Associated Press stories, Page 302
Lester Holt to step down as anchor of NBC’s flagship ‘Nightly News’ after a decade
NEW YORK — NBC’s veteran Lester Holt is stepping down as anchor of the network’s flagship “Nightly News” broadcast in the coming months. Holt, who has been the face of “Nightly News” for a decade, won’t be leaving NBC altogether, however. In a memo to staff Monday, he said he...
Trump expresses hope Russia’s war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he meets with France’s Macron
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he was hopeful that Russia’s war in Ukraine was nearing an endgame as he met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion. Trump, in broad-ranging comments on the state of the conflict, said he believed Russian President...
Pope Francis shows slight improvement and resumes some work, Vatican says
ROME — Pope Francis showed slight improvement in laboratory tests Monday and resumed some work activities, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began, the Vatican said. The Vatican’s evening bulletin was more upbeat than in recent days. It...
Prosecutor says golden toilet was stolen from English palace in ‘audacious raid’
LONDON — It was not your typical smash-and-grab burglary and the booty was precious: a toilet worth more than its weight in gold. The one-of-a-kind 18-carat gold toilet was swiped in under five minutes from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born,...
Apple announces $500 billion investment in U.S. amid tariff threats that could affect iPhoneVideo
NEW YORK — Apple announced Monday that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. The move comes just days after President Donald Trump said Apple CEO...
FDA moves to rehire medical device staffers fired only days earlier
Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back. Beginning Friday night, FDA employees overseeing medical devices and other key areas received calls and emails notifying them that their recent terminations had been...
Trump’s Justice Department enforcer is no stranger to complaints about his conduct
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Manhattan criminal defense attorneys was so concerned about prosecutor Emil Bove’s professionalism that they banded together to send an email to his bosses. One lawyer complained in the 2018 email that Bove was “completely reckless and out of control” in how he handled his...
UN rejects U.S. resolution urging end to war in Ukraine without noting Russian aggression
UNITED NATIONS — In a win for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the United States on Monday failed to get the U.N. General Assembly to approve its resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow’s aggression. And the assembly approved a dueling European-backed Ukrainian resolution...
Starbucks lays off 1,100 corporate employees as coffee chain streamlines
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and...
Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88
NEW YORK — Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long...
List of winners at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards
LOS ANGELES — Here’s an updating list of winners at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, held Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In addition to the winners below, Jane Fonda received the SAG Life Achievement Award. Film Ensemble “Conclave” Female actor in a leading role Demi Moore,...
Pennsylvania hostage-taking and shootout highlight rising violence against U.S. hospital workers
A man who took hostages in a York County hospital during a shooting that killed a police officer and wounded five other people highlights the rising violence against U.S. healthcare workers and the challenge of protecting them. Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, carried a pistol and zip ties into the intensive care...
Fired federal workers hunt for new jobs but struggle to replace their old ones
NEW YORK — HIRING: Park ranger. SEEKING: Nuclear submarine engineer. WANTED: Sled dog musher. If they seem unlikely postings, they probably are. But a laid-off federal worker can dream. Axed from jobs not easily found outside government, thousands of federal workers caught in President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting efforts now face...
The young techies behind DOGE are a lightning rod for criticism but also a youth magnet for the GOP
CHICAGO — To those concerned about billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s access to sensitive government data, his tear-it-down band of young techies doing that work is an unregulated threat to privacy. The view on the right is much different. Voices influential in conservative politics describe the crew of engineers, most...
Key federal agencies refuse to comply with Musk’s latest demand in his cost-cutting crusade
WASHINGTON — Key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department and Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk’s latest demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished last week — or risk losing their job. The pushback from appointees of President Donald Trump marked...
Ex-Secret Service agent and conservative media personality Dan Bongino picked as FBI deputy director
WASHINGTON — Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who has penned best-selling books, ran unsuccessfully for office and gained fame as a conservative pundit with TV shows and a popular podcast, has been chosen to serve as FBI deputy director. President Donald Trump announced the appointment Sunday night...
Justin Bieber among stars who skate in hockey benefit for L.A. fire relief fundVideo
LOS ANGELES — Justin Bieber and Steve Carell laced up their skates along with Hockey Hall of Famers Rob Blake, Mark Messier, Cammi Granato and Jeremy Roenick on Sunday afternoon to support relief funds from the Los Angeles fires. The Los Angeles Kings and NHL held “Skate for LA Strong”...
Brian Campbell cashes in, wins Mexico Open for 1st PGA Tour title
VALLARTA, Mexico — Brian Campbell cashed in on a huge break Sunday when his tee shot in a playoff bounced out of the trees and back into play, leading to a birdie on the second extra hole to win the Mexico Open over Aldrich Potgieter. Campbell, who closed with a...
Conservative opposition wins German election and the far right is 2nd with strongest postwar result
BERLIN — Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany doubled its support in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what...
Israel sends tanks into West Bank for 1st time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t returnVideo
JENIN, West Bank — Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank on Sunday for the first time in decades in what Palestinian authorities called a “dangerous escalation,” after the defense minister said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and tens of thousands of Palestinians...
Arizona State’s leading scorer BJ Freeman no longer with team after turbulent stretch
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Arizona State’s leading scorer BJ Freeman is no longer with the program because of conduct detrimental to the team, a team spokesman confirmed on Sunday. The dismissal follows a turbulent stretch for Freeman, who was ejected in games against Colorado and Arizona during conference play. He was...
Christopher Bell takes only lead in OT for thrilling NASCAR finish in Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. — Christopher Bell edged Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson in overtime Sunday in another close NASCAR Cup Series finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Bell led only the final lap in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and had a slight edge on the outside when the caution light came...
Zelenskyy says progress made on reaching an agreement with the U.S. on rare minerals deal
KYIV, Ukraine — A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works....
‘Conclave’ triumphs at SAG Awards and Timothée Chalamet wins best actor, upending Oscar predictions
The papal thriller “Conclave” won best ensemble and Timothée Chalamet took best actor at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, a pair of twists that added a few final wrinkles to an unusually unpredictable awards season. In winning the guild’s top award, Edward Berger’s Vatican-set drama triumphed just...
Hat trick puts Alex Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career goals recordVideo
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin fired a perfect wrist shot past Calvin Pickard for his first goal of the game, scored from his office on the power play for his second and sailed a shot into an empty net from his own zone to complete the hat trick. “I have pretty...
