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MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Ligue 1 clubMarseilleconfirmed Monday the departure of its former president Pablo Longoria, who failed to win titles and to bring back stability at the former powerhouse of French soccer with a succession of coaches.

The nine-time French champions and 1993 Champions League winners said in a statement they have reached an agreement on the terms of Longoria's departure.

Longoria arrived at the club in 2020 in a sporting director role and was appointed president less than a year later after groups of angry supportersraided the club's training complex, in protest against then-president Jacques-Henri Eyraud.

Under his presidency, Marseille reached the semifinals of the Europa Conference League in 2022 and the Europa League in 2024. But Marseille failed to perform in the Champions League and did not win a single title.

Longoria was moved aside last month after thedeparture of coach Roberto De Zerbi, with Alban Juster succeeding him on an interim basis.

Marseille thanked "Longoria's commitment, passion, and the work he has accomplished over the past six years in service of the club."

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Longoria initially enjoyed strong support from Marseille fans as he secured several major signings and appointed high-profile coaches such as Jorge Sampaoli and Gennaro Gattuso.

However, since American investor Frank McCourt bought Marseille in 2016, the southern club has struggled to achieve stability, something Longoria proved unable to deliver.

Marseille dominated domestic soccer in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was the only French team to win the Champions League before PSG claimed the trophy last year. Marseille hasn't won the French league title since 2010 and has not claimed a trophy since the now-defunct League Cup in 2012.

Now coached by Habib Beye, Marseillelost 2-1 at home to Lilleover the weekend and sits 11 points behind leader PSG in third place.

AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Toronto Blue Jays are showing faith in the team's braintrust coming off an appearance in the 2025 World Series. Just days before the start of the 2026 MLB season, theBlue Jays announced extensionswith both manager John Schneider and general manager Ross Atkins on Monday.

Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season

Prior to the extensions, both men were entering the final year of their contracts. Atkins was signed through 2031 and Schneiderwas signed through 2028,per MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

The team did not provide financial details for either contract.

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The Blue Jays face major expectations this season after winning 94 games last season and taking the Los Angeles Dodgers to Game 7 of the World Series. Toronto pushed Los Angeles to extra innings in that contest before eventually falling 5-4.

The team enters 2026 in good position to once again contend for a championship. The Blue Jays return much of the same cast that pushed them to the World Series last season, but have also made some significant offseason additions.

Dylan Cease was the first major domino to fall, signing aseven-year, $210 milliondeal with the team in November. The team then landed arguably the best talent on the Japanese market, signing infielder Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year, $60 million deal in January.

Those two, combined with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Alejandro Kirk, should ensure the Blue Jays are contenders once again in 2026.

With their new extensions in hand, Schneider and Atkins have the job security to go out and make the bold moves necessary to push the Blue Jays over the hump and win it all this season.

LONDON — An arson attack on several ambulances from a Jewish volunteer service is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, police in London said Monday.

Authorities are searching for three suspects who appear to be seen in CCTV footage pouring accelerant onto the vehicles before igniting them and fleeing.

The attack took place in Golders Green, a north London suburb that is home to several synagogues and dozens of Jewish schools and restaurants. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it "a deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack."

It damaged four vehicles belonging to the volunteer organization Hatzola Northwest, with "multiple cylinders on the vehicles" exploding, causing windows to break in nearby buildings, the London Fire Brigade said in a statement.

The police also said they were aware of explosions linked to the gas canisters onboard the ambulances. No arrests have been made and no one was injured, police said.

Social media videos verified by NBC News showed massive flames rising from the ambulances as they burned, with the fire sending up thick plumes of smoke. Another video showed an explosion erupting as firefighters worked to douse the flames.

While it has not been declared an act of terrorism at this stage, the investigation is now being led by counter-terrorism policing, Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said.

"We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack. Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team, but it is not something we can confirm at this point," he added, without naming the group.

The fire brigade said it received the first of 56 emergency calls around 1:40 a.m. (9:40 p.m. ET Sunday) and dispatched six fire engines and around 40 firefighters to the scene.

The fire was brought under control shortly after 3 a.m. local time, it said.

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Nearby houses have been evacuated as a precaution, but the 34 residents who have been displaced have not returned to their homes, police said.

A policing plan focused on key community locations across the area is underway, Williams said, and will continue beyond the coming days, as we move toward Passover, a major Jewish holiday, in early April.

"My thoughts are with the Jewish community who are waking up this morning to this horrific news," Starmer said in a post on X. "Antisemitism has no place in our society. Anyone with any information must come forward to the police."

Hatzola Northwest was established as a nonprofit organization in 1979 to provide free emergency medical services to residents of North London. According to itswebsite, it works closely with national emergency services and area hospitals and responds to thousands of calls a year, "from minor injuries to life-threatening conditions."

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the arson attack was "a particularly sickening assault — not only on the Jewish community, but on the values we share as a society." The Hatzola volunteer ambulance corps is "an extraordinary service, whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike," Mirvis added in a post on X.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Monday morning that four replacement ambulances will be provided until permanent replacements can be found, according to the BBC, saying the attack struck at the "heart of London's Jewish community."

Labour MP for Finchley and Golders Green, Sarah Sackman, called for the perpetrators of what she said was a "despicable, cowardly, antisemitic arson attack" in her area in a post on X to feel "the full force of the law."

The number of antisemitic incidents reported in Britain has surged since the Israel-Hamas war began in late 2023, including attacks on synagogues. The Community Security Trust, a British charity that works to protect the country's Jewish population,recorded3,700 incidents in 2025, compared with 1,662 in 2022.

In October, two people were killed and three seriously injured when a manrammed a car into a crowdand stabbed people at a synagogue in Manchester, England, in what police declared a terrorist attack.

About 15,000 people live in Golders Green, half of whom are Jewish, according to 2021 census data.

Yuliya Talmazan reported from London, and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.

PresidentDonald Trumpsignaled this week that the United States could take action on Cuba, raising new questions about what would happen if mounting pressure triggers a political shift on the island.

The warning comes as Cuba faces one of its most severe internal crises in decades, with a collapsing economy, widespread blackouts and fuel shortages straining the regime's ability to govern. The situation has worsened as shipments of subsidized fuel from Venezuela have declined, cutting off a key energy lifeline.

But as pressure builds from both inside and outside the island, experts say the central question is not who could replace President Miguel Díaz-Canel — it's that there is no clear successor at all.

Trump Touts Us Has 'Tremendous' Amount Of Venezuelan Oil, Vows To 'Take Care' Of Cuba After Iran Focus

"Cuba's leadership vacuumis the result of a system that has spent decades making sure no independent leadership can exist in the first place," Melissa Ford Maldonado, AFPI director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative, told Fox News Digital.

She added that the regime has "controlled communication, restricted the gathering of people, surveilled its own people, killed press freedom, criminalized dissent and ultimately made a powerful opposition force highly unlikely."

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"Who replaces Díaz-Canel is more symbolic than anything else," Sebastián A. Arcos, interim director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, told Fox News Digital.

Arcos said Díaz-Canel "has very little power," describing him as a figure installed to project a younger image without altering the system.

"The key person continues to be Raúl Castro," he said, referring to the 94-year-old former Cuban leader.

That dynamic, analysts argue, explains why even a dramatic shift — whether driven by internal collapse or external pressure — may not immediately produce a new leader.

And yet a small group of insiders, technocrats and opposition figures are seen as potential players in any transition — though none represent a clear or unified alternative.

The Sound Of Freedom: Cuba's Regime Is Running Out Of Time — Now The Us Must Act

A relatively unknown figure to most Cubans, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga has quietly risen through the ranks.

The 54-year-old electronics engineer serves as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign trade and foreign investment, and is the great-nephew of Fidel and Raúl Castro.

"He's part of the family," Arcos said, underscoring how even emerging figures remainembedded within the same ruling network.

Arcos said his rapid rise makes him one of the more plausible faces of a controlled transition.

"He might be a good technocrat… based on the standards of the Castro system," he said.

But any such move would likely be cosmetic. "They might take Díaz-Canel down and replace him with someone like Pérez-Oliva… as a gesture… but it doesn't change anything," Arcos said, explaining it would be a technocratic reshuffle designed to ease pressure, not reform the system.

Trump Administration Pressed To Close Cuba Embargo Loophole As Oil Set To Run Out Within Days

Raúl Castro's son, Alejandro Castro Espín, represents the regime's security backbone.

A longtime intelligence official, he is closely tied to Cuba's internal security apparatus and the inner circle of power, according to El País.

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While not publicly positioned as a successor, his influence underscores how power remains concentrated within the Castro family and military-linked elite, which experts say could lead to a hardline continuity scenario rooted in security control.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz remains one of the most visible figures in Cuba's current leadership.

But Arcos noted that Marrero's tenure is deeply tied to the country's economic collapse. "He's been there during this dramatic decline… so he's closely associated with the catastrophe," he said.

Experts cited by El País similarly assess that figures like Marrero are unlikely to represent meaningful change, and that he represents continuity tied to the current crisis, with little credibility for reform.

As a senior Communist Party official, Roberto Morales Ojeda represents the regime's institutional core. His power lies within the party apparatus, enforcing loyalty and ideological control.

Like other insiders, he is seen as part of the continuity model rather than a break from it.

Cuba Is Approaching Its Berlin Wall Moment — America Must Help Them Break Through

While regime insiders dominate succession discussions, opposition figures remain largely outside the island.

Rosa María Payá, a prominent activistand founder of Cuba Decide, has emerged as a leading voice for democratic change from exile.

"The Cuban opposition is organized, we are present both inside Cuba and in the diaspora, and we have a concrete plan," Rosa María Payá told Fox News Digital. "Cubans do not need to be liberated from the outside and handed a government. We are ready to lead. What we need is for the United States and the international community to ensure that when this regime falls, the opposition has a seat at the table."

"The first priority is political prisoners and guaranteeing basic civil liberties," she described their plan. "They must be released immediately, and that has to be a non-negotiable condition of any agreement. The second is dismantling the repressive apparatus… From there, the plan moves to a transitional government, addressing the humanitarian situation and setting a clear timeline toward free and internationally monitored elections."

Arcos spoke positively about Payá role and the broader opposition movement. "They are honorable, respectful, smart people, who want the best for Cuba," he said. "They're not just seeking power… they're doing this based on a sense of duty."

Still, analysts caution that the system leaves little room for an opposition-led transition in the near term.

"The reality is that much of Cuba's real opposition no longer lives on the island," Ford Maldonado said, noting that repression has pushed leadership into exile.

Despite speculation around individual names, experts say the real issue is structural.

"If Raúl dies tomorrow, that could open the Pandora's box," Arcos said, suggesting internal power struggles could surface.

Even then, he warned, the regime is unlikely to relinquish control easily after decades in power.

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"There's likely no real path forward that runs through the Castros orthe current regime," Ford Maldonado said.

For now, Cuba's succession question remains unresolved, not because there are no names, but because the system itself was designed to ensure there is no true alternative waiting in the wings.

Original article source:If Cuba falls, who steps in? Castro dynasty shadows island's future

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Monday a summit between her brother and Japanese Prime MinisterSanae Takaichiwon't happen if Japan sticks to "its anachronistic" approach.

Kim Yo Jong'sstatement came after Takaichi told reporters last week that she had informed U.S. President Donald Trump during asummit in Washingtonthat she had "a very strong desire" to meet Kim Jong Un.

"But this is not the one that comes true, as wanted or decided by Japan," Kim Yo Jong said. "In order for the top leaders of the two countries to meet each other, Japan should first be determined to break with its anachronistic practice and habit."

Kim Yo Jong, who is also a senior official, didn't explicitly say what Japan's "anachronistic practice and habit" are. However, in 2024, she said in a statement that North Korea's acceptance of areported offer for a meeting by one of Takaichi's predecessorswould depend on Japan tolerating the North'snuclear weapons programand ignoring its pastabductions of Japanesenationals. The meeting eventually didn't occur.

In her latest statement carried by state media on Monday, Kim Yo Jong said: "I don't want to see the prime minister of Japan coming to Pyongyang." But she still described her rejection as "just my personal position," suggesting she was pressuring Japan to make concessions.

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Observers say North Korea likely aims for better ties with Japan to drive a wedge between the United States and its allies. Meanwhile, Tokyo wants to resolve the cases of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s.

After years of denial, North Korea acknowledged in a 2002 summit between Kim Jong Il, the late father of Kim Jong Un, and then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, that its agents hadkidnapped 13 Japanese. North Korea allowed five of them to return to Japan. Japan believes more people might have been abducted and that some could still be alive.

Koizumi made a second visit to North Korea and met Kim Jong Il again in 2004, the last time the two nations held talks.

Chances for a North Korea-Japan summit remain slim as North Korea refuses to return to diplomacy with the U.S. and South Korea since 2019.Trump,who met Kim Jong Un three times between 2018 and 2019, has repeatedly expressed his intentions of resuming dialogue with Kim, but the North Korean leader suggested he could only return to talks if the U.S. drops "its delusional obsession with denuclearization"of North Korea.

Takaichi said that Trump expressed his support for the immediate resolution of the abductees' cases and that he indicated he would "provide cooperation in various ways" concerning meeting Kim Jong Un.