Blog with slideshow

The road to the NFL’s final four features seven of the eight division winners. Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs open the divisional round weekend against C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans on Saturday afternoon. Rookie sensation Jayden Daniels leads the Washington Commanders against the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions in a prime-time matchup. Daniels helped the Commanders upset the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in […]

Hoping to become a two-way player in Major League Baseball just like Shohei Ohtani, 18-year-old Shotaro Morii made the rare decision to bypass Japanese professional baseball entirely and agreed Wednesday to a minor league contract with the Athletics that includes a signing bonus of $1,510,500. Top Japanese players traditionally have signed first with Nippon Professional Baseball clubs and established their professional credentials before moving to MLB as free agents or […]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Scott O’Neil was formally introduced Wednesday as the new CEO of Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which enters its fourth season next month while its financial backer is negotiating an investment deal with the rival PGA Tour. O’Neil, who takes over for Greg Norman, was CEO of Merlin Entertainments who was in charge of business operations of more than 140 of the company’s attractions. He previously […]

Mediators said Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause the fighting in Gaza starting Sunday after 15 months of war and to begin exchanging dozens of hostages held there for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had yet to confirm on Tuesday that the deal had been finalized. But the ceasefire could eventually bring an end to the bloodiest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel […]

Montana’s Republican-controlled House on Wednesday endorsed a ban on transgender people using bathrooms in public buildings that do not align with their sex assigned at birth — a change that would complicate daily life for two fellow lawmakers. The endorsement comes a month after Montana lawmakers rejected a more narrow rule that would have kept transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr out of women’s restrooms in the state Capitol on the heels […]

HOUSTON (AP) — A man fatally shot a Texas sheriff’s deputy in southwest Houston, prompting a massive search involving multiple law enforcement agencies, authorities said. The suspect opened fire on Jesus Vargas, a 17-year veteran of the Brazoria County sheriff’s department, as the deputy tried to serve an arrest warrant on Wednesday morning, Brazoria County Sheriff Bo Stallman said. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the suspect had a long criminal […]

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City has shuttered a sprawling tent complex that housed hundreds of migrant families on a remote former airport in Brooklyn, as it shrinks the emergency shelter system built up in response to a surge from the southern border that has been steadily receding in recent months. The last of the roughly 2,000 people living on a windswept tarmac at Floyd Bennett Field, once the […]

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the main global producer of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, is expected to report a 58% leap in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday because of surging demand. The world’s largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from the megatrend towards AI. But the Taiwanese company faces headwinds from U.S. government technology restrictions on China and uncertainty about President-elect […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Block, Inc has agreed to pay a fine of $80 million to a group of 48 state financial regulators for violations of anti-money laundering laws through its mobile payment service, Cash App. The multi-statement settlement would also see the fintech firm bring in an independent consultant to review its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering program, and report back to the states on any deficiencies. The company […]

The Transportation Department is stepping up enforcement of persistent flight delays with a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines and a fine against Frontier Airlines. The agency said the U.S. District Court lawsuit it filed in California on Wednesday alleges that Southwest illegally operated chronically delayed flights and disrupted passengers’ travel plans. It says it’s seeking “maximum civil penalties.” “Airlines have a legal obligation to ensure that their flight schedules provide travelers […]