Associated Press stories, Page 1086
Russia’s hypersonic missile-armed ship to patrol global seas
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country’s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine. Russia touts that the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by...
Kevin McCarthy voted down time after time for House speaker
WASHINGTON — House Republicans flailed through a long second day of fruitless balloting Wednesday, unable to either elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority. Yet McCarthy wasn’t giving...
Iran releases Oscar-winning film actress held over protests
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran released a prominent actress from an Oscar-winning film on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after she was jailed for criticizing a crackdown on anti-government protests, local reports said. Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency said Taraneh Alidoosti, the 38-year-old star of Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning 2016 film,...
A lion roars on Broadway as box office hauls reveal winners
NEW YORK — It was feast or famine at the Broadway box office as 2022 wound down, with eye-popping revenue for popular shows — including a staggering new Broadway record for “The Lion King” — not lifting all strugglers. Twenty-one of the 33 shows available broke the $1 million mark...
Philippine leader emphasizes economic ties on visit to China
BEIJING — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is pushing for closer economic ties on a visit to China that seeks to sidestep territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The countries have both been rocked by economic crises linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, but are looking to recharge investments in...
U.K.’s Sunak vows to halve inflation, tackle illegal migration
LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in his first major speech of 2023 on Wednesday, pledged to halve inflation, grow the U.K. economy and stop illegal immigration. In a speech setting out the Conservative government’s priorities for the year ahead, Sunak focused on tackling the U.K.’s slowing economy and...
3 NFL teams look for rare trip from 2-6 start to playoffs
Falling into a 2-6 hole near the midpoint of a season is usually a recipe to look to the future for NFL teams, with only two teams ever climbing out of that hole to reach the postseason. Headed into Week 18 of this season, three teams that lost six of...
Ward begins brief lieutenant governor term
HARRISBURG — Kim Ward, Pennsylvania’s ranking state senator, ascended to the job of state lieutenant governor Tuesday after Democrat John Fetterman resigned minutes before he was sworn in to office as the state’s newest U.S. senator. Ward, a Republican from Hempfield and the new and first woman to serve as...
Electric skates, pet tech and AI for birds at CES 2023
LAS VEGAS — Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show. The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in 2022 attendance because of the pandemic. Exhibitors range...
College scam mastermind Rick Singer gets 3.5 years in prison
BOSTON — The mastermind of the nationwide college admissions bribery scheme that ensnared celebrities, prominent businesspeople and other parents who used their wealth and privilege to buy their kids’ way into top-tier schools was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison Wednesday. The punishment for Rick Singer, 62, is the...
White House gun violence program with philanthropies ends
NEW YORK — It was small, as Washington celebrations go — two senior Biden administration advisers gathered with program participants near the White House on a Thursday afternoon in December to mark the end of a little-known initiative with a budget of less than $8 million. The impact of The...
Futures inch higher ahead of the release of Fed notes
Wall Street pointed modestly higher Wednesday ahead of the release of notes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting, which investors hope might hint at a less aggressive stance on interest rates, a tool that the Fed has used to tame inflation. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index and...
U.S. bishops’ rifts unlikely to ease after Pope Benedict’s death
NEW YORK — Many of the conservative prelates who dominate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were appointed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. His recent death deprives them of a symbolic figurehead but is unlikely to weaken their collective power or end the culture wars that have divided the USCCB,...
Family rep: Hamlin’s recovery moving in positive direction
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Damar Hamlin’s recovery is moving in “a positive direction” two days after the Buffalo Bills safety collapsed and went into cardiac arrest during a game against Cincinnati, the player’s marketing representative said Wednesday. “We all remain optimistic,” Jordon Rooney, a family spokesman who described himself as...
Sheriff: No foul play in ‘Avengers’ star Jeremy Renner snow tractor injury
RENO, Nev. — The serious injuries actor Jeremy Renner suffered while using a snow tractor to free a snowbound motorist on a private mountain road near Lake Tahoe appear to be a “tragic accident,” the sheriff in Reno said Tuesday. The 51-year-old “Avengers” star was seriously hurt when he was...
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to $940M after no winner
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Mega Millions jackpot increased to an estimated $940 million after another drawing resulted in plenty of losers but not a single grand prize winner. The numbers drawn late Tuesday were: 25, 29, 33, 41, 44 and gold Mega Ball 18. The next drawing is scheduled...
NTSB: Airline worker pulled into engine in fatal accident
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An airline ground crew worker was pulled into the engine of a plane during a fatal accident at an Alabama airport, authorities said. The National Transportation Safety Board released the additional information about the Saturday accident at the Montgomery Regional Airport that claimed the life of an...
Rep.-elect George Santos quiet as speaker vote delays swearing-inVideo
NEW YORK — Republican Rep.-elect George Santos of New York, who is accused of lying about large swaths of his background and accomplishments, will have to wait to add one thing with certainty to his resume: U.S. congressman. Santos arrived in Washington to be sworn in Tuesday, but his swearing-in...
Report: Panthers owner David Tepper, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh discuss coaching jobVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper has talked to Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh about the team’s head coaching position, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person characterized the meeting as a conversation, not an interview. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition...
Transgender Missouri inmate executed for fatal stabbing
BONNE TERRE, Mo. — A Missouri inmate was put to death Tuesday for a 2003 killing, becoming what is believed to be the first transgender woman executed in the U.S. Amber McLaughlin, 49, was convicted of stalking and killing a former girlfriend, then dumping the body near the Mississippi River...
New documents detail Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson asking about electors
MADISON, Wis. — The former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said Republican Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors, according to newly released documents from closed-door testimony to the House...
FDA finalizes rule allowing mail-order abortion pills
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday finalized a rule change that allows women seeking abortion pills to get them through the mail, replacing a long-standing requirement that they pick up the medicine in person. The Biden administration implemented the change last year, announcing it would no longer...
Georgia’s 2-TE set uncertain for national title game vs. TCUVideo
ATLANTA — A big part of Georgia’s offense — big in every way — could be hampered in the national championship game against TCU. Georgia’s two-tight end formation is uncertain because of an ankle injury suffered by Darnell Washington in Saturday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal win over Ohio State....
Divided Pennsylvania House elects Democrat Mark Rozzi as speaker
HARRISBURG — A Democrat who promised to govern as an independent was elected speaker of the narrowly divided Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a surprising move Tuesday on the strength of every Democrat and more than a dozen GOP votes. Rep. Mark Rozzi was elected speaker by a vote of...
Ronaldo rejected offers elsewhere for top salary Saudi dealVideo
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Cristiano Ronaldo was presented as the superstar new signing of Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr on Tuesday, with the team’s president saying the Portugal great deserves to be the highest paid player on the planet. Ronaldo said he turned down “many clubs” around the world to...
