Top Stories
Pope heads to summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo for first time in 12 years
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV arrived in the papal summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo on Sunday to start a six-week vacation, giving the hilltop town back its most illustrious resident after Pope Francis stayed away during his 12-year pontificate.
Leo greeted well-wishers who lined the main road into town to welcome him before waving from the balcony of the villa where he will be staying for what he says will be a “brief period of rest.”
“I hope everyone can have some vacation time to restore the body and spirit,” Leo said before leaving the Vatican during his noontime prayer Sunday.
The 69-year-old Chicago native is resuming the papal tradition of leaving the Vatican for the hot summer months in favor of the relatively cooler climes of Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome. The area has been a favorite getaway for Roman rulers since the time of the Emperor Domitian in the first century.
It’s Leo’s first break after a frenetic few weeks of inaugural audiences, outings and Holy Year celebrations following his May 8 election as history’s first American pope. He’ll have a handful of public events while on holiday — Masses, Sunday noon prayers and even some events back at the Vatican — but officials expect he will use the time to rest, think and read in on key issues facing his new pontificate.
“Since he was elected he has been working, working, working. It is time for him to get more energy and get strength for his mission,” said Sister Mary Livia, a nun from Uganda who was on hand to welcome Leo on Sunday.
‘Good for the whole town’
Pope Urban VIII built the papal palace in Castel Gandolfo in 1624 to give popes an escape from Rome. It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its present size of 55 hectares (136 acres), bigger than Vatican City itself. On the grounds are a working farm, manicured gardens, an observatory run by Jesuit astronomers and, more recently, an environmental educational center inspired by Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be).
Past popes used it regularly in summer, drawing huge crowds of pilgrims who would come on Sundays to hear his noon blessing, which was delivered inside the inner courtyard of the palace. Pope Benedict XVI famously closed out his papacy in the estate on Feb. 28, 2013. But Francis, a homebody who never took a proper vacation during his 12-year pontificate, decided to remain in Rome in summer.
The town suffered an initial economic hit from the decision. But then Francis turned the papal palace and gardens into a year-round museum, open to the public, giving the town a year-round tourist draw that ended up benefiting it even more, shopkeepers say.
“He made access to these structures possible, which no pope ever did in 400 years,” said Simone Mariani, who runs a restaurant in town that benefited from the steady flow of tourists much more than the summer-only Sunday crowds of the past. “He brought tourism that was good for the whole town.”
But that still didn’t make up for the abandonment felt by a town whose rhythms for generations revolved around regular papal visits.
Whenever the pope would arrive, the palace doors would open, the Swiss Guards would stand at attention and the town would come to life, said Patrizia Gasperini, whose family runs a souvenir shop on the main piazza a few steps from the palace front door.
“All year, we’d miss the color, the movement, but we knew when summer came he would return,” she said. “So when Pope Francis decided not to come, we were upset on an emotional level, beyond the economic level.”
Draft important church documents
Since the palace has been turned into a museum, Leo will actually be staying in the Villa Barberini, a smaller residence on the estate grounds that used to be where the Vatican secretary of state would stay when the pope was in town.
Mayor Alberto De Angelis said he hopes Leo will decide to use Castel Gandolfo not just for summer breaks, but for periodic vacations during the rest of the year, as St. John Paul II often did.
There is also a tradition of popes using their time at Castel Gandolfo to draft important church documents and encyclicals, and De Angelis said he hopes Leo follows in that tradition.
“We hope Pope Leo produces some text, some encyclical here that has a global reach,” he said. “And then he can say that it came from Castel Gandolfo, that he was inspired and produced this text from here for the whole world.”
___
Winfield reported from Rome.
___
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.
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Flash floods in Texas killed dozens and left an unknown number of July Fourth visitors and campers missing, including many girls attending Camp Mystic. The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, has drawn a massive search effort as officials face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions.
Here’s what to know about the deadly flooding, the colossal weather system that drove it in and around Kerr County, Texas, and ongoing efforts to identify victims.
Massive rain hit at just the wrong time, in a flood-prone place
The floods grew to their worst at the midpoint of a long holiday weekend when many people were asleep.
The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up. Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark early morning hours.
After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4 a.m. that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life. By at least 5:20 a.m., some in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes.
Death toll is expected to rise and the number of missing is uncertain
Gov. Greg Abbott said there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.
In Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said Sunday afternoon. Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to 79 as of Sunday evening.
Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
For past campers, the tragedy turned happy memories into grief.
Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released.
“We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said Saturday, citing the likely influx of visitors during the July Fourth holiday.
Officials face scrutiny over flash flood warnings
Survivors have described the floods as a “pitch black wall of death” and said they received no emergency warnings.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said Saturday that “ nobody saw this coming.” Various officials have referred to it as a “100-year-flood,” meaning that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record.
And records behind those statistics don’t always account for human-caused climate change. Though it’s hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur, meteorologists say that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and allow severe storms to dump even more rain.
Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4 a.m. or told to evacuate.
Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor.
Kerr county officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public reeled at the cost.
On Sunday, officials walked out of a news briefing after reporters asked them again about delays in alerts and evacuations.
Monumental clearing and rebuilding effort
The flash floods have erased campgrounds and torn homes from their foundations.
“It’s going to be a long time before we’re ever able to clean it up, much less rebuild it,” Kelly said Saturday after surveying the destruction from a helicopter.
Other massive flooding events have driven residents and business owners to give up, including in areas struck last year by Hurricane Helene.
President Donald Trump said he would likely visit the flood zone on Friday.
AP photographers have captured the scale of the destruction, and one of Texas’ largest rescue and recover efforts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in Aug. 1.
That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America’s trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether President Donald Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other nations.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump would decide when it was time to give up on negotiations.
“The United States is always willing to talk to everybody about everything,” Hassett said. “There are deadlines, and there are things that are close, so maybe things will push back past the deadline or maybe they won’t. In the end the president is going to make that judgment.”
Stephen Miran, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, likewise said countries negotiating in good faith and making concessions could “sort of, get the date rolled.”
The steeper tariffs that Trump announced April 2 threatened to overhaul the global economy and lead to broader trade wars. A week later, after the financial markets had panicked, his administration suspended for 90 days most of the higher taxes on imports just as they were to take effect. The negotiating window until July 9 has led to announced deals only with the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Trump imposed elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the U.S., and a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency. There are separate 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum and a 25% tariff on autos.
Since April, few foreign governments have set new trade terms with Washington as the Republican president demanded.
Trump told reporters Friday that his administration might be sending out letters as early as Saturday to countries spelling out their tariff rates if they did not reach a deal, but that the U.S. would not start collecting those taxes until Aug. 1. On Sunday, he said he would send out letters starting Monday — “could be 12, could be 15” — to foreign governments reflecting planned tariffs for each.
“We’ve made deals also,” Trump told reporters before heading back to the White House from his home in New Jersey. “So we’ll get to have a combination of letters, and some deals have been made.”
He and his advisers have declined to say which countries would receive the letters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the idea that Aug. 1 was a new deadline and declined to say what might happen Wednesday.
“We’ll see,” Bessent said on CNN’s State of the Union. “I’m not going to give away the playbook.”
He said the U.S. was “close to several deals,” and predicted several big announcements over the next few days. He gave no details.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent said.
Trump has announced a deal with Vietnam that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free, while Vietnamese exports to the U.S. would face a 20% levy.
That was a decline from the 46% tax on Vietnamese imports he proposed in April — one of his so-called reciprocal tariffs targeting dozens of countries with which the U.S. runs a trade deficit.
Asked if he expected to reach deals with the European Union or India, Trump said Friday that “letters are better for us” because there are so many countries involved.
“We have India coming up and with Vietnam, we did it, but much easier to send a letter saying, ’Listen, we know we have a certain deficit, or in some cases a surplus, but not too many. And this is what you’re going to have to pay if you want to do business in the United States.”
Canada, however, will not be one of the countries receiving letters, Trump’s ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, said Friday after trade talks between the two countries recently resumed.
“Canada is one of our biggest trading partners,” Hoekstra told CTV News in an interview in Ottawa. “We’re going to have a deal that’s articulated.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants a new deal in place by July 21 or Canada will increase trade countermeasures.
Hoekstra would not commit to a date for a trade agreement and said even with a deal, Canada could still face some tariffs. But “we’re not going to send Canada just a letter,” he said.
___
Price reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey. AP Business Writer Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further.
Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that support iPhone car keys, but it has not been updated in a while, so it is missing some recent additions. Our list below is more up to date, but if we are missing any vehicles, let us know.
Existing Vehicles
Audi
- 2025 and newer A5
- 2025 and newer Q5
- 2025 and newer SQ5
- 2025 and newer A6
- 2025 and newer S6
- 2025 and newer Q6
- 2025 and newer SQ6
BMW
- 2021 and newer 1 Series
- 2021 and newer 2 Series
- 2021 and newer 3 Series
- 2021 and newer 4 Series
- 2021 and newer 5 Series
- 2021 and newer 6 Series
- 2021 and newer 8 Series
- 2021 and newer X5
- 2021 and newer X6
- 2021 and newer X7
- 2021 and newer X5 M
- 2021 and newer X6 M
- 2021 and newer Z4
- 2022 and newer i4
- 2022 and newer iX
- 2022 and newer iX1
- 2022 and newer iX3
- 2023 and newer i3
- 2023 and newer i7
- 2024 and newer i5
MINI
- Aceman (produced from May 2024)
- Cooper (3-door) C / S (produced from March 2024)
- Cooper (3-door) E / SE (produced from November 2023)
- Cooper (5-door) (produced from July 2024)
- Countryman (produced from November 2023)
Hyundai
- 2023 and newer Palisade
- 2024 and newer Elantra
- 2024 and newer Kona
- 2024 and newer Santa Fe
- 2024 and newer Sonata
- 2025 and newer Tucson
- 2025 and newer Santa Cruz
- 2025 and newer IONIQ 5
- 2023 and newer IONIQ 6
- 2026 and newer IONIQ 9
Kia
- 2023 and newer Telluride
- 2023 and newer Niro
- 2023 and newer Seltos
- 2024 and newer EV3
- 2024 and newer EV6
- 2024 and newer EV9
- 2024 and newer Sorento
- 2025 and newer Carnival
Genesis
- 2023 and newer GV60
- 2023 and newer G90
- 2024 and newer G70
Mercedes-Benz
- 2024 and newer E‑Class
- 2025 and newer EQE
- 2025 and newer EQS
Polestar
- All models of the Polestar 3
- All models of the Polestar 4
RAM
Volvo
- 2024 and newer EX30
- 2024 and newer EX90
Lotus
- 2024 and newer Eletre
- 2024 and newer Emeya
A few other automakers have started rolling out iPhone car keys, such as BYD and Lynk & Co.
Availability may vary by country.
Future Vehicles
During its WWDC 2025 keynote last month, Apple said that the following 13 automakers would “soon” offer vehicle models with iPhone car keys:
- Acura
- Chevrolet
- Cadillac
- GMC
- Porsche
- Rivian
- Smart
- Lucid Motors
- Tata Motors
- Hongqi
- WEY
- Chery
- Voyah
For Rivian, this will include the second-generation R1S and R1T and newer, according to a press release from more than a year ago.
Popular Stories
iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features
Apple’s next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple’s logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous…
Here’s How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and…
AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple’s Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition
Apple’s position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by…
iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as “Instant Digital.” In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh…
Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra’s existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with “significant” new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you…
Apple’s Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report
AppleInsider’s Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is…
M5 Chip Rumored to Debut in These Five Apple Products Later This Year
Apple’s next-generation M5 chip is expected to debut in five new products later this year, including the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac. M5 chips will reportedly be manufactured with TSMC’s latest third-generation 3nm process, which should result in slight performance and power efficiency improvements over M4 chips fabricated with its second-generation 3nm process. …
-
Funding & Business6 days agoKayak and Expedia race to build AI travel agents that turn social posts into itineraries
-
Jobs & Careers6 days ago
Mumbai-based Perplexity Alternative Has 60k+ Users Without Funding
-
Mergers & Acquisitions6 days ago
Donald Trump suggests US government review subsidies to Elon Musk’s companies
-
Funding & Business6 days ago
Rethinking Venture Capital’s Talent Pipeline
-
Jobs & Careers5 days ago
Why Agentic AI Isn’t Pure Hype (And What Skeptics Aren’t Seeing Yet)
-
Funding & Business3 days ago
Sakana AI’s TreeQuest: Deploy multi-model teams that outperform individual LLMs by 30%
-
Jobs & Careers3 days ago
Ilya Sutskever Takes Over as CEO of Safe Superintelligence After Daniel Gross’s Exit
-
Funding & Business6 days agoFrom chatbots to collaborators: How AI agents are reshaping enterprise work
-
Jobs & Careers6 days ago
Telangana Launches TGDeX—India’s First State‑Led AI Public Infrastructure
-
Funding & Business3 days ago
HOLY SMOKES! A new, 200% faster DeepSeek R1-0528 variant appears from German lab TNG Technology Consulting GmbH
