Associated Press stories, Page 1368
From Hollywood’s illusion factory, some unexpected reality
In the minutes and hours after Will Smith accosted and slapped Chris Rock before a live audience of millions, social media platforms lit up with a breathless and emphatic hot take: Surely, multitudes insisted, the whole thing was staged. They talked of the specifics of the altercation (“Rock barely moved”)....
TV ratings company Nielsen acquired in $16 billion deal
NEW YORK — Nielsen is being acquired for $16 billion, including debt, about a week after the TV ratings and marketing data company rejected a $9 billion offer. A group of private equity investors led by Brookfield Business Partners will invest approximately $2.65 billion via preferred equity, convertible into 45%...
Blinken in Morocco amid shifts in Mideast, North Africa diplomacy
RABAT, Morocco — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Morocco Tuesday to discuss recent shifts in the diplomatic dynamic in the Middle East and North Africa that could upend some of the region’s long-standing disputes. A day after an unprecedented gathering in Israel’s Negev Desert with the Israeli...
Relief for Kyiv? Russia vows to scale back near the capital
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks. Ukraine’s delegation at the conference, held in Istanbul, laid...
UConn, Stanford, South Carolina, Louisville headed to women’s Final Four
There will be plenty of familiar faces at the women’s Final Four with Stanford, South Carolina, Louisville and UConn heading to Minneapolis. With all the upsets that occurred during the women’s NCAA Tournament this year — a record number of double-digit seeds won — three No. 1 seeds and No....
NHL GMs meeting centers on safety, inclusion, respectVideo
MANALAPAN, Fla. — Sheldon Kennedy never envisioned a moment like this two decades ago. Kim Davis didn’t see it coming as recently as 2018. The pair led a discussion Monday with the NHL’s 32 general managers at their annual meeting — their first in-person gathering since March 2020 because of...
Albert Pujols back with Cardinals for final seasonVideo
JUPITER, Fla. — With a wave of his hand and a tip of the cap, Albert Pujols walked back into the world of the St. Louis Cardinals for one final season. “This is it for me,” the 42-year-old Pujols said Monday. “This is my last run.” It was quite a...
Jan. 6 committee votes to hold Dan Scavino, Pete Navarro in contemptVideo
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously Monday night to hold former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt of Congress for their monthslong refusal to comply with subpoenas. The committee made their case that Navarro, former President Donald...
After NCAA run, Saint Peter’s will always have the memories
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Saint Peter’s unexpected and uplifting run to the Elite Eight ended with a bus ride back to New Jersey and the unsettling prospect Shaheen Holloway might have coached his last game for Peacocks. “To be honest, it was amazing to me,” forward Hassan Drame said of...
Nebraska lawmaker Bruce Bostelman apologizes for debunked litter box claimVideo
LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska state lawmaker apologized on Monday after he publicly cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that schools are placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats. Sen. Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, repeated the false claim during a public, televised...
NFL makes adjustments to Rooney Rule to aid minority hiring
PALM BEACH, Fla. — To ensure more opportunities for diverse candidates, the NFL has added requirements on the hiring of offensive assistant coaches and women in general. The moves announced Monday at the owners meeting include adjustments to the Rooney Rule adopted in 2003 and amended frequently in attempts to...
Walmart to end cigarette sales in some stores
NEW YORK — Walmart will no longer sell cigarettes in some of its stores though tobacco sales can be a significant revenue generator. Wall Street Journal was the first to report the development Monday. It noted some stores in California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico were on the list, citing...
Biden says remark on Putin’s power was about ‘moral outrage’Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday that he would make “no apologies” and wasn’t “walking anything back” after his weekend comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” The president also insisted he’s not calling for regime change in Moscow. “I was expressing the moral outrage that...
Will Smith apologizes: ‘I was out of line and I was wrong’
LOS ANGELES — The day after slapping Chris Rock on the Oscars stage and upending the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith issued an apology to the comedian, to the academy and to viewers at home, saying he was “out of line” and that his actions are “not indicative of the...
Column: NASCAR must reveal Brad Keselowski’s massive infraction
AUSTIN, Texas — There is a problem with NASCAR and its sport-transforming new racecar. We know NASCAR found that RFK Racing had made an illegal modification to a vendor-supplied spec part for the car. NASCAR then buried Brad Keselowski and his team with season-crippling penalties apparently to make it crystal...
High court to hear case about Andy Warhol art, Prince photo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review a copyright dispute involving works of art by the artist Andy Warhol that were based on a photograph of the musician Prince. A lower court had at first said the artwork created before Warhol’s 1987 death was “fair use” of the...
Biden’s budget plan: Higher taxes on rich, lower deficits
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced a budget blueprint Monday that calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, lower federal deficits, more money for police and greater funding for education, public health and housing. In essence, it tries to tell voters what a diverse and at times fractured Democratic Party...
Judge: Trump likely committed crimes related to election
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday asserted it is “more likely than not” that former President Donald Trump committed crimes in his attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, ruling to order the release of more than 100 emails from Trump adviser John Eastman to the committee...
Pennsylvania interstate remains closed after deadly pileupVideo
POTTSVILLE — A stretch of an interstate highway in Pennsylvania remained shuttered Tuesday, a day after at least three people were killed and more than a dozen others injured when tractor-trailers and other vehicles lost control and slammed into each other during a snow squall. Interstate 81 north remained closed...
Russia shifts focus to try to grind Ukraine’s army in east
KYIV, Ukraine — With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s territory to possibly end the war. The bulk of the...
Final Four has a blue tint with power programs
Coach K’s final chapter will have a distinctly blue tint. Two weeks of upsets and underdogs in the books, the Final Four is down to four blue blood programs: Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and Villanova. Kansas faces Villanova, then it’s Duke-Carolina for the first time in the NCAA Tournament in...
Heineken to pull its beer out of Russia
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch brewing giant Heineken says it is pulling out of Russia amid Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine. The company said Monday that its business in Russia “is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment. As a result, we have decided to leave Russia.” It...
G7 reject paying for Russian energy in rubles
BERLIN — Germany’s energy minister says the Group of Seven major economies have agreed to reject Russia’s demand to pay for Russian energy imports in rubles. Robert Habeck told reporters Monday that “all G-7 ministers agreed completely that this (would be) a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts.”...
Tesla seeks 2nd stock split in less than 2 years
NEW YORK — Shares of Tesla rose sharply Monday after the electric car maker announced its second stock split in less than two years. The company said in a regulatory filing, and also in a tweet, that it plans to make a request at its upcoming annual shareholders meeting to...
Ukrainians claim to retake ground ahead of latest talks
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken a Kyiv suburb and an eastern town from the Russians in what is becoming a back-and-forth stalemate on the ground, while negotiators began assembling for another round of talks Tuesday aimed at stopping the fighting. Ahead of the talks, to be...
