Associated Press stories, Page 507

McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases. In a post on the company’s website Wednesday, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said reports suggesting the price of the average Big Mac has doubled since 2019 were false. McDonald’s said the...

WASHINGTON — A string of security, logistical and weather problems has battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, the project faces criticism that it hasn’t...

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Wednesday it seized control of a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt to cut off smuggling tunnels as it tries to destroy the militant Hamas group in a war now in its eighth month. The capture of the Philadelphi Corridor could complicate Israel’s relations...

WASHINGTON — Months after the nation’s capital bid an emotional farewell to its giant pandas, the National Zoo is expecting a renewed surge in panda-mania with the announcement that two more of the furry black-and-white icons will be coming to Washington. The zoo announced Wednesday that a fresh agreement had...

FORT WORTH, Texas — Gabby Douglas’ long shot bid to make the U.S. women’s gymnastics team for the Paris Olympics is over. The 2012 Olympic all-around champion withdrew from the USA Gymnastics Championships on Wednesday, citing an ankle injury. The 28-year-old Douglas, who also helped the U.S. win gold in...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Front Row Motorsports said Wednesday it has purchased a charter that will expand the NASCAR team to three cars in the Cup Series in 2025. Front Row did not reveal the seller, but the announcement comes one day after Stewart-Haas Racing said it was shuttering its four-car...

LOWELL, Mass. — Minnesota won the inaugural championship of the Professional Women’s Hockey League on Wednesday night, getting 17 saves from Nicole Hensley to beat Boston, 3-0, in a winner-take-all Game 5 and claim the Walter Cup. Three nights after prematurely celebrating a would-be winner in double overtime that was...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dismissed, ending a legal saga that began with images of the world’s top golfer being arrested and handcuffed in Louisville during the PGA Championship. Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell asked a judge Wednesday afternoon to drop the four charges against...

PARIS — Iga Swiatek played like the current No. 1 and the two-time defending champion at the French Open. No surprise there. That Naomi Osaka looked like the former No. 1 that she is — and on clay, no less — amounted to an announcement that she is still quite...

SUNRISE, Fla. — Some tickets to Thursday’s Game 5 of the Florida-New York series at Madison Square Garden are listed for more than $4,000 apiece on the secondary markets. For Saturday’s Game 6 in South Florida, listings for similar seats at ice level are reaching around $3,000. Obviously, that’s big...

NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors told a judge Wednesday they are evaluating more claims of sexual misconduct made against Harvey Weinstein and could potentially seek a new indictment against him before his scheduled retrial on rape and sexual assault charges. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said during a court hearing...

PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are stepping up their reelection pitch to Black voters, a key part of their 2020 winning coalition that has shown signs of fraying. They’ll launch a new Black voter outreach effort during a visit to the battleground state of Pennsylvania...

PHOENIX — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed an election complaint Wednesday alleging CNN is colluding with Democratic President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to exclude him from a debate the network is hosting next month. Kennedy alleges the requirements to participate in the June...

WASHINGTON — Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants, saying his wife hoisted the two controversial flags that flew above their homes. “My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,” Alito wrote Wednesday....

TEL AVIV, Israel — Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in an ambush by an explosive device in Rafah, the military and media reported, as the Israeli national security adviser said that the war against Hamas militants would likely last through the end of the year. Three other soldiers were...

WASHINGTON — Hopes for interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve are steadily fading, with a stream of recent remarks by Fed officials underscoring their intention to keep borrowing costs high as long as needed to curb persistently elevated inflation. A key reason for the delay in rate...

Bronny James is keeping his name in the NBA draft, with the hopes of joining his father in the league next season. “He’s a really good prospect who has a lot of room for growth,” Rich Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports Group, told ESPN, which first reported the decision....

GRINDAVIK, Iceland — A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted Wednesday for the fifth time since December, spewing red streams of lava in the latest display of nature’s power and triggering the evacuation of the popular Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. The eruption began in the early afternoon following a series of...

CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge has struck down New Hampshire’s nearly 3-year-old law limiting what teachers can say about race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and other topics in public schools as unconstitutionally vague. The ruling could revive the topic as an election year campaign issue. Republicans pitched the 2021...

NEW YORK — The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ended its first day of deliberations without a verdict Wednesday but asked to rehear potentially crucial testimony about the alleged hush money scheme at the heart of the history-making case. The 12-person jury was sent home around 4 p.m....

ConocoPhillips is buying Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $17.1 billion as energy prices rise and big oil companies reap massive profits. The deal is valued at $22.5 billion when including $5.4 billion in debt. Crude prices have jumped more than 12% this year and the cost...

Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in Rafah when a booby trap exploded, the military and media reported, as the Israeli national security adviser said that the war against Hamas militants would likely last through the end of the year. Three other soldiers were wounded in the explosion Tuesday, media...

NEW YORK — Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, when Negro Leagues records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated Tuesday after a three-year research project. Gibson’s .466 average for the 1943 Homestead Grays became the season standard, followed...

SEATTLE — When Dan Bylsma took the job as an assistant coach in the American Hockey League in 2021, his hope was to rediscover some enjoyment being a coach. Being back on an NHL bench at that point was the furthest thing from his mind. “I think I needed to...