple Pay.

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer Justin Timberlake was arrested early Tuesday and is accused of driving while intoxicated on New York’s Long Island, authorities said.

Timberlake was expected to be arraigned in Sag Harbor, on the eastern end of Long Island, according to a statement from the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

Timberlake’s representatives did not immediately return requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Sag Harbor is a coastal village in the Hamptons, around 100 miles (160 kilometers) from New York City. In the summer, it is a hotspot for wealthy visitors.

A young Timberlake was a Disney Mouseketeer, where his castmates included future girlfriend Britney Spears. He rose to fame in the popular boy band NSYNC and embarked on a solo recording career in 2002. As an actor, Timberlake has won acclaim in movies including” The Social Network” and “Friends With Benefits.”

He has won ten Grammy awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Last year, Timberlake was in the headlines when Spears released her memoir, “The Woman in Me.” Several chapters are devoted to their relationship, including deeply personal details about a pregnancy, abortion and painful breakup. In March, he released his first new album in six years, the nostalgic “Everything I Thought It Was,” a return to his familiar future funk sound.

Timberlake has two upcoming shows in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, then is scheduled for New York’s Madison Square Garden next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.