Associated Press stories, Page 1314

Four U.S. Marines were killed when their Osprey aircraft crashed in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise unrelated to Russia’s war in Ukraine, authorities said Saturday. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere tweeted that they died in the crash on Friday night. The cause was...

The signs are abundant of how Ukraine frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a swift victory and how Russia’s military proved far from ready for the fight. A truck carrying Russian troops crashes, its doors blown open by a rocket-propelled grenade. Foreign-supplied drones target Russian command posts. Orthodox priests in trailing...

SEATTLE — Longtime NFL journalist John Clayton died Friday following a short illness. He was 67. The Seattle Seahawks, through Clayton’s family, announced the death in a statement. Clayton worked for the team in recent years as a sideline reporter on radio broadcasts. Nicknamed “The Professor,” Clayton spent more than...

Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world — even before the Taliban swept to power last August. That’s according to a so-called World Happiness report released ahead of the U.N.-designated International Day of Happiness on Sunday. The annual report ranked Afghanistan as last among 149 countries surveyed, with a...

A Virginia newspaper reporter was one of two people killed during a shooting early Saturday outside a restaurant and bar, authorities said. Sierra Jenkins, 25, who covered education and schools for The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after the shooting outside Chicho’s Pizza Backstage, according to...

DETROIT — Penn State moved closer to its ninth NCAA wrestling championship in 11 years Friday night, widening its lead in the team race as five of its six semifinalists advanced. The Nittany Lions had 108 points after the semis. Michigan, trying for its first title 45 minutes away from...

South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs. The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death...

Officials at Walt Disney World said Friday that a performance by a visiting Texas high school drill team that used American Indian stereotypes, including chants of “scalp them,” doesn’t reflect the Florida resort’s values. The performance this week in the Magic Kingdom by the “Indianettes” drill team from Port Neches-Grove...

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Matthew NeSmith has been working so hard and getting so little out of his game that he tried to get out of his own way. He wound up in the record book Friday at the Valspar Championship. No more worrying about whether his drives would find...

Deshaun Watson changed his mind. The Browns have their franchise quarterback, one with some extra heavy baggage. Despite sexual misconduct allegations made by nearly two dozen women against Watson while he was with Houston, Cleveland will make him its starting QB, the face of its organization and the highest-paid player...

NEW YORK — Final preparations are underway for the 94th Academy Awards and a long-awaited return to Hollywood’s glamourous normalcy after a muted ceremony and ratings low last year. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2022 Oscars, including where to watch the live show, who’s expected to win...

NEW YORK — A particularly prized copy of the first Marvel comic book fetched more than $2.4 million in an online auction, an auctioneer said Friday. Known as the Marvel Comics #1 “pay copy,” it’s “arguably one of the top three comic books in the world of comics collecting,” said...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Kris Bryant and the Colorado Rockies finalized their $182 million, seven-year contract on Friday. The third baseman and outfielder gets a $7 million signing bonus, payable within 15 days of the signing. He receives a $17 million salary this year, $27 million in each of the next...

ROMULUS, Mich. — Albert Ogletree was a name represented by an image of an oak leaf at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York until a bit of sleuthing led to a 1966 Michigan high school yearbook. On Tuesday, the museum added Ogletree’s Romulus High School freshman...

MIAMI — Adrian Kellgren’s family-owned gun company in Florida was left holding a $200,000 shipment of semi-automatic rifles after a longtime customer in Ukraine suddenly went silent during Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country. Fearing the worst, Kellgren and his company KelTec decided to put those stranded 400 guns to...

NEW YORK — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” her epic novel about racism, resilience and identity named for the influential Black scholar and activist, has received the fiction prize from the National Book Critics Circle. The critics circle praised Jeffers for “weaving several centuries’ worth...

WARSAW, Poland — Peter Paul Rubens’ 17th century masterpiece “Portrait of a Lady” has sold for the equivalent of $3.4 million at a Warsaw auction, becoming the most expensive artwork ever bought on the Polish art market, the auction house said. The painting sold for 14.4 million zlotys, auction fee...

ATLANTA — Lia Thomas took control in the final 100 yards of the 500-yard freestyle to make history Thursday as the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship. Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania senior who entered the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships as the top seed, had...

FREEPORT, Maine — A greater interest in the outdoors during the pandemic helped to drive double-digit revenue growth for L.L. Bean, allowing the board to provide a healthy bonus for workers Friday. Sales grew by 14% during the retailer’s 2021 fiscal year, the biggest gain since 1993, and a cash...

EASTLAND, Texas — Low humidity and gusty winds fueled multiple wildfires Friday in Texas, burning homes and other structures and prompting evacuations of small communities. Several wildfires merged to form what fire officials call a “complex” that was burning near Eastland, about 120 miles west of Dallas. As of Friday...

BERLIN — Lawmakers voted Friday to abolish most of Germany’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite a surge in cases with almost 300,000 new daily cases. The Bundestag passed an amendment to the pandemic rules in a 388-277 vote with two abstentions. The upper house of parliament, made up of Germany’s 16...

Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a packed Moscow stadium Friday and lavished praise on his troops fighting in Ukraine, three weeks into the invasion that has led to heavier-than-expected Russian losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home. Meanwhile, the leader of Russia’s delegation...

DETROIT — Penn State led the team race after two rounds of the NCAA wrestling championships Thursday, with six of its nine wrestlers moving to the quarterfinals. The Nittany Lions will head into Friday with 27.5 points, 5 1/2 ahead of Arizona State, which had five of its seven wrestlers...