LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — A diplomatic delegation from the three host countries of the 2026 World Cup were in Qatar on Sunday for a handover ceremony ahead of the final between France and Argentina.

The United States, Mexico and Canada will stage soccer’s biggest event in less than 3½ years.

“We could not be more excited,” U.S. presidential delegate Linda Greenfield said. “We are already hard at work preparing for 2026 and we’re looking forward to welcoming fans from around the world.”

Greenfield told Sheikha Alya Al Thani of Qatar, a fellow ambassador to the United Nations, that the current host had “set the standards high.”

“The most important thing to remember is the World Cup transcends things and it plays an exceptional role in uniting people and countries and creating lasting friendships,” Sheikha Alya said.

The 2026 tournament will be played in 16 cities: 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada.

Argentina won the title in Qatar by beating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LOS ANGELES (AP) — P-22, the celebrated mountain lion that took up residence in the middle of Los Angeles and became a symbol of urban pressures on wildlife, was euthanized Saturday after dangerous changes in his behavior led to examinations that revealed worsening health and injuries likely caused by a car.

Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the decision to euthanize the beloved big cat was made after veterinarians determined it had a skull fracture and chronic illnesses including a skin infection and diseases of the kidneys and liver.

“His prognosis was deemed poor,” said the agency’s director, Chuck Bonham, who fought back tears during a news conference announcing the cougar’s death. “This really hurts … it’s been an incredibly difficult several days.”

The animal became the face of the campaign to build a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area freeway to give big cats, coyotes, deer and other wildlife a safe path to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, where they have room to roam.

Seth Riley, wildlife branch chief with the National Park Service, called P-22 “an ambassador for his species,” with the wildlife bridge a symbol of his lasting legacy.

State and federal wildlife officials announced earlier this month that they were concerned that P-22 “may be exhibiting signs of distress” due in part to aging, noting the animal needed to be studied to determine what steps to take.

The aging mountain was captured in a residential backyard in the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on Dec. 12, a month after killing a Chihuahua on a dogwalker’s leash. An anonymous report that indicated P-22 may have been struck by a vehicle was confirmed by a CT scan that revealed injuries to his head and torso, wildlife officials said.

State authorities determined that the only likely options were euthanasia or confinement in an animal sanctuary — a difficult prospect for a wild lion.

P-22 was believed to be 12 years old, longer-lived than most wild male mountain lions.

His name was his number in a National Park Service study of the challenges the wide-roaming big cats face in habitat fragmented by urban sprawl and hemmed in by massive freeways that are not only dangerous to cross but are also barriers to the local population’s genetic diversity.

The cougar was regularly recorded on security cameras strolling through residential areas near his home in Griffith Park, an island of wilderness and picnic areas in the middle of Los Angeles.

“P-22’s survival on an island of wilderness in the heart of Los Angeles captivated people around the world and revitalized efforts to protect our diverse native species and ecosystems,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement Saturday.

Ground was broken this year on the wildlife crossing, which will stretch 200 feet (60.96 meters) over U.S. 101. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2025.

P-22 usually hunted deer and coyotes, but in November the National Park Service confirmed that the cougar had attacked and killed a Chihuahua mix that was being walked in the narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills.

The cougar also is suspected of attacking another Chihuahua in the Silver Lake neighborhood this month.

Beth Pratt with the National Wildlife Federation said she hopes P-22′s life and death will inspire the construction of more wildlife crossings in California and across the nation. The nonprofit was a major advocate for the LA-area bridge.

“He changed the way we look at LA. And his influencer status extended around the world, as he inspired millions of people to see wildlife as their neighbors,” Pratt said.

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Associated Press reporter John Antczak contributed.

The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz became the latest journalist to be banned from Twitter, following a wave of suspensions by CEO Elon Musk.

Lorenz said she and another Post technology reporter, Drew Harwell, were researching an article concerning Musk. She had tried to communicate with the billionaire during the week but the attempts went unanswered, so she tried to contact him Saturday by posting a message on Twitter tagging Musk and requesting an interview. The specific topic was not disclosed in the tweet.

When she went back later Saturday to check whether there was a response on Twitter, Lorenz was met with a notification that her account was “permanently suspended.”

“I won’t say I didn’t anticipate it,” Lorenz said in a phone interview early Sunday with The Associated Press. She said she wasn’t given a specific reason for the ban.

Twitter last week suspended the accounts of journalists who cover the social media platform and Musk, among them reporters working for The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Voice of America and other publications. Many of those accounts were restored following an online poll by Musk.

The wave of suspended news reporters followed Musk’s decision Wednesday to permanently ban an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using publicly available data. That also led Twitter to change its rules for all users to prohibit the sharing of another person’s current location without their consent. Many of the banned reporters had been reporting on the situation.

Lorenz said she hopes Musk will explain her suspension: “I would love to hear from Elon.”

There were signs Sunday that negotiators were closing in on a deal at a U.N. conference that would protect nature and provide financing to set up protected areas and restore degraded ecosystems.

China, which holds the presidency at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP15, released a draft deal that calls for protecting 30% of the most important global land and marine areas by 2030. Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.

The draft also calls for raising $200 billion by 2030 for biodiversity and working to phase out or reform subsidies that could provide another $500 billion for nature. As part of that, it calls to increase to at least $20 billion annually or by some estimates triple the amount that goes to poor countries by 2025. That number would increase to $30 billion each year by 2030.

The draft now goes to a meeting of all governments this evening and could be adopted soon after.

“Today the world’s countries rose to the occasion and produced a historic draft that agrees to protect at least 30% of our planet,” Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and Pristine Seas Founder, said in a statement. “This recognizes years of work by negotiators, researchers, conservationists, and Indigenous Peoples. Now we just need to maintain the political will to get this ambition across the finish line without diminishing its scope. World leaders must remain committed to bold action in Montreal.”

The ministers and government officials from about 190 countries mostly agree that protecting biodiversity has to be a priority, with many comparing those efforts to climate talks that wrapped up last month in Egypt.

Climate change coupled with habitat loss, pollution and development have hammered the world’s biodiversity, with one estimate in 2019 warning that a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades — a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than expected. Humans use about 50,000 wild species routinely, and 1 out of 5 people of the world’s 8 billion population depend on those species for food and income, the report said.

But they have struggled for nearly two weeks to agree on what that protection looks like and who will pay for it.

The financing has been among the most contentions issues, with delegates from 70 African, South American and Asian countries walking out of negotiations Wednesday. They returned several hours later.

Brazil, speaking for developing countries during the week, said in a statement that a new funding mechanism dedicated to biodiversity should be established and that developed countries provide $100 billion annually in financial grants to emerging economies until 2030.

“All the elements are in there for a balance of unhappiness which is the secret to achieving agreement in U.N. bodies,” Pierre du Plessis, a negotiator from Namibia who is helping coordinate the African group, told The Associated Press. “Everyone got a bit of what they wanted, not necessarily everything they wanted. Let’s see if there is there is a spirit of unity.”

Others praised the fact the document recognizes the rights of Indigenous communities.

“By including strong language safeguarding the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities and recognizing Indigenous and traditional territories, the text provides an opportunity for a new era of partnership, respect and rights-based conservation,” Brian O’Donnell, the director of the Campaign for Nature, said in a statement. “This could be the paradigm shift that scientists and Indigenous leaders have been calling for.”

But others were concerned that the draft puts off until 2050 a goal of preventing the extinction of species and preserving the integrity of ecosystems.

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Follow Michael Casey on Twitter: @mcasey1

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge on Saturday set bond at $50,000 for the father of an Illinois man charged with killing seven people at a July 4 parade near Chicago who is accused of helping his son get a gun license.

Robert Crimo Jr. looked somber and tired as he made his first appearance before a judge since surrendering to police Friday. He is charged with seven felony counts of reckless conduct. His lawyer told the judge Saturday that Crimo would be able to pay the required bond amount for his release.

At the 10-minute hearing, conducted via video link, Lake County Judge Jacquelyn Melius said she accepted an agreement between Crimo’s lawyer and prosecutors that bond be set at $50,000. Among the conditions of his release, the judge told him, was that he turn in any gun licenses, as well as any weapons at his home.

The defense lawyer told the judge earlier that his client posed no threat to anyone, had no criminal record and had close ties to the community of Highland Park, where the mass shooting occurred over the summer. Prosecutors did not oppose Crimo’s release on bond.

Judge Melius set his next hearing for Jan. 12.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said Friday that charges against the father were based on Crimo sponsoring his son’s application for a gun license in December 2019. His son was 19 years old at the time.

“Parents and guardians are in the best position to decide whether their teenagers should have a weapon,” Rinehart said. “In this case, the system failed when Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son. He knew what he knew and he signed the form anyway.”

Rinehart wouldn’t further discuss what led his office to file the charges. Authorities have previously said the accused shooter, Robert Crimo III, attempted suicide by machete in April 2019 and in September 2019 was accused by a family member of making threats to “kill everyone.”

Those reports came months before Crimo Jr. sponsored his son’s application.

Chicago-area attorney George M. Gomez said by phone Friday that he was representing Robert Crimo Jr. in the newly announced criminal case. He declined to answer questions but emailed a statement that described the charges as “baseless and unprecedented.”

“This decision should alarm every single parent in the United States of America who according to the Lake County State’s Attorney knows exactly what is going on with their 19 year old adult children and can be held criminally liable for actions taken nearly three years later,” the statement from Gomez said. “These charges are absurd and we will fight them every step of the way.”

Gomez said Crimo Jr. “continues to sympathize and feel terrible for the individuals and families who were injured and lost loved ones,” but the attorney called the charges “politically motivated and a distraction from the real change that needs to happen in this country.”

A grand jury in July indicted Robert Crimo III on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack on a beloved holiday event in Highland Park.

Until Friday, Rinehart had refused to discuss whether the man’s parents could face charges connected to the killings.

Legal experts have said it’s rare for an accused shooter’s parent or guardian to face charges — in part because it’s difficult to prove such charges.

In one notable exception, a Michigan prosecutor last year filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the parents of a teen accused of fatally shooting four students at his high school. A January trial date in that case has been delayed while the state appeals court considers an appeal by the parents.

Authorities have previously said that Illinois State Police reviewed Crimo III’s December 2019 gun license application and found no reason to deny it because he had no arrests, no criminal record, no serious mental health problems, no orders of protection and no other behavior that would disqualify him.

But following the parade shooting, public records showed that Crimo III attempted suicide by machete in April 2019, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press that noted a “history of attempts.”

In September 2019, police received a report from a family member that Crimo III had a collection of knives and had threatened to “kill everyone.”

Both Crimo III and his mother disputed the threat of violence at the time. Police have said father Robert Crimo Jr. later told investigators the knives belonged to him, and authorities returned them.

Robert Crimo Jr. has shown up at several pretrial hearings for his son this year, nodding in greeting when his son entered the courtroom shackled and flanked by guards. The father is a longtime resident of Highland Park and a familiar face around the city, where he was once a mayoral candidate and was well known for operating convenience stores.

In media interviews after the shooting, Robert Crimo Jr. had said he did not expect to face charges and did not believe he did anything wrong by helping his son get a gun license through the state’s established process.