AP-National

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Déjà vu? Feels like it. Assassination plots, arrest warrants for journalists and human rights defenders, attacks against adversaries – from the belittling kind to the judicial type – and other associated government actions have marked the start of 2024 for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and

By KEIRAN SMITH Associated Press SYDNEY (AP) — Australia has reported inflation slowed in the last quarter to its lowest rate in three years, raising hopes of a ‘soft landing’ for the nation’s economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed the latest consumers price index data had slowed to 4.1%, down from 5.4% at the

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press Utah’s governor signed a bill into law Tuesday that makes the state the latest to prohibit diversity training, hiring and inclusion programs at universities and in state government. The measure signed by Spencer Cox, a Republican who previously said he supported the idea, had cleared the state House and Senate

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press SAN SALVADOR (AP) — El Salvador’s government “made mistakes” in its war against the country’s gangs, but has never undermined the country’s democracy to consolidate power, according to the man likely to be reelected vice president. Félix Ulloa, temporarily on leave as El Salvador’s vice president while he runs for

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press New York (AP) — The man accused of killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay can’t have his rap lyrics used against him at trial, a Brooklyn judge decided Tuesday in a ruling that doubled as a history-filled paean to hip-hop as “a platform for expression to many who had largely been

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press Utah became the latest state to regulate bathroom access for transgender people after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law Tuesday that requires people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and government-owned buildings that match their sex assigned at birth. Under the legislation, transgender people can

NEW YORK (AP) — Russian billionaire art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev lost a legal fight with Sotheby’s when a U.S. jury sided with the auction house. The decision was made Tuesday against the businessman’s claims that the auction house ripped him off. Rybolovlev alleged Sotheby’s helped a Swiss art dealer cheat him out of over $160

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. Air Force pilot safely ejected from an F-16 fighter jet before it crashed into waters off South Korea’s southwestern coast. The crash Wednesday was the second of the aircraft in less than two months. The U.S. military said the pilot was conscious and was transported to a medical

By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein has reached an agreement to buy the Baltimore Orioles for $1.725 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday night because the agreement had not been announced. Rubenstein, a

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics has reported an annual 34% decline in operating profit for the last quarter as sluggish demands for its TVs and other consumer electronics products offset hard-won gains from a slowly recovering computer chip market. The South Korean technology giant said it expects its business to improve throughout 2024,

BOSTON (AP) — A Florida man convicted of stealing sports camp tuition in 2019 from hundreds of families and spending the money on plastic surgery, vacations and gambling has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He was also sentenced Tuesday to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to temporarily halt state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s scheduled testimony in a whistleblower lawsuit at the heart of impeachment charges brought against him in 2023. Tuesday’s move delays what could have been the Republican’s first sworn statements on corruption allegations.

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court says it won’t revisit a ruling that private groups can’t sue under a key section of the Voting Rights Act. The decision Tuesday by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sets the stage for a fight before the U.S. Supreme

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino is set to shut its doors April 2 to make room for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium. Tropicana’s owner Bally’s Corp. says the closure marks the beginning of preparations for demolition of the landmark hotel-casino on the Las Vegas

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors have filed murder charges against five suspects in the fatal shootings of six men at a remote dirt crossroads in the Southern California desert. Investigators say the killings were the result of a dispute over marijuana. The district attorney’s office said Tuesday that the suspects also face robbery charges.

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Farmers have captured France’s attention by showering government offices with manure and snarling Parisian traffic with barricades of tractors and hay bales. The farmers say their protests aren’t a moment too soon. Grievances have long been brewing in the European Union’s leading agricultural power. The war between

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Preliminary figures show Mexico’s economy barely eked out a 0.1% increase in the fourth quarter, bringing estimated growth for 2023 to 3.1%. The National Statistics Institute says services advanced 0.1% in the fourth quarter while agricultural output declined by the same amount. Manufacturing remained unchanged. Inflation declined to 4.66% by the