Associated Press stories, Page 277
Shohei Ohtani merchandise is prompting long lines — even in the rain — in Tokyo
TOKYO — The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Shohei Ohtani an unprecedented $700 million contract hoping to drive interest — and the dollars that come with it — from fans across the Pacific. It seems to be working. He’s the main attraction as the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs open the MLB...
Trump administration guts board of U.S. Institute of Peace. Group says DOGE arrives
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work. The remaining three members of the group’s board...
Betting on women’s college basketball rides post-Caitlin Clark wave as NCAA Tournament begins
LAS VEGAS — Caitlin Clark not only drew lots of eyes to women’s basketball when she led Iowa to consecutive national-championship games, she also attracted a lot of bettors who otherwise might have put their money elsewhere. Even with Clark starring for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, her impact is still...
Residents pick up the pieces after devastating storms scour the South and MidwestVideo
PLANTERSVILLE, Ala. — Kim Atchison was hunkered down in her grandmother’s storm shelter with her 5-year-old grandson Saturday night in their tiny Alabama hometown of Plantersville when her husband and son raced in. “Get down; get all the way down to the bottom of the cellar,” they told her, saying...
Bus carrying bagpipers from St. Patrick’s Day parade crashes into truck in Lackawanna County
MOUNT COBB — Bagpipers returning from a St. Patrick’s Day parade were taken to hospitals after their charter bus crashed into a tractor-trailer, officials said. The bus was exiting westbound Interstate 84 in northeastern Pennsylvania shortly before 6:30 p.m. Sunday when it ran into the tractor-trailer, which had no one...
Trump says he’s ending Secret Service protection for Biden’s adult children
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he was ending “immediately” the Secret Service protection details assigned to Democrat Joe Biden’s adult children, which the former president had extended to July shortly before leaving office in January. The Republican president on social media objected to what he said were 18...
March Madness puts Izzo-led Michigan State in conversation with bluebloods Kentucky, North CarolinaVideo
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State has joined some rare air in college basketball history over the last half-century with coaching longevity and NCAA titles. Since 1976, the Spartans have had just two coaches, and both won a national championship. Hall of Famer Tom Izzo cut down the nets in...
Left out of the NCAA Tournament: Indiana, Boise State, West Virginia, Ohio State and more
Indiana won’t play another game with retiring coach Mike Woodson after being left out of the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers (19-13) have no plans to play elsewhere this season after being one of the first four teams left out of the 68-team NCAA field revealed Sunday, along with 24-win Boise...
Trump administration says South African ambassador has to leave the U.S. by Friday
WASHINGTON — The State Department says South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, who was declared “persona non grata” last week, has until Friday to leave the country. After Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was no longer welcome in the U.S. and posted his decision...
Report: Belgian actor Émilie Dequenne dies at 43 of rare cancer
Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actor who won a top Cannes Film Festival prize for her breakout role in “Rosetta,” has died, a news report says. She was 43. Her family and agent told the news agency Agence France-Presse that Dequenne died Sunday of a rare cancer in a hospital outside...
In NASCAR antitrust fight, Michael Jordan’s manager goes from adviser to stock car series to targetVideo
LAS VEGAS — Long before the battle over the charter system led to the antitrust lawsuit now engulfing NASCAR, its executives found Michael Jordan and his small group of advisers a beneficial resource in discussing growth for the top racing series in the United States. They held meetings with Curtis...
Rory McIlroy takes drama out of playoff to win The Players, build momentum to the Masters
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The playoff was only three holes. Rory McIlroy needed only three swings. And yet his victory Monday over J.J. Spaun in The Players Championship revealed so much about the state of his game and the cruel nature of the notorious TPC Sawgrass. McIlroy delivered an...
UCLA and South Carolina headline AP Top 25 women’s poll and are top seeds in NCAA Tournament
UCLA remained No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday one day after the Bruins earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The Bruins head into March Madness with two losses, both coming to Southern Cal during...
Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins reach extensions with Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals have agreed to four-year extensions with receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, assuring that Joe Burrow will have his top two targets with him for some time. A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that Chase will become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history,...
Chase, Higgins reach extensions with Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals have agreed to four-year extensions with receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, assuring that Joe Burrow will have his top two targets with him for some time. A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that Chase will become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history,...
Duke remains at No. 1 in AP Top 25 entering March Madness; St. John’s rises to No. 5
Duke remained atop The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday a day after the committee that selects the 68-team field for the NCAA Tournament went with Auburn as the No. 1 overall seed. The Blue Devils (31-3) earned 49 of 59 first-place votes in the latest...
Homeland Security says professor deported to Lebanon with U.S. visa supported Hezbollah leader
BOSTON — Homeland Security officials on Monday said that a doctor from Lebanon who was deported over the weekend despite having a U.S. visa “openly admitted” to supporting a Hezbollah leader and attending his funeral. The department’s statement, posted on social media, provides a possible explanation Dr. Rasha Alawieh’s deportation,...
Private lunar lander Blue Ghost falls silent on the moon after a 2-week mission
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — It’s lights out for the first private lunar lander to pull off a fully successful moon mission. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander fell silent over the weekend, wrapping up two weeks of science experiments for NASA. The end came as the sun set at the moon,...
ACLU asks judge to force the Trump administration to state under oath if it violated his court order
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed to halt deportations under a rarely-used 18th century wartime law invoked by President Donald Trump asked a federal judge Monday to force officials to explain under oath whether they violated his court order by removing more than 200 people from the country after it was...
Severe weather moves east after tornadoes, winds and wildfires killed at least 39 people
A dynamic storm that prompted foreboding predictions of dangerous weekend weather spawned tornadoes, dust storms and wildfires that killed at least 39 people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses. The system that brought severe weather and flooding to the central and eastern part of the country over the weekend...
‘Stagflation’ risk puts Federal Reserve in tricky spot as it meets this week
WASHINGTON — When Federal Reserve officials last met in late January, things looked pretty good: Hiring was solid. The economy had just grown at a solid pace in last year’s final quarter. And inflation, while stubborn, had fallen sharply from its peak more than two years ago. What a difference...
Trump, Putin will speak on Tuesday about the war in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as efforts continue to end to the war in Ukraine, a move that could represent a possible pivot point in the conflict and an opportunity for Trump to continue reorienting American foreign policy. Trump disclosed...
U.S. shoppers modestly increased spending in February as concerns rise about economic outlook
WASHINGTON — U.S. shoppers stepped up their spending a just bit in February after a sharp pullback the previous month, signaling that Americans are spending more cautiously as concerns about the direction of the economy mount. Retail sales rose just 0.2% in February, a small rebound after a sharp drop...
Congo says it will participate in peace talks with M23 rebels
DAKAR, Senegal — Congo’s government will participate in peace talks in Angola on Tuesday with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group that has captured key areas of Congo’s mineral-rich east, a spokesperson said Monday. A delegation representing Congo is currently in the Angolan capital, Luanda, for the talks, Tina Salama, the...
A new anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Hungary would ban Pride event and allow use of facial recognition software
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s ruling coalition continued its crackdown on the country’s LBGTQ+ community on Monday, as members submitted a bill to parliament that would ban the popular Budapest Pride event and allow authorities to use facial recognition software to identify attendees. The bill is almost certain to pass, as...
