Associated Press stories, Page 31
Texas Rep. Gonzales resists calls to resign over allegations of affair with ex-stafferVideo
HOUSTON — U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas resisted growing calls Tuesday from fellow congressional Republicans to resign over a report of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died when she set herself on fire. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky joined Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Anna...
Pete Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company’s AI tech as it sees fit
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic’s CEO a deadline for Friday to open the company’s artificial intelligence technology for unrestricted military use or risk losing its government contract, according to a person familiar with their meeting Tuesday. Anthropic makes the chatbot Claude and remains the last of its...
Louvre Museum director resigns in wake of brazen October crown jewel heist in Paris
PARIS — The Louvre Museum’s director resigned Tuesday, ending months of questions in France’s cultural world over why no top official had stepped down after the October crown jewels theft. Laurence des Cars’ departure closed a bruising chapter for the world’s biggest museum. It came as the Louvre faces a...
Severe floods in southeast Brazil kill at least 23 and force hundreds to evacuate
SAO PAULO — Severe floods in southeastern Brazil have killed at least 23 people and left dozens missing in the state of Minas Gerais, officials said Tuesday. Meteorologists warned more rain is expected in the region in the next few days. The torrential rains began on Monday in the cities...
New York City police investigating after officers were hit with snowballs during a snowball fightVideo
NEW YORK — New York City police are investigating after officers were pelted with snowballs while responding to a massive snowball fight at Washington Square Park in Manhattan, as a winter storm blanketed the Northeast in snow. A video of the fracas shows two uniformed officers pacing a walkway in...
U.S. consumer confidence improves modestly in February
WASHINGTON — The American consumer’s confidence in the U.S. economy improved slightly in February after cratering a month earlier. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 in February from an upwardly revised 89 last month. A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income,...
Supreme Court rules Postal Service can’t be sued, even when mail is intentionally not delivered
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Americans can’t sue the U.S. Postal Service, even when employees deliberately refuse to deliver mail. By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled against a Texas landlord, Lebene Konan, who alleges her mail was intentionally withheld for two years. Konan, who...
2-time WNBA champion Kara Braxton dies at 43 after being in a car crash
Two-time WNBA champion Kara Braxton died after being in a car crash in Atlanta on Saturday. She was 43. The athletic department at Georgia, where Braxton played in college, texted The Associated Press confirmation of her death on Monday and posted on social media. Her son, Jelani Thurman, posted a...
Trump cites health care issues in Greenland saying he’s sending a hospital ship. His claims are off
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post Saturday that he would deploy a hospital ship to Greenland, alleging many people there are sick and not receiving care, even though both of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships are undergoing maintenance at a shipyard in Alabama. The announcement prompted a...
2 Missouri sheriff’s deputies fatally shot, 2 others wounded, authorities sayVideo
HIGHLANDVILLE, Mo. — Two Missouri sheriff’s deputies were fatally shot, one during a traffic stop and the other hours later during a shootout with the suspect, who was also killed, authorities said. Christian County Sheriff Brad Cole said the initial shooting happened during a traffic stop south of Highlandville on...
Drone strike in eastern Congo kills senior rebel official, escalating tensions
KINSHASA, Congo — A spokesperson for the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels fighting in eastern Congo has been killed in a drone strike, a local U.N. official and a rights group said Tuesday, escalating tensions over the region’s conflict after peace negotiations stalled. Willy Ngoma, a senior officer who was deeply involved...
Senegal introduces legislation to boost minimum sentence for homosexuality to 5 years
LAGOS, Nigeria — Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko introduced legislation in parliament Tuesday that would toughen the prison term for homosexuality in the West African nation to at least five years from the current minimum of one year. The bill also seeks to broaden the scope of what is defined...
Waymo’s robotaxis now being dispatched in 10 major U.S. markets with expansion in Texas and Florida
Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in four more cities in Texas and Florida, expanding the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets. The move into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Fla., announced Tuesday, widens Waymo’s early lead in autonomous driving while...
FedEx joins other US companies in seeking a refund after Trump tariffs are ruled illegal
FedEx is suing the U.S. government, the latest company to request a refund on what it paid for tariffs set by President Donald Trump last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs are illegal. More than 1,000 companies have filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade...
Iranians worry over American military buildup as next, last-chance round of talks with the U.S. nears
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — As the United States assembles its greatest military firepower in decades in the Middle East, Iranians are warily awaiting the next round of talks with the U.S. in Geneva this week — negotiations that many see as a last chance for their ruling theocracy to...
Savannah Guthrie says her family is offering a $1 million reward for her mother’s return
“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie said her family is now offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who went missing from her Arizona home more than three weeks ago. Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday that her family is still holding out for...
Warner Bros gets a new offer from Paramount in heated bidding war for the storied Hollywood studio
NEW YORK — Warner Bros. Discovery says it’s reviewing a new takeover offer from Paramount but it continues to recommend a competing offer from Netflix to its shareholders. Warner disclosed Tuesday that it had received a revised proposal after a seven-day window to renew talks with Paramount elapsed on Monday....
Mexican cartel clashes fuel worries in lead up to FIFA World Cup
TAPALPA, Mexico — Maria Dolores Aguirre’s family corner store has lived off tourism that has flowed into her charming cobblestoned town of Tapalpa, tucked away in the mountains of Jalisco state. That was until gunshots erupted and helicopters flew overhead as the Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful drug...
Robert Carradine, ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ and ‘Lizzie McGuire’ star, dies at 71
Robert Carradine, the youngest of his prolific Hollywood family and whose biggest hit was the 1984 comedy “Revenge of the Nerds,” has died at 71. In a Tuesday statement to Deadline, his family said he lived with bipolar disorder for two decades and died by suicide. “We want people to...
U.S. military boards third oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean
WASHINGTON — U.S. military forces boarded a third sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said Tuesday. An organization that tracks ship movements said the vessel was the only tanker left...
Zelenskyy says Putin has ‘not broken’ Ukrainians as he marks 4 years since Russia’s all-out invasionVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Tuesday that Russia has not “broken Ukrainians” nor triumphed in its war, four years after an invasion that has severely tested the resolve of Kyiv and its allies and fueled European fears about the scale of Moscow’s ambitions. In a show of support,...
Trump’s State of the Union will seek to calm voters’ economic concerns ahead of midterm electionsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will use Tuesday’s State of the Union to champion his immigration crackdowns, his slashing of the federal government, his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down and his ability to direct quick-hit military actions around the world, including in Iran...
British comedian Russell Brand pleads not guilty to new rape and sexual assault charges
LONDON — British comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to new counts of rape and sexual assault. Brand, who was already facing similar charges involving four women, denied the new charges in Southwark Crown Court. The alleged offenses took place in 2009, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Brand,...
Northeast digs out from brutal snowstorm that disrupted flights, canceled school
NEW YORK — Millions across the northeastern United States on Tuesday contended with treks to school and work as they dug out from a major — and in some areas record-breaking — storm that blanketed the region with snow, canceled flights, disrupted transit and downed power lines. Even as the...
Man convicted of killing a grocery store owner set to be executed in Florida
STARKE, Fla. — A man convicted of killing a grocery store owner during a robbery is set Tuesday evening to become the second person executed in Florida this year. Melvin Trotter, 65, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Trotter...
