Associated Press stories, Page 1321

LVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces pounded the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, shelling its downtown as residents hid in its iconic mosque and elsewhere to avoid the explosions. Fighting also raged in the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, as Russia kept up its bombardment of several resisting cities....

INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue’s Brandon Newman hadn’t played for more than a month. He certainly didn’t show it. Newman scored 12 points off the bench, Jaden Ivey had 17 and Zach Edey 15 to lead No. 9 Purdue past Penn State 69-61 in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals Friday night. “For...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers advanced legislation on Friday that would restrict the way public school teachers can talk about race, a bill one Republican delegate said is meant to protect kids from “brainwashing.” During more than two hours of tense, back-and-forth debate, Del. Todd Longanacre said he doesn’t...

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dealt essentially a final blow to abortion clinics’ best hopes of stopping a restrictive law that has sharply curtailed the number of abortions in the state since September and will now fully stay in place for the foreseeable future. The ruling...

A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state from investigating as child abuse gender confirming care for transgender youth. District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to compel the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate reports...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Disney World is suspending its political donations in Florida after the company’s CEO received huge blowback for not using Disney’s vast influence in the state to try to quash a recently passed Republican bill that would prevent teachers from instructing early grades on LGBTQ issues. Shortly after,...

SANTIAGO, Chile — Left-leaning former student leader Gabriel Boric vowed to improve the lives of all Chileans and attack deep inequality that has sparked massive protests, hours after being inaugurated Friday as the youngest president in the country’s history. At 36, Boric was only 4 years old when democracy returned...

NEW YORK — MLB players who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus won’t be allowed to travel into Canada to face the Blue Jays in Toronto and won’t be paid for those games. Canada’s government requires a person must have received a second vaccine dose — or one dose of...

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Players Championship delivered only four hours of golf Friday before rain saturated the TPC Sawgrass, assuring the PGA Tour’s premier event will not end until Monday. So much for Saturday being “moving day.” Based on the forecast of overnight rain and raging wind, the...

Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national...

Russia’s baseless claims about secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine are taking root in the U.S. too, uniting covid-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of ex-President Donald Trump. Despite rebuttals from independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon, the online popularity of...

A former Pennsylvania police detective who served on a drug task force was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison for having traded official actions for sexual favors. Former Carlisle police officer Christopher Collare, 54, of Blythewood, South Carolina, was sentenced to 75 months on charges of bribery,...

Pennsylvania’s payrolls grew again in January, the unemployment rate crept down and the labor force expanded after more than a year of contraction, according to new figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 5.4% from December’s adjusted rate, according to the state Department...

President Joe Biden announced Friday the U.S. will dramatically downgrade its trade status with Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine and also ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The broad trade shift, which revokes the “most favored nation” status for Russia, is being taken in coordination...

LVIV, Ukraine — Russia’s airplanes and artillery widened their assault on Ukraine on Friday, striking airfields in the west and a major industrial hub in the east, as Moscow’s forces tried to regroup from recent losses and their onslaught fast reduced crowded cities to rubble. American intelligence officials offered an...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Friday that “a pause” was needed in ongoing talks over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers, blaming “external factors” for the delay. The comments by Josep Borrell come as a roadmap appeared imminent for the U.S. to...

INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Sessoms scored 18 points and No. 11 seed Penn State rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to beat sixth-seeded Ohio State 71-68 on Thursday night in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. The Nittany Lions ended a four-game skid against Ohio State...

North Korea has tested parts of its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile in two recent launches, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, a suggestion it is likely to fire that weapon soon to put a spy satellite into orbit in what would be its most significant provocation in years. Separately,...

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a federal plan that would restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can’t control. The plan announced Friday is intended to help more than two dozen states meet “good neighbor” obligations under the...

WASHINGTON — A $13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for besieged Ukraine and its European allies easily won final congressional approval Thursday, hitching a ride on a government-wide spending bill that’s five months late but loaded with political prizes for both parties. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s...