AP National News

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As the six-month sprint to the Iowa caucuses begins, the sprawling field of Republican presidential candidates is facing growing pressure to prove they can become serious challengers to former President Donald Trump. The urgency is particularly acute for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis,

By DAVID HAMILTON AP Business Writer The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI and whether the artificial intelligence company violated consumer protection laws by scraping public data and publishing false information through its chatbot. The agency sent OpenAI a 20-page letter requesting detailed information on its AI technology, products,

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A professional butcher whose bloody, wild-eyed face became one of the most memorable images of the U.S. Capitol riot has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for hurling a bow like a spear at police and attacking several other officers. Kyle Fitzsimons was wearing

BERLIN (AP) — Climate activists were blocking flights at two German airports for several hours Thursday in protest against the most polluting form of transportation. They were also demanding tougher government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The group Last Generation said several of its members entered the grounds of Hamburg Airport around 6 a.m.

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico regulators have revoked the license of a marijuana retailer in Albuquerque for selling out-of-state cannabis in violation of state law. The state cannabis control division announced Thursday the sanction against the Paradise Exotics Distro cannabis store. Regulators allege it sold cannabis products imported

LOUISVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Torrential rain fell for several hours Thursday in central Mississippi, flooding roads, homes and businesses in Winston County and Louisville, where the mayor declared a state of emergency. “Please do not travel anywhere in Louisville or Winston County unless it is an absolute emergency,” Mayor Will Hill said Thursday morning on

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A tentative deal has been reached between employers and workers in a strike that has halted shipments in and out of ports in Canada’s west coast region of British Columbia for nearly two weeks. A statement from the BC Maritime Employers Association says it has reached a tentative agreement with

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Syrian government has given a green light for the United Nations to use a key crossing from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held northwest that was closed earlier this week. But Syria wants to take away U.N. control over aid deliveries to the region. Syria’s

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in Georgia’s most populous county, with officials citing violence, filthy conditions and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the

By ASHOK SHARMA and RISHI LEKHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Record monsoon rains have killed more than 100 people in northern India over two weeks. Authorities said Thursday that they used helicopters to rescue nearly 300 people who were stranded in the Chandertal area in the worst-hit Himachal Pradesh state. Most of those

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Authorities in Ottawa say at least one tornado has hit a suburb of Canada’s capital, damaging more than 100 homes. Officials say the storm hit Thursday in Half Moon Bay, a neighborhood at the southern end of the Barrhaven suburb. They say 125 homes sustained dagage, mostly involving roofs being ripped

By EUGENE GARCIA and JANIE HAR Associated Press PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — More than a third of Americans are under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings as a blistering heatwave continues across the Southwest and California. The sweltering conditions were expected to keep building Friday and through the weekend. Forecasters say some California residents

Associated Press The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI and whether the artificial intelligence company violated consumer protection laws by scraping public data and publishing false information through its chatbot, according to reports in the Washington Post and the New York Times. The agency sent OpenAI a 20-page letter

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — Minneapolis must make policing changes under a newly approved settlement reached in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. The Star Tribune reported that a state judge on Thursday approved the settlement agreement between the city and Minnesota’s Human Rights Department. Both the state Human Rights Department and the U.S. Department of

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Thursday approved the nation’s first over-the-counter birth control pill in a landmark decision that will soon allow American women and girls to obtain contraceptive medication as easily as they buy aspirin and eyedrops. The Food and Drug Administration cleared once-a-day Opill to be

By JULIE WATSON Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the man who coordinated stashing nearly two dozen migrants into a Ford Expedition that crashed into a tractor-trailer, killing 13 people. Jose Cruz Noguez was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to charges stemming

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s secret police say charges have been filed against the suspended central bank governor more than a month after he was taken into custody. A secret police statement issued Thursday says Godwin Emefiele was charged in obedience to a court order earlier in the day ordering

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Mississippi woman who says she was hit by a stray police bullet while lying in bed. Latasha Smith, 49, was in bed on Dec. 11 when an officer from the state-run Capitol Police fired

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lisa Marie Presley died from complications from bariatric surgery she had several years ago, authorities said Thursday. The January 12 death at age 54 of the singer, songwriter and heir of Elvis Presley was ruled as being from natural causes due to effects of a