Associated Press stories, Page 347
Qatar says agreement reached to release Israeli hostage, allow Palestinians to return to north Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Mediator Qatar announced early Monday that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Qatar’s statement said Hamas will hand over...
Jannik Sinner beats Alexander Zverev in 3 sets for his 2nd Australian Open title in a row
MELBOURNE, Australia — There’s all sorts of ways beyond merely the score to measure just how dominant Jannik Sinner was while outplaying and frustrating Alexander Zverev during the 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory Sunday that earned the 23-year-old Italian a second consecutive Australian Open championship. The zero break points Sinner...
Avs GM Chris MacFarland felt ‘timing was right’ to deal star forward Mikko RantanenVideo
BOSTON — Facing the prospect of Mikko Rantanen becoming an unrestricted free agent after this season, Colorado general manager Chris MacFarland felt the timing was right to trade the star forward and bolster the Avalanche’s roster for the future. “I think it was just a tough business decision here for...
Trump’s Palestinian refugee idea falls flat with Jordan and confounds a Senate ally
DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump’s push to have Egypt and Jordan take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees from besieged Gaza fell flat with those countries’ governments and left a key congressional ally in Washington perplexed on Sunday. Fighting that broke out in the territory after ruling Hamas attacked...
Trump leans into his pledge to eliminate taxes on tips at a Las Vegas rally
LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump came to Las Vegas on Saturday to crow about his campaign promise to eliminate taxes on tips, signaling to allies in Congress the importance of the policy but stopping well short of offering details for making the slogan a reality. Instead, Trump spent most...
Slow start dooms No. 23 West Virginia in loss at Kansas State
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Dug McDaniel scored 15 points, and David N’Guessan added 14 as Kansas State snapped a six-game skid with a 73-60 win over No. 23 West Virginia on Saturday night. The Wildcats (8-11, 2-6 Big 12) charged to a 19-2 lead and shot 26 for 55 (47.3%), including...
Eagles, Commanders play for 3rd time with huge stakes
PHILADELPHIA — Take a look at the Eagles since October — en route to 16 total wins for the second time in three seasons — and all the hallmarks of a dominant Super Bowl favorite are checked. A 10-game winning streak. Saquon Barkley rewriting team record books and finishing on...
Bills aim to dethrone long-dominant Chiefs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs have met seven times over roughly four years, building such an intense, competitive rivalry that Kansas City safety Justin Reid said the Super Bowl champs just assume they’ll see Buffalo twice a year. Once in the regular season and...
Thousands of endangered tortoises are rescued in Madagascar after their sanctuary is flooded
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A community in southern Madagascar has pulled together to save thousands of critically endangered tortoises swept away from their sanctuary and left swimming for their lives in floods this month caused by a tropical cyclone. The 12,000 radiated and spider tortoises that were housed at...
Freighter remains stuck in the ice on a frozen Lake Erie
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards on Saturday continued efforts to break up ice and free a freighter that has been trapped in a frozen Lake Erie for days, officials said. The Manitoulin, a 663-foot Canadian vessel with 17 people on board, got stuck in the ice...
Loyalty tests and MAGA checks: Inside the Trump White House’s intense screening of job-seekers
WASHINGTON — Job-seekers hoping to join the new Trump administration are facing a series of intense loyalty tests, with White House screening teams fanning out to government agencies to check for “Make America Great Again” bona fides and carefully parsing applicants’ politics and social media posts. President Donald Trump has...
Trump uses mass firing to remove independent inspectors general at a series of agencies
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violated federal oversight laws. The dismissals began Friday night and were effective immediately, according to two people familiar...
Senate confirms Noem as Trump’s homeland security secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration. Republicans kept the Senate working Saturday to install the...
Fast food is a staple of American culture, but some of its workers struggle to survive
FRESNO, Texas — The only moment TiAnna Yeldell has to herself is when she’s sleeping, and that doesn’t happen much. The 44-year-old single mom of three works 80-hour weeks to provide for her children, ages 8, 14, and 18. During the day, she is a driver for Pizza Hut, where...
Australian Open: Madison Keys upsets 2-time champion Aryna Sabalenka in women’s final for 1st Grand Slam title
MELBOURNE, Australia — When Madison Keys stepped into Rod Laver Arena at 7:37 p.m. on Saturday night ahead of the Australian Open final, she strode right past the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the trophy that goes to the women’s champion and was placed on a pedestal near the entrance to...
Hamas frees 4 female Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners as ceasefire holds
TEL AVIV, Israel — Four female Israeli soldiers who were taken in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza returned safely to Israel on Saturday after Hamas militants paraded them before a crowd of thousands in Gaza City and handed them over to the Red Cross. Israel later released...
Democratic states weigh more support for immigrants as Trump administration cracks down
As President Donald Trump tightens the nation’s immigration policies, lawmakers in Democratic-led states are proposing new measures that could erect legal obstacles for federal immigration officials and help immigrants lacking legal status avoid deportation. The resistance efforts in California, New York and other states are a counterpoint to the many...
The only person in the world with a functioning pig organ is thriving after a record 2 months
An Alabama woman passed a major milestone Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant — healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting. “I’m superwoman,” Towana Looney told The Associated Press, laughing about outpacing family members on long walks...
Big Tech wants to plug data centers right into power plants. Utilities say it’s not fair
HARRISBURG — Looking for a quick fix for their fast-growing electricity diets, tech giants are increasingly looking to strike deals with power plant owners to plug in directly, avoiding a potentially longer and more expensive process of hooking into a fraying electric grid that serves everyone else. It’s raising questions...
He’s emboldened, he’s organized and he’s still Trump: Takeaways from the president’s opening days
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s first week in office isn’t over yet, but already it offers signals about how his next four years in the White House may unfold. Some takeaways from the earliest days of his second term: He’s emboldened like never before Within hours of being sworn in,...
Conservatives of color have lofty expectations for Trump’s second term
WASHINGTON — Delivering his first address as a reinaugurated president, Donald Trump spoke directly to communities that had historically shunned his party. “To the Black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote,” Trump...
Trump’s border emergency declaration comes amid relative calm after years of major turmoil
SAN DIEGO — Long stretches of silence on a Border Patrol scanner are punctuated with updates on tracking a single migrant for hours. The radio traffic sounds like a throwback to earlier times, before the United States became the largest destination for asylum-seekers in 2017. “There’s a pair way down...
Cowboys say offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will be next coachVideo
DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys say offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has agreed on a deal to become the storied franchise’s next coach. The somewhat surprising choice announced Friday night is a familiar one for star quarterback Dak Prescott, who worked closely with Schottenheimer the past two seasons when former coach...
Hegseth confirmed as Trump’s defense secretary in tie-breaking vote despite turmoil over his conduct
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation’s defense secretary Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women. Rarely has a Cabinet nominee faced such wide-ranging concerns about his experience...
Chiefs’ Travis Kelce says he ‘used to dream’ of playing QB the way Bills’ Josh Allen does
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There are a lot of people who would love to be living Travis Kelce’s life these days. He’s a bona fide NFL star for the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. He’s appearing everywhere from TV shows to advertisements, and he just happens to...
