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April 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed former British government aide and Fox News ‌host Steve Hilton in the upcoming California governor's ‌race.

Hilton, who has dual nationality, served as former British Prime Minister ​David Cameron's director of strategy and was one of his closest advisers before leaving Downing Street in 2012 and moving to California.

"I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who ‌is running for Governor ⁠of California, for many years ... With Federal help, and a Great Governor, like Steve Hilton, ⁠California can be better than ever before! Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT," Trump said on Truth Social.

Under ​California law, ​the top two finishers ​in the June 2 ‌open primary contest will advance to November's election, regardless of party.

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Polls show that Republican candidates Hilton and Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, are closely bunched with three Democrats: U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, former U.S. Representative Katie Porter ‌and billionaire activist Tom Steyer.

Hilton and ​Bianco both support Trump, though ​they have sought to ​focus their campaigns on state-specific issues such ‌as crime and high taxes.

Democrat ​Gavin Newsom, who ​has been the governor of California since 2019, is not permitted to run for a third term.

Actor ​Arnold Schwarzenegger was ‌the last Republican to serve as California's governor ​from 2003 to 2011.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in ​Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Succession star Brian Cox explained in a new interview why living apart from his wife, Nicole Ansari-Cox, keeps their marriage strong

NEED TO KNOW

• “By keeping things separate, we are responsible for our own mess,” the actor said

• The couple wed in 2002 and welcomed two sons together

Brian Coxis sharing why "space" is the key to keeping his marriage to wife Nicole Ansari-Cox strong.

The 79-year-oldSuccessionstar opened up about his relationship with Ansari-Cox, 57, in a new interview withThe Times, explaining why the couple — who wed in Las Vegas in 2002 — prefer to live apart. In the U.K., they maintain completely separate homes that are a nine-minute walk apart in the Primrose Hill neighborhood of London, per the outlet. They have separate bedrooms at their two U.S. homes, one in Brooklyn and the other in upstate New York.

“By keeping things separate, we are responsible for our own mess,” Cox toldThe Times. “It’s as simple as that. Her space is very important for her, and my space is very important for me. I think if we’re thrown together, we feel locked together, and that’s not a good creative relationship."

He added: "You should be free."

The Scottish actor also credits couples therapy for the strength of their marriage. “Nicole gave up a lot for me. It was tricky for her, but she gave up a lot, and I feel that she needs to be honoured,” he said.

The pair first met when Ansari-Cox saw Cox performing as King Lear in Hamburg, Germany, in 1990, perThe Times. They chatted with each other at an afterparty and became a couple eight years later following a chance meeting in New York.

“We’re about to have our silver wedding,” noted Cox, who shares two sons — Orson, 24, and Torin, 21 — with Ansari-Cox. TheTroyactor is also father to daughter Margaret and son Alan, both of whom he welcomed with his second wife, Caroline Burt.

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Praising Ansari-Cox, Cox added, "She’s considerable, she is considerable. She’s one of the most generous and caring people."

"The problem with Nicole, and we discuss this, is she’s got too many friends," he continued. "At my age, I’m trying to get rid of them. Well, most of mine are dying off."

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During a 2023 appearance onLive with Kelly and Ryan, Cox reminisced about his 2002 wedding to his wife.

"Well, it's like, stuck in my brain," he said of their nuptials. "It was a very, very — my lovely wife and I decided to get married. We'd actually been apart for a while — she'd been traveling — and then we sat down and we said, 'Where do we go from here? Do we finish or do we go on?' And we thought, 'Well, let's go on and get married.' "

"I think she agreed," he recalled, before asking Ansari-Cox — who was seated in the show's audience at the time — for confirmation. "You agreed, didn't you, honey?"

The pair celebrated their nuptials at the Little White Chapel, and Cox recalled how the mother of their officiant played the piano and chose the theme fromBraveheartfor their walk down the aisle, not knowing that the actor is from Scotland.

Cox also revealed that he and Ansari-Cox initially did not agree on who would officiate their Vegas vows.

"Nicole, I think, was reasonably keen on the idea of Elvis," he explained. "I said, 'No [pretended to censor himself] way!' "

Elsewhere in his conversation withThe Times, the Golden Globe winner, who is set to turn 80 on June 1, revealed how hestays in fighting shape.

“Gym three times a week,” he said. “You really have to be responsible for your body, because it’s dying. You can’t give in to that.”

Cox also said he does all that he can to decrease his odds of developing dementia.

“Yes, you know, there’s all kinds of protocols I can take,” he explained. “I’m very careful about it, because I need to learn my lines to keep working.”

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If you're headed to Hawaii or Florida this week for spring break, be sure to pack the rain gear.

Two of the USA's prime vacation spots are forecast to see a very wet, stormy week ahead, with flooding rains in both states.

In Hawaii, the rain will be unwelcome, as this will be the third major rainstorm in three weeks. However, drought-stricken Florida will mostly welcome the rain until the flooding begins.

Lightning, tornadoes and wild storms: See these incredible weather photos

Kona storm in Hawaii

Forecasters say the third Kona storm in three weeks will impact Hawaii this week, so the risk of flash flooding and mudslides will be high across the Hawaiian Islands,AccuWeather said.

A kona storm, or a kona low, is a "major weather producer" in Hawaii, theNational Weather Servicesaid. The word "kona" means leeward, or the side of the islands that is usually sheltered from trade winds and rainfall.

But a kona storm, a type of seasonal subtropical cyclone, brings warmer, moisture-rich winds from the south to southwest, which can bring torrential rainfall, according to the weather service.

Rainfall totals may mirror the March 19-22 storm, whichdumped 3-4 inches in Honolulu, following an earlier March 10-15 event that produced nearly 10 inches, AccuWeather reported. Combined rainfall from those two storms reached nearly six times Honolulu’s historical average precipitation for March.

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The weather service said this system is expected to draw deep tropical moisture northward over the state, leading to an extended period of moderate to breezy southerly winds, increasing chances for widespread rainfall, and renewed flooding concerns from late Tuesday March 7 through next weekend.

"While there has been a bit more of a gap since the storm that wrapped up on March 21, the ground is still wet, and runoff from the new storm will be swift," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brett Anderson, in an e-mail to USA TODAY.

Drought-easing rains in Florida

A prolonged rain event will bring much-needed drought relief across Florida this week, AccuWeather said, while also introducing localized flooding and coastal hazards. The storm will bring repeated thunderstorms, strong onshore winds and dangerous beach conditions through midweek,AccuWeather said.

The slow-moving storm will bring widespread rain and thunderstorms from Monday, April 6, through Thursday, April 9, targeting drought-stricken areas across the state. These thunderstorms and downpours can impact the cities of Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and Daytona Beach, according to AccuWeather.

Most of South Florida and the Atlantic Coast are expected to receive 1-2 inches of rain, with localized totals of 4-6 inches from repeated thunderstorms. Some areas have recorded only one-quarter to one-third of their historical average precipitation since Jan. 1, contributing to the state’s worst drought in 25 years. Nearly 80% of Florida is in extreme drought, according to the latestU.S. Drought Monitor.

"Our team of forecasters expects 1-2 inches of rain along the Florida Atlantic coast and across much of South Florida from Monday to Thursday, which will be good news for areas under severe to extreme drought," Anderson said. "However, some locations could see repeating thunderstorms deliver 4-6 inches of rain, which may lead to flooding in poor drainage areas.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Heavy rain, floods to plague Hawaii, Florida this week

WASHINGTON (AP) —Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, on Monday won aSupreme Courtorder that is expected to lead to the dismissal of his criminal conviction for refusing to testify to Congress.

Prodded by the Trump administration, the justices threw out an appellate ruling upholding Bannon’s conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack bya mob of Trump supporterson the U.S. Capitol.

The move frees a trial judge to act on the Republican administration’s pending request to dismiss Bannon’s conviction and indictment “in the interests of justice.”

The dismissal would be largely symbolic. Bannon served a four-month prison term after a jury convicted him ofcontempt of Congressin 2022. A federal appeals court in Washington had upheld the conviction.

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The justices also issued a similar order in the case of former Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who was pardoned by Trump last year.

Sittenfeld hadserved 16 monthsin federal prison aftera jury convicted himof bribery and attempted extortion in 2022. The high court order allows a lower court to consider dismissing his indictment.

The Justice Department brought the case against Bannon during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency, but it changed course after Trump took office again last year.

Bannon had initially argued that his testimony was protected byTrump’s claim of executive privilege. But the House panel and the Justice Department contended such a claim was dubious because Trump hadfired Bannon from the White Housein 2017 and Bannon was thus a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up tothe Capitol riot.

Bannon separately haspleaded guiltyin a New York state court to defrauding donors to a private effort to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, as part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid jail time. That conviction is unaffected by the Supreme Court action.

RAZI, Iran (AP) — Ona 12-hour drive across Iran, Associated Press reporters saw a religious center damaged by an airstrike and billboards vowing revenge against America and Israel. But for most of the trip, they saw quieter scenes of daily life unfolding against a backdrop ofwar and anxiety.

Iran Road to Tehran Photo Essay

They saw families having a quiet breakfast at a truck stop. In a mountain tunnel, they saw a cargo truck with a Nike logo across the back. A restaurant played R.E.M.'s “Losing my religion” as customers, including women not wearing the mandatory headscarf, enjoyed grilled meats and saffron drinks.

Five weeks of heavy American and Israeli airstrikes have caused extensive destruction, particularly in Tehran, the capital, where they saw the rubble of government buildings and police stations.

But on the long drive in from the Turkish border there were few outward signs of the conflict thathas rippled across the Middle Eastandjolted the world economy.

The Associated Press has been granted permission by the Iranian government to send an additional team into the country for a brief reporting trip. AP already operates in Iran. The visiting team must be accompanied by a media assistant from a government-affiliated company. AP retains full editorial control of its content.

At the border crossing, there were large portraits of Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the war's first day, adorned with fiery slogans. Just beyond, a shepherd guided his sheep along the roadside, with snow-capped mountains rising in the distance beneath gray skies.

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Six hours into the journey, they caught the first sight of the war in the city of Zanjan. A religious community center, known as a husseiniyah, had been hit by an Israeli airstrike days earlier. Iranian officials said it destroyed a clinic and a library, killing two civilians. The Israeli military said it hit a military headquarters.

Just outside the complex, and in every city and town on the road to Tehran, things seemed pretty normal. Shops were open. Traffic backed up at rush hour.

There were more Khamenei billboards on the approach to Tehran. Entering the city after midnight, they drove through empty streets, past bombed-out government buildings and checkpoints manned by the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij, bulwarks of the Islamic Republic who have been repeatedly targeted.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Associated Press reporter Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed.