Associated Press stories, Page 291

GHANDOURIYEH, Lebanon — Israel’s military said no damage was caused to one of its army bases in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it launched explosive drones Tuesday toward the area, while an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon killed three members of the militant group, officials said. The Israeli military did...

MADRID — Spanish state prosecutors have opened an investigation of countless tiny plastic pellets washing up on the country’s northwest coastline after they were spilled from a transport ship, posing a possible major ecological problem in the area. The state prosecutor’s office made the announcement late on Monday after having...

WASHINGTON — Both the White House and Pentagon said Monday they would look into why President Joe Biden and other top officials weren’t informed for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized. A Pentagon spokesman pointed to one reason: A key staffer was out sick with the flu....

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and seven of his assistants ended up taking the fall for the biggest late-season collapse in Jacksonville Jaguars history. Coach Doug Pederson fired Caldwell and the others Monday, a day after a 28-20 loss at Tennessee that knocked the Jaguars out of the...

CLEVELAND — This season jammed with unexpected twists, hard turns, highs, lows and Joe Flacco’s improbable arrival is circling back down a familiar path for the Cleveland Browns. For the second time in three weeks, Cleveland is headed to Houston. With so much more at stake. The Browns (11-6) will...

HARRISBURG — The National Park Service withdrew a proposal Monday to take down a statue of William Penn at a Philadelphia historical site as part of a renovation that touched off a torrent of criticism over the legacy of the man who founded the province of Pennsylvania. In a brief...

CINCINNATI — After Joe Burrow was lost for the season with a wrist injury in November, coach Zac Taylor insisted the Bengals had been built to win even without their franchise quarterback. Well, yes and no. Backup Jake Browning exceeded expectations by winning three of his first four starts, helping...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Ducks traded defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in 2025 to the Philadelphia Flyers for high-scoring college left wing Cutter Gauthier. The teams executed the swap of highly regarded youngsters Monday. The 21-year-old Drysdale was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft by...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Let’s dispense with predictions, because enough people — Buffalo Bills fans included — already have been proven wrong by a team that has defied the odds and the eye test by earning a playoff berth, never mind the AFC’s No. 2 seed. All it takes for...

NEW YORK — Reviews have been poor for Sunday’s 81st Golden Globes, but the telecast pulled in an average of 9.4 million viewers, up about 50% from last year, according to CBS. The ceremony had the benefit of an NFL lead-in, as well as an especially starry gathering that drew...

TALLAHASSEE — The Republican Party of Florida ousted Chairman Christian Ziegler in a special vote on Monday as police investigate a rape accusation against him — a move that came a week before Gov. Ron DeSantis competes in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus. A majority of about 200 members approved the...

NEW YORK — An emergency landing by an Alaska Airlines jetliner has prompted U.S. federal authorities to ground some Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, adding another episode to the troubled history of Boeing’s Max lineup of jets. Here is what to know about the Max 9 plane involved, and what...

TORONTO — William Nylander will wear a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater for years to come. Nylander has agreed to a $92 million, eight-year contract extension with the Maple Leafs, the team said Monday. It is the largest contract in franchise history by total value and includes a no-movement clause. The...

Six teams — the Steelers, Browns, Lions, Packers, Texans and Rams — are in the playoffs after missing out last season. At least four teams who failed to qualify one season have reached the playoffs the next every year since 1990. Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys are riding high after...

PARIS — Paris immortalized late British music icon David Bowie by naming a street after him in the city’s southeast on what would have been his 77th birthday on Monday. The inauguration of rue David-Bowie was first announced in 2020 by Jérôme Coumet, mayor of the 13th arrondissement. Bowie died...

Olympic gymnastics great Mary Lou Retton said she faces a long battle recuperating at home from a rare form of pneumonia in which doctors weren’t sure whether she would survive. In an interview that aired Monday on NBC’s “Today” show, Retton said while wearing a breathing tube pumping oxygen through...

Tiger Woods is no longer a Nike athlete after 27 years, ending a partnership between the swoosh and golf’s biggest star and raising questions about the future of both in the sport. Woods in a social media post thanked Nike co-founder Phil Knight for his “passion and vision” that brought...

Purdue held its place atop the AP Top 25 on Monday following its win over Illinois in a top-10 showdown, while Houston jumped Kansas into second place as the last unbeaten team in Division I men’s college basketball. The Boilermakers, who beat the No. 9 Illini 83-78 last week, picked...

In his first interview since his assault and harassment conviction last month, actor Jonathan Majors said he was shocked by the New York jury’s verdict. “I was absolutely shocked and afraid,” Majors said in the interview that aired Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I’m standing there and the verdict...

CHARLESTON, S.C. — President Joe Biden wants Americans to grasp what he sees as the extraordinary stakes of this year’s presidential election. As part of that effort, he’s revisiting some of the nation’s worst traumas to highlight what can happen when hate is allowed to fester. Biden arrived in Charleston,...

NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — When Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans, his trajectory was something of a mystery. But seven days before Iowa’s kick-off caucuses, his standing among the GOP faithful is hardly in doubt. Voters, campaign operatives and even some of...

WASHINGTON — White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu is leaving his post after two years and is expected to help push publicly for President Joe Biden’s reelection. The Democratic president tasked the former New Orleans mayor with setting up a system to invest more than $1 trillion over the coming...