Associated Press stories, Page 239

ROME — Pope Francis has shown further slight improvement as he battles double pneumonia, but doctors said Wednesday his prognosis is still guarded. A chest CT scan taken Tuesday evening showed the “normal evolution” of an infection as it is being treated, the Vatican said in its late update. The...

A Mississippi judge on Wednesday vacated her order that a newspaper remove its editorial criticizing local officials, days after a city decided to drop the lawsuit that spurred it. The judge’s order had been widely condemned by free speech advocates as a clear violation of the paper’s First Amendment rights....

WASHINGTON — Building lethality in the military may be the buzzword for the new Trump administration, but busywork and paperwork have become the reality at the Pentagon, as service members and civilian workers are facing a broad mandate to purge all of the department’s social media sites and untangle confusing...

MILAN — Fendi celebrated 100 years with a mega runway show Wednesday that highlighted the Roman fashion house’s roots as a maker of luxurious fur stoles that grew into a touchstone of Italian craftsmanship under the creative direction of the late Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi. Five Fendi Generations...

A hulking section of a decommissioned jumbo jet that was transformed into a party venue at the 2017 Burning Man Festival is getting a new life off the Las Vegas Strip. The cockpit and section of the fuselage of the Boeing 747 were towed Wednesday from a spot at the...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday, aiming to get closer to the moon’s south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun. Intuitive Machines’ lander, named Athena, caught a lift with SpaceX from NASA’s...

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s administration has given New York until next month to comply with its order to halt Manhattan’s new congestion pricing system, but state officials on Wednesday vowed to continue the tolling program, which is meant to thin traffic and pump new revenue into the nation’s...

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Wednesday it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. The...

NEW ORLEANS — Four New Orleans players who’ve been suspended since late January are under investigation for possible NCAA violations related to sports gambling, a person familiar with the situation said. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the university’s only public statement about...

MESA, Ariz. — The Athletics have moved about an hour east from Oakland to the Sacramento area, where they will be based in a minor-league ballpark for the next three seasons while hoping a more permanent home in Las Vegas will be ready in 2028. If this doesn’t sound like...

One week the PGA Tour winner was Ludvig Aberg, a Swede so supremely talented that he played in a Ryder Cup before his first major, entered the top 10 in the world ranking just nine months after he left college and has been there ever since. The next week it...

NEW YORK — New York City on Wednesday marked the anniversary of the 1993 bombing at the old World Trade Center, when Islamic extremists first attempted to bring down the twin towers with 1,200 pounds of explosives in a parked rental van. Six people, including a pregnant woman, died in...

After devastating wildfires tore through Los Angeles, the 97th Academy Awards are going forward. Like the Grammys and other awards shows this year, the ceremony will be transformed by the fires and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has pledged to help its members and the broader film...

WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department predicts the current record prices for eggs could soar more than 40% in 2025, as the Trump administration offered the first new details Wednesday about its plan to battle bird flu and ease the cost of eggs. With an emphasis on tightening up biosecurity on...

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed over four dead hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was to end. An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed...

NEW YORK — Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” — has died. She was 39. Police responded to a 911 call...

WASHINGTON — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions, according to a memo distributed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government. The memo expands the Republican president’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Wednesday to side with an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination from her employer because she is straight. The outcome of the case could remove an additional requirement that some courts apply when members of a majority group, including those who...

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Javon Small scored 23 points and had 10 assists to lead West Virginia to a 73-55 victory over TCU on Tuesday night. West Virginia (17-11, 8-9 Big 12) rebounded from a 73-51 loss at then-No. 9 Texas Tech on Saturday and avenged a 65-60 loss at TCU...