Month: March 2024

By Associated Press JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this week as part of his sixth urgent mission to the Middle East since the Israelis’ war with Hamas began in October, as relations between the two countries have soured dramatically in recent weeks. The visit comes amid

By Associated Press WASHINGTON | Congressional leaders from both parties looked to put a positive light on a $1.2 trillion spending package that lawmakers are working to approve before funding expires at midnight Friday for a host of key government agencies. Text of the legislation had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon, but lawmakers

By Associated Press CAN THO, Vietnam | Dao Bao Tran and her brother Do Hoang Trung, 11-year-old twins growing up on a rickety houseboat in the Mekong Delta, have dreams. Tran loves K-pop, watches videos at night to learn Korean and would love to visit Seoul. Trung wants to be a singer. But their hopes

By Associated Press NEW YORK — A federal judge suggested Wednesday that Michael Cohen committed perjury under oath, giving fresh support to former President Donald Trump’s claims that his onetime personal lawyer — poised to be a star prosecution witness at his upcoming New York criminal trial — is an untrustworthy liar. Judge Jesse M.

By Associated Press PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Innisbrook and Bay Hill are separated by 100 miles on the road, two weeks on the PGA Tour calendar and $11.6 million in prize money. Another big difference might be the size of the field. The Valspar Championship begins Thursday with 155 players, the most ever for the

By Associated Press ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia 2020 election interference case cleared the way Wednesday for Donald Trump and other defendants to appeal a ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the prosecution. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling means defense attorneys can ask the Georgia Court of

By Associated Press The NFL competition committee is proposing a rule to penalize so-called “hip-drop” tackles and a radical change to kickoffs to add more returns without compromising safety. The proposals will be presented to owners at the league meetings later this month, with 24 out of 32 votes needed for approval. The committee didn’t

By Associated Press McALLEN, Texas — A dizzying volley of courtroom maneuvers over a Texas law that would allow the state to arrest and deport people who enter the U.S. illegally sowed confusion at the nation’s border with Mexico on Wednesday as sheriffs, police chiefs and migrants waited for direction. Texas faced skeptical questioning during

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — The House impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is all but winding down, lacking the political appetite from within the Republican ranks to go forward with an actual impeachment, but facing political pressure to deliver after months of work. The chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Republican Rep.

By Associated Press ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — After helping the Chiefs end the Bills’ season for a third time in four playoff meetings in January, safety Mike Edwards hopes he can be part of revamped secondary to help Buffalo go further. It helps, too, that the fifth-year player brings two Super Bowl wins of experience

By Associated Press This winter’s record warmth provided the key ingredient for a Midwest outbreak of deadly tornadoes and damaging gorilla hail that hit parts of the Midwest, tornado experts said. At least three people were killed in March 14’s tornado outbreak in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas, which came a day after large hail

By Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Spotify paid out $9 billion in streaming royalties last year, the streaming giant said Tuesday in its latest “Loud and Clear” report. Spotify’s fourth annual report, which originally launched in 2021 following criticism over its lack of transparency, noted record accomplishments, including the highest annual payment from any retailer

By Associated Press NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rallied to records Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it’s likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates this year that Wall Street craves, despite some discouragingly high inflation reports. The S&P 500 jumped 46.11 points, or 0.9%, to 5,224.62 and set an all-time high for a

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced new automobile emissions standards Wednesday that officials called the most ambitious plan ever to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles. The new rules relax initial tailpipe limits proposed last year but eventually get close to the same strict standards set out by the Environmental Protection Agency.

By Associated Press NEW YORK — The largest U.S. retail trade group is forecasting that the country’s retail sales will increase anywhere between 2.5% and 3.5% this year, a solid but still slower pace than the 3.6% seen last year. The National Retail Federation said Wednesday that it expects retail sales will reach between $5.23

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials signaled Wednesday that they still expect to cut their key interest rate three times in 2024, fueling a rally on Wall Street, despite signs that inflation remained elevated at the start of the year. For now, the officials kept their benchmark rate unchanged for a fifth straight

By Associated Press NEW YORK — An exploration of racism on social media and a history of Native Americans are among the winners of J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards, which celebrate literary excellence, social relevance and original reporting. Ned Blackhawk’s “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History,” which won

By Associated Press It’s not your imagination: Sydney Sweeney is everywhere. In the past four months, she’s been in a romantic comedy that turned into a sleeper hit, a superhero movie that didn’t and, as of this weekend, a bloody horror. Results have varied, quality-wise, but for someone the culture seems to want to (unfairly)

By Associated Press In Rebecca Serle’s new book “Expiration Dates: A Novel,” the protagonist, Daphne, knows when her relationships will end. A slip of paper always shows up with a name and a number for how long they will date. We meet Daphne on her way to a blind date with Jake — whose paper

By Associated Press Chef and restaurateur Jose Andrés inviting actors Jamie Lee Curtis, Bryan Cranston and O’Shea Jackson Jr. over for dinner in a new TV special and Jake Gyllenhaal starring in an update of the pulpy cult classic “Road House” are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device