Associated Press stories, Page 141

LANCASTER — Wichanee Meechai became the latest surprise in a U.S. Women’s Open filled with them. She started Friday with four straight birdies and matched the low score of the week with a 3-under-par 67 for a two-shot lead going into a weekend that won’t include Nelly Korda. Meechai is...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Olympic gold medal wrestler Gable Steveson is seeking to trade the mat for the gridiron by signing a standard undrafted rookie free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills on Friday. The Bills list the 24-year-old Steveson as a defensive lineman in hopes his leverage techniques and...

DALLAS — Dereck Lively II of the Dallas Mavericks tossed the question back at the reporter when the rookie center was asked if he knew why so many fans shouted “Stars” during the national anthem at his home games. “You tell me why,” Lively said, prompting the explanation that supporters...

PARIS — Stefanos Tsitsipas was in a reflective mood after beating Zhang Zhizhen, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, to reach the fourth round of the French Open on Friday. The 2021 runner-up says tennis plays a fundamental part in shaping his thinking. “I get the feeling that without tennis my life would...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House on Friday, lauding the back-to-back Super Bowl champion team for its sportsmanship on and off the field, and breaking an unofficial political rule about headwear. He tried on a Chiefs helmet the team gave him as...

NEW YORK — Jennifer Lopez has canceled her 2024 North American tour, representatives for Live Nation confirmed to The Associated Press. “Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends,” they said in a statement. The tour was to be her first in five years,...

SUMY REGION, Ukraine — Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Friday, each sending back 75 POWs in the first such swap in the past three months, officials said. A few hours earlier and at the same location, the two sides also handed over bodies of their fallen soldiers....

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military confirmed Friday that its forces are operating in central parts of Rafah in its expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city. Israel launched its ground assault into the city on May 6, triggering an exodus of around 1 million Palestinians out of the city and...

CHICAGO — After Donald Trump’s historic guilty verdict, a steady flow of images showing upside-down American flags has appeared on social media as his supporters and right-wing commentators protest his felony conviction. At least one such flag was spotted Friday outside Trump Tower in New York City as the Republican...

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday he has switched his registration to independent, raising questions about his political plans since the move could help his chances should he seek elected office again in a state that has turned heavily Republican. Manchin, 76, has often been...

Kyrie Irving returning to Boston. Luka Doncic’s first trip to the title round. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, getting another chance at a ring. Kristaps Porzingis facing his former team, too. Pick a storyline. There are many in these NBA Finals. The matchup is now set: It’ll be Boston against...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Biden administration has put on hold a plan to prohibit across-the-board bans on transgender athletes on school teams during an election year in which Republicans are rallying around restrictions on trans youths. But GOP state leaders are making sure voters know the issue is still...

OXON HILL, Md. — Bruhat Soma insisted he was nervous during the idle hours as he waited to take the Scripps National Spelling Bee stage, and he felt even more pressure to perform given that he hadn’t lost a spelling bee in eight months. He never showed any nerves in...

WASHINGTON — Defense experts who have reviewed debris images from an Israeli airstrike that ignited a deadly fire in a camp for displaced Palestinians questioned why Israel did not use smaller, more precise weapons when so many civilians were nearby. They said the bombs used were likely U.S.-made. The strikes,...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The four members of the Swedish pop quartet ABBA, who triumphed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the peppy love song “Waterloo,” are set to receive one of the most prestigious knighthoods in Sweden at a ceremony Friday. The Order of the Vasa will be handed...

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis police officer responding to a shooting call was ambushed and killed Thursday when he stopped to provide aid to a man who appeared to be a victim. That man instead wound up shooting the officer, authorities said. The death of officer Jamal Mitchell happened during a...

LONDON — What did you do in the war, Granny? For British women who came of age during World War II, the answer to that question is often: quite a lot. The history of D-Day is often told through the stories of the men who fought and died when the...

NEW YORK — Donald Trump launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York’s criminal justice system Friday as he tried to repackage his conviction on 34 felony charges as fuel, not an impediment, to his latest White House bid. Trump spoke to...

MINNEAPOLIS — Luka Doncic had a 20-point first quarter on his way to 36 points for his high this postseason, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 124-103, on Thursday night to breeze through the Western Conference finals in five games. Kyrie Irving also scored 36 points for the...

WASHINGTON — The White House is finalizing plans for a U.S.-Mexico border clampdown that would shut off asylum requests and automatically deny entrance to migrants once the number of people encountered by American border officials exceeded a new daily threshold, with President Joe Biden expected to sign an executive order...

NEW YORK — Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin won the NHL’s Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct for the second time Thursday. Also the 2021 winner, he’s the second blue-liner to win it twice, joining Red Kelly, who was a four-time winner, with three coming as a...

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers reacted with immediate fury on Thursday as a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election, speaking out with near unanimity in questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted. House...

LANCASTER — Former champion Yuka Saso leaned on her putter to survive a brutally tough start to the U.S. Women’s Open on Thursday, an opening round that featured Nelly Korda making a 10 on her third hole and only four players barely beating par. Saso had three big par putts...