MON SIX

Bolivia Clowns Protest

Wearing full face paint and their signature red noses, the clowns gathered in front of the Ministry of Education in La Paz to oppose a decree published in February. The new mandate says schools must comply with 200 days of lessons each year — effectively banning schools from hosting the special events where these entertainers are frequently employed.

"This decree will economically affect all of us who work with children," said Wilder Ramírez, a leader of the local clown union, who also goes by the name of Zapallito. The clown told journalists that "children need to laugh" while his colleagues wondered out loud if Bolivia's Education Minister had ever had a childhood.

Clowns in Bolivia are often hired for school festivities to entertain children during breaks from their regular lessons. One such upcoming event is Children's Day, which the country celebrates on April 12.

The decree issued by the government of recently electedPresident Rodrigo Pazsays that celebrations will no longer be authorized during regular school days, though they can be held voluntarily on weekends. Government officials said they will take the clowns' critiques into account when they make a decree for the 2027 school year.

But those assurances provided little relief to the clowns protesting Monday.

Advertisement

"This decree will diminish our income, and with the economic crisis the country is going through, our future looks increasingly gloomy," said Elías Gutiérrez, a spokesperson for the Confederation of Artisanal Workers of Bolivia.

Bolivia is grappling withits worst economic crisis in decadesas revenues from natural gas plummet following a sustained decline in production, andU.S. dollars become scarce, making imports more expensive in the landlocked nation.

Tailors who work with clowns and make dresses for children participating in cultural events joined Monday's protest as well as photographers who typically work school celebrations.

The alliance of clowns, photographers and costume makers marched through the center of La Paz, blowing their whistles and setting off small fireworks.

One of the clowns carried a sign that blamed the government for "taking away smiles, and taking work away."

Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean athttps://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

As a Democrat, Robillard was despondent at the election results, but she abandoned the idea after realizing that her young son wouldn't be eligible for citizenship under a law that barred Canadians born abroad from passing their citizenship to children if they were also born outside Canada.

In 2023, however, the Canadian courts ruled that law unconstitutional and the changes to eligibility came into effect in December, suddenly opening up a pathway to Canadian citizenship for many Americans at a time of political upheaval, violence and uncertainty in the US.

Robillard, 52, is applying for citizenship with her son now that the first-generation rule has been scrapped.

Since criteria for citizenship expanded with the passage of Bill C-3 of Canada's Citizenship Act, millions of Americans have become eligible to claim Canadian citizenship. The amendment reverses a "first-generation" limit imposed by Canada's Conservative government in 2009.

As the leader of her local Democratic Committee in a suburb of Rochester, New York, Robillard fears that if the political violence escalates, she could have a target on her back.

Robillard is an outspoken activist in her town of 3,000, has received veiled threats on social media, and was once followed home after a protest.

She's suffered from burnout, depression and insomnia over political disagreements and has fallen out with friends and family. She's become increasingly disillusioned with her life in the US.

"I really don't recognize my world anymore," Robillard says.

A spring trip to her mother's birthplace of Nova Scotia last year helped her reconnect with her Canadian heritage and cemented the idea.

"The experience of being there was so interesting. I felt like a different person there. It was so much less stressful. Everyone was nicer," she says. "I observed so many positive interactions between people and it just made my heart so full to be there."

The revised law will allow her to pass on her citizenship to her son, who is now 19. In light of the political climate in the US, both are gathering the required documents in preparation for her Plan B.

"If things start deteriorating here with our economy, I know that I can just get in the car and go. It's an option anyway."

Huge uptick in Canadian citizenship queries

Since the new bill was passed, Ottawa-based regulated immigration consultant Cassandra Fultz says her American caseload has soared tenfold, from an average of 10 to 100 applications a month. As long as applicants can provide proof of direct lineage from a Canadian citizen, they can make claims going back generations, be it a grandparent or great-great-grandparent. Should the chain of citizenship break somewhere along the line, however, where an ancestor renounced their citizenship, rights to Canadian citizenship end there.

Fultz, who is a dual American-Canadian citizen herself, also points out that she's handled queries from disgruntled Americans after every US election cycle — regardless of political party. But the demand has always been short-lived, she says, peaking in November and waning by January. This wave has been markedly different.

"There's been a very steady increase in interest in moving to Canada since November 2024, which is unprecedented. I've never seen this in my 17 years in the industry," says Fultz.

"Usually people just get over it. But it's already nearing the mid-terms and people are very interested, even two years later."

It's a similar story at theNational Library and Archives of Québec(BAnQ). In February 2025, the archive services received 100 requests from the US for marriage, death and baptismal records. In February of this year, that figure ballooned to 1,500, a spokesperson tells CNN.

At the time of writing, theprocessing timefor citizenship certificates from the US is 10 months, with about 50,900 people currently waiting for a decision, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

'It's a very scary time right now'

When Rachel Rabb left the US in 2018, she thought she was escaping the anti-immigrant policies and threats of racial violence she feared under the first Trump administration. The American citizen assumed that she'd left it all behind as she settled into her new life in Latin America.

At least there, Rabb, who is biracial with an African-American father and Irish-German mother, felt that she wouldn't have to worry about being assaulted or harassed for her skin color. She thought she was safe.

But Donald Trump's re-election in 2024 reawakened old fears and followed her to Costa Rica and Mexico where she now divides her time — and where she finds herself, once again, in the crosshairs of Trump's hardline politics.

In February, a US-backed military strike against a powerful cartel leader in Mexico led to a retaliatory violence across the country and the death ofmore than 60 people.

This month, Trump signed aproclamationthat promises more military strikes across Latin America, operations she fears could bring moredestabilization, chaos and violence to the region.

Advertisement

So when Rabb learned that Canada had recently revised its citizenship laws and widened the pool of eligibility, she took a shot and started looking up her ancestry online. She had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Her gamble paid off: at the age of 34, she belatedly learned that she has distant Canadian ancestry through her great-great-grandmother, who was born in Peterborough, Ontario.

"It was heaven-sent to discover that I have this Canadian ancestry, given the current political climate," Rabb tells CNN Travel.

Rabb, who has been mistaken for being Latina over her biracial features, said she wouldn't feel safe returning to the US.

"I don't plan to return to the US at the moment. It's just too dangerous," she says. "So many people are targeted, even if you just look Latino, or if you look like you might be an immigrant. They're even arresting US citizens, and allies. It's a very scary time right now because anyone can be targeted."

Should the situation in Latin America escalate, Canada will become her exit plan.

Seeking citizenship for history, culture and 'just in case'

Fultz points out that, like Rabb and Robillard, many American applicants aren't looking to make the move to Canada right away, but are requesting proof of citizenship "just in case."

Nor are all applications politically motivated. Some of the most common reasons for requesting citizenship include family reunification, job offers, international studies, and the more basic desire to reconnect with their ancestry.

"It could be the best president ever in office in the US and I would still apply with as much passion," says Timothy Beaulieu.

It wasn't until his early 20s when Beaulieu started spending more time with his US-born grandfather, that he began to hear about his family's French-Canadian heritage, which was passed on through his great-grandfather.

"It was like a new world was open," says Beaulieu, now 45, of New Hampshire.

He became active in Franco-American associations and traveled to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Montreal, where he discovered the local dish poutine — fries, cheese curds and gravy. It was there that a lightbulb went off and in 2016, he founded PoutineFest, which hosts outdoor poutine festivals around New England, home to an estimated two million French-Canadian descendants today.

The presence of Franco-Americans in the area can be traced back to 1840-1930, when nearly one million Francophone people emigrated from Quebec where farmlands were depleted and jobs scarce, to work in textile mills in New England.

"I feel like Quebec and Canada are part of our family, it's the motherland now," Beaulieu says. "It really means a lot to me to be able to feel more connected to the place where our family came from."

Rabb also expresses a keen interest in learning more about the history and culture of Canada's indigenous culture, and salutes Canada for trying to put right past wrongs.

Aaron Lowry, who created the fast-growing Facebook page"Canadian Citizenship by Descent," was one of the first Americans to get his citizenship through a short-lived interim bill that was introduced following the court ruling and was eventually replaced by Bill C-3.

Since becoming a Canadian citizen in 2024, the Ann Arbor, Michigan, resident has traveled around Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes and has taken deep dives into Canadian politics: he can rattle off dates and factoids about Canadian history with ease.

"I really enjoy learning about Canadian civics and how the parliamentary system works. I find the relationship between the British monarch and Canada very interesting."

'A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian'

Not everyone is happy with the relaxed citizenship rule: on online discussion forums, some Canadians complain it favors Americans with few ties or contributions to the country at the expense of tax-paying, working immigrant households who can face lengthy, complicated citizenship procedures.

Some also take umbrage at the fact that Americans are using Canada as a "Plan B" option at all.

But Fultz underscores that the bill was introduced because the previous legislation was deemed unconstitutional and discriminatory by Canadian courts. The amendment also restores status to "Lost Canadians," people who lost or never obtained their citizenship because of the outdated and unconstitutional rules.

"Basically, the outcome of this case is that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian," she says. "We don't have multiple tiers of citizenship here, where if you're naturalized you can do X, but if you're born in Canada, you can't. This is about fostering and enhancing equitability."

She also emphasizes that the American applicants she's worked with include doctors, lawyers, and Harvard and MIT grads — "the best and the brightest."

"This is a good thing for Canada, and a good thing for Canadians. These are quite literally our cousins. I just don't see a downside."

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

Palm Springs police told ABC News that servicemember -- identified as Ryan Weaver, of Henderson, Texas -- had the explosive round in his checked luggage.

Transportation Security Administration officers discovered it and called law enforcement.

TSA officers receive their 1st paychecks in weeks

Police said Weaver told officers he found the device in the field a year ago and kept it. He allegedly thought it was inert. It was rusty and corroded, and the original paint markings were no longer visible on the round, according to police.

Advertisement

Officials said it was difficult to determine whether it was an inert training device or a live "high explosive device."

The Riverside County Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responded and examined it using X-ray technology. Officials said it was clear at that point that it was a live round. The bomb squad moved it to a desert area, where it was detonated, according to police.

Weaver was detained but later released to military authorities, Palm Springs police said. The case will be submitted to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office for possible charges of possessing a destructive device.

When to expect normal airport security wait times, as TSA officers begin to receive back pay

Police say he could also face administrative action by the Marine Corps and possible civil penalties from the federal government.

ABC News has reached out to TSA for a comment.

The Diamondbacks won their home opener after getting swept at Dodger Stadium in their first series of the season.

The 28-year-old Soroka (1-0) gave up four hits over five scoreless innings — and the fifth was a gem. The right-hander struck out Javier Báez, Kerry Carpenter and Gleyber Torres on nine straight pitches, blowing a 95 mph fastball past Torres on the ninth one to tie a career high with 10 strikeouts.

The 43-year-old Verlander gave up five runs on six hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings. The big blow came in the second when Carroll connected for his first homer of the season.

Verlander (0-1) began his 21st big league season after returning to the Tigers in Februaryon a $13 million, one-year deal. The nine-time All-Star spent the first 12 1/2 seasons of his career in Detroit before being traded to the Astros in 2017.

Advertisement

The Diamondbacks built an 8-0 lead after five innings but the Tigers used a six-run seventh to make a big dent in the deficit. Joe Ross gave up six runs while getting just two outs. Ryan Thompson entered and allowed all three batters he faced to reach base — while also being called for two balks — before Juan Morillo got Parker Meadows to ground out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Ildemaro Vargas hit a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to push the D-backs ahead 9-6. Paul Sewald earned his first save.

Detroit's Colt Keith had two doubles, including one that scored two runs.

Up next

The Diamondbacks send RHP Brandon Pfaadt to the mound Tuesday while the Tigers counter with RHP Casey Mize. Both pitchers are making their first start of the season.

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

Well, then you are going to love what the2026 Women's Final Fourhas in store. Same teams, different semifinal matchups.

All four No. 1 seeds advanced to Phoenix where the semifinals will take place April 3 and championship April 5 at the Mortgage Matchup Center.

UConn will face South Carolina (7 p.m. ET) in the first semifinal and UCLA will take on Texas (9 p.m.) in the second on Friday. The two winners will play in the championship Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET). All games will be telecast on the ESPN family on networks.

The Huskies are the defending national champions and riding a 54-game win streak heading into the tournament. But the Bruins, Longhorns and Gamecocks have seven loses between them and have all proved they have a chance at a national title.

How did the four advance? Let's take a look at the winners and losers in the Elite Eight.

The Alabama bench celebrate after a big three-point shot by Alabama Crimson Tide guard Karly Weathers (22) in the fourth quarter against Louisville during the 2026 NCAA Women's March Madness Second Round basketball at the KFC Yum Center In Louisville, Ky. Weathers finished with 13 points. March 23, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

See women's March Madness 2026, from mascots and fans to celebrities

The Alabama bench celebrate after a big three-point shot by Alabama Crimson Tide guard Karly Weathers (22) in the fourth quarter against Louisville during the2026 NCAA Women's March MadnessSecond Round basketball at the KFC Yum Center In Louisville, Ky. Weathers finished with 13 points. March 23, 2026.

Winners

Texas point guard Rori Harmon

Few players stuffed the stat sheet more in the second weekend of the Women's NCAA Tournament than theTexas Longhorns' veteran point guard. Harmon averaged nine points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and 3.5 steals in lopsided wins over Kentucky and Michigan. After suffering a season-ending knee injury as a junior, Harmon came back to Texas and guided the Longhorns to back-to-back Final Four appearances. She's also the only player in the history of Division I NCAA women's basketball to tally at least 1,500 points, 900 rebounds, 600 assists and 350 steals in a career. She'll have the chance to cement her legacy as one of the best players in program history this weekend in Phoenix.

South Carolina guard Agot Makeer

The 2026 Women's NCAA Tournament marks the first for Agot Makeer, but she's not playing like your typical freshman. Makeer averaged 6.6 points per game during the regular season, but has stepped up her offensive production in March Madness. She's averaging 14.7 points through four tournament games and has provided a punch off the bench for South Carolina. She scored a career-high 18 points in South Carolina's 78-52 Elite Eight rout of No. 3 TCU. Makeer, who shot 8-of-14 from the field including 1-of-2 from the 3-point line, received a big hug from head coach Dawn Staley following her performance.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame didn't win its Elite Eight matchup with UConn, but the Fighting Irish defied expectations. With three players on the roster from the previous season and numerous transfer players, Notre Dame was one game away from the Final Four. Head coach Niele Ivey said she was happy and grateful to reach the Elite Eight for the first time in her tenure and "get over the hump" after making the Sweet Sixteen for five straight seasons.

Advertisement

"I'm so grateful and blessed that I get a chance to do what I love and in coaching this group," Ivey said. "Obviously, we wanted to win this game, but for them to cement their legacy with me getting us back to the Elite Eight is something special, and I'll never forget it. This is one of my most special groups I've ever been around ... I love them so much."

For star player Hannah Hidalgo, this year's roster changed her as a leader. The junior guard said she was a lot more intentional this season with understanding each of her teammates, and that made a huge difference.

"You know, they've helped me grow my patience and just my understanding, just the way I think," Hidalgo said. "I'm so grateful for each and every single one of them. I wouldn't want to go to war with anybody else in this world."

Michigan State's Rashunda Jones (1) walks off the court following a second-round game in the NCAA women's basketball tournament between the Oklahoma Sooners and Michigan State Spartans at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Sunday March 22, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Kamy Peppler #1 of the Green Bay Phoenix reacts against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the third quarter during the First Round of the Women's NCAA Tournament at Williams Arena on March 20, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Golden Gophers defeated the Phoenix 75-58.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

March Sadness hits hard in the Women's NCAA basketball tournament

Michigan State's Rashunda Jones (1) walks off the court following a second-round game in theNCAA women's basketballtournament between the Oklahoma Sooners and Michigan State Spartans at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Sunday March 22, 2026.

Losers

Duke

The Blue Devils blew a double-digit lead and went cold in the second half against UCLA, losing in the Elite Eight for the second straight year. To make matters worse for Blue Devils' fans, their men's and women's team both lost in the Elite Eight on Sunday — the men falling to UConn in heartbreaking, buzzer-beater fashion. For the women's team, the Blue Devils simply didn't get what they needed from two of their top scorers, Ashlon Jackson and Toby Fournier. In her final game for Duke, Jackson shot 0-of-8 from the floor, going scoreless in 37 minutes of action. Fournier encountered some foul trouble and found difficulty scoring against Lauren Betts in the post, putting up 10 points in 27 minutes. UCLA hammered Duke in the paint and stifled them at the 3-point line. Before she turns her attention to coaching Team USA in the World Cup this summer, Kara Lawson has to retool the roster to replace the backcourt of Jackson and Taina Mair, who guided Duke to two straight ACC titles.

Michigan

The Wolverines made it back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2022, but their journey ended painfully. Michigan only had 29 points through three quarters against Texas, finishing with 41 points. The Longhorns lead ballooned as high as forty points during the fourth quarter, but the damage was done during the third quarter. Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico sat silently as Texas players like Madison Booker, Breya Cunningham, Justice Carlton and X- factor Kyla Oldacre went to work."It was tough. We've been a team that has fought through everything this year, and we've challenged ourselves against the best teams in the country to be in a position that we were tonight, Barnes Arico said.

"We've always been able to find that second gear. Tonight we couldn't against Texas."

"And I think we were letting the emotion -- you know, (Brooke Quarles Danies) knew it was her last game. The emotion of the game was really getting to us. So it was hard to be in those moments down the stretch."

The Wolverines finished Monday's showdown with Texas shooting just 23%. Michigan also got outrebounded, 49-32, an area they usually own despite being undersized. Barnes Arico's team also struggled to move the ball effectively against Texas and never truly found a sustained offensive rhythm. The Wolverines had five assists in the contest.

TCU's duo of Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez

After scoring or assisting on all of TCU's points in the Horned Frogs' 79-69 Sweet 16 win over No. 10 Virginia, Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez struggled to replicate that performance. TCU's dynamic duo shot 10-of-37 from the field and 4-of-14 from the 3-point line in a 78-52 Elite Eight loss to South Carolina. Miles finished with a team-high 18 points and Suarez had nine points.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Women's Elite Eight winners and losers include Notre Dame and Duke

Guardians Dodgers Baseball

The right-hander allowed one run and four hits over four innings of a4-2 lossto the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night. Sasaki struck out four and walked two in his first major league start since May 9.

He walked 15 batters duringspring training, raising concerns about his ability to perform as a starter.

"I actually didn't have the confidence at all when this game started," Sasaki said through a translator, "but I was just focusing on doing what I can control."

José Ramírez, Cleveland's best hitter, singled in the first inning before Sasaki got him on a swinging strikeout in the third with runners on first and second and the Dodgers trailing 1-0.

"It should be a big boost to his confidence," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "He's a confident player, but when you don't have success, it's hard to have real confidence. But when you perform, you start to build true confidence, so hopefully he can build on this one."

Roberts detected Sasaki's self-doubt in the first inning, when the 24-year-old pitcher got two quick outs before Ramírez singled and stole second.

"It was a wait-and-see kind of demeanor in the sense of you know what you're supposed to do, know what you want to do, and until you actually do it, holding your breath a little bit," the manager said. "Once he got out of that inning he was like, 'OK, I can do this,' and then wanted to go out there and keep doing it."

Dalton Rushing, the 25-year-old backup to catcher Will Smith, called the game behind the plate while Smith got the night off.

Rushing used the time walking in from the bullpen with Sasaki to pump him up.

Advertisement

"I told him it was just me and him, just kind of tunnel vision to an extent and trust what you do," Rushing said. "You were a really good pitcher for a long time in Japan for a reason. You've been a great pitcher for us last year down the stretch."

Sasaki was supposed to be the next big thing coming out of Nippon Professional Baseball. He signed with the Dodgers in January 2025, but by mid-May he was on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.

After a long rehab assignment in the minors, he rejoined the Dodgers in late September as a reliever. He made eight starts and two relief appearances overall, going 1-1 with a 4.46 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 22 walks.

His best moments as a rookie came out of the bullpen. He earned his first professional save closing out the first game of the National League Division Series against Philadelphia. He pitched in three games in the series, earning two saves and then working three perfect innings in relief in the clinching fourth game.

In the World Seriesagainst Toronto, Sasaki pitched 2 2/3 innings over two games, and Los Angeles went on to win in seven games.

Sasaki remains intent on making it as a starter, and the Dodgers are giving him the chance to find himself again.

"The goal is to keep going deeper in games," Roberts said. "I know he was a little bit nervous going into this start about what to expect. He responded well."

Rushing called it "a very big step forward" for Sasaki.

"We're going to build off this," the catcher said. "We're going to sit down and talk, see what we could have done better, refine some things and look forward to having him out there next time."

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