Associated Press stories, Page 1118

WASHINGTON — In anticipation of a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved an $800 million package of military assistance, including additional helicopters and the first provision of American artillery. The Ukrainians also will receive armored personnel carriers, armored Humvees, naval drone vessels used in...

HENDERSON, Nev. — Through a season of turmoil, Derek Carr performed at his best. So the Las Vegas Raiders have given the veteran quarterback a three-year contract extension. The extension is worth $121.5 million, a person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press, speaking Wednesday on condition of...

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is extending the nationwide mask requirement for airplanes and public transit for 15 days as it monitors an uptick in covid-19 cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was extending the order, which was set to expire on...

NEW YORK — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday to forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2018. The guilty plea came nearly three years after the the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star was arrested in the case that saw several delays as his lawyers sought to...

MADISON, Wis. — Skeptical Wisconsin Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday whether state law allows for voters to give their absentee ballot to someone else to return or whether drop boxes can be placed outside municipal clerk offices. The court’s ruling later this spring or summer is expected to establish rules...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff to President Donald Trump, has been removed from North Carolina’s list of registered voters after documents showed he lived in Virginia and voted in that state’s 2021 election, officials said Wednesday. Questions arose about Meadows last month, when North Carolina...

SAN FRANCISCO — Alyssa Nakken was hard at work in the batting cage, just a few steps from the dugout, when suddenly the call came: The San Francisco Giants needed her to coach at first base. She quickly pulled off her sweatshirt, grabbed her No. 92 jersey and found a...

MIAMI — Police in Miami arrested a 41-year-old woman in the deaths of her two children, aged 3 and 5, after officers responded to repeated hang-up 911 calls from her apartment where they found their tied-up bodies. “Come get them, I don’t want them anymore,” Odette Lysse Joassaint told officers...

CAIRO — A tourist bus collided with a truck on a highway in southern Egypt and burst into flames on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, including four French and a Belgian, authorities said. The crash happened on a highway about 27 miles south of the city of Aswan, provincial...

LOS ANGELES — Shortly after moving to South Florida for a new job with the U.S. military, Shannon Kaufman and his wife, Wendy, signed up for a whole other mission: buying a home. For months, they scoured listings, strategizing late into the night on which homes to target and working...

ZAGREB, Croatia — A military drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone over three European NATO member states before crashing in the Croatian capital was armed with an explosive device, Croatian crash investigators said Wednesday. The 6-ton Soviet-era aircraft apparently drifted uncontrolled out of Ukraine,...

AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday defied intensifying pressure over his new border policy that has gridlocked trucks entering the U.S. and shut down some of the world’s busiest trade bridges as the Mexican government, businesses and even some allies urge him to relent. The two-term Republican governor,...

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The Russian embassy in Bosnia on Wednesday criticized the suspension of a Bosnian Serb property law and warned of potential destabilization in the tense Balkan country unless the decision by the top international official is revoked. The embassy in a statement carried by local media reiterated that...

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government’s pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine. London police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party...

TOKYO — U.S. and Japanese warships, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, are conducting their joint naval exercise in waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula for the first time in five years, in a show of their close military alliance amid growing speculation of North Korea’s...

LONDON — An Islamic State supporter was given a whole-life sentence Wednesday for stabbing a British lawmaker to death in revenge for his voting in support for airstrikes on Syria. Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was convicted Monday of murdering Conservative lawmaker David Amess and preparing terrorist acts. A jury deliberated...

SAN FRANCISCO — Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by new restrictions in Texas and other states. The benefit announced Tuesday covers all 4,000 employees at the online review...

PRAGUE — Westinghouse Electric Co. and France’s Framatome have been selected to deliver fuel supplies for the Czech Republic’s Temelin nuclear plant, easing the country’s dependence on Russia. State-controlled power company CEZ said Tuesday that Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse and Framatome will deliver the nuclear fuel for about 15 years, starting in...

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is both a pro-Russian opposition leader and a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been detained in a special operation carried out by the country’s SBU secret service. Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s national security...