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  • Oscar run is bittersweet for brother and friend who made film after death of journalist Brent Renaud

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    LOS ANGELES — When Craig Renaud’s big brother and collaborator in covering years of wars and humanitarian crises Brent Renaud was killed by Russian forces firing on his vehicle in the first weeks of the war in Ukraine, he was thrown into a world of horrible loss and uncertainty.

    One thing was clear, though. He needed to keep filming. His brother would’ve expected nothing else.

    “It was a conversation we had a lot. What would we do if somebody was killed? And it was a promise to each other that we would keep filming and telling the story,” Oscar nominee Craig Renaud said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We have been covering this for almost 20 years in wars with other people. Why would it be any different when it happens to one of us?”

    The result, three years later, was “Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud” and an Academy Award nomination for best documentary short film. It’s brought mixed feelings for Craig Renaud and his producer and collaborator on the film Juan Arredondo, a photographer seriously wounded in the attack who was working with Brent Renaud on a project about refugees for Time Studios.

    “I don’t think this is the documentary that we wanted to be celebrated for,” Arredondo said. “I don’t think I ever dreamed of doing a documentary about my friend dying.”

    Craig Renaud said he has lingering survivor’s guilt for not being at his brother’s side, and Arredondo, who desperately tried to keep Brent Renaud alive after they were shot, has more than enough of his own.

    “It is unbelievably incredible to be able to honor him like this and have him immortalized and his name being in the name of the film and have people be talking about him at this level,” Renaud said. But, he added, “every time we have a screening, we are reliving that trauma.”

    The film unsparingly shows Brent Renaud’s dead body. We see it covered with a jacket in the immediate aftermath attack, and later in a coffin being sealed to ship back to the brothers’ Arkansas home. We see his brother filming him up close, showing the war scars on the lifeless face, and explaining why he needs to.

    And we see the deeply emotional meeting in a Ukraine hospital between Craig Renaud and Arredondo, who would need 13 surgeries and two years of physical therapy to recover.

    “I miss my friend,” Arredondo says through tears. “I miss him too,” Renaud says.

    “The gift of this film,” Arredondo told the AP four years after that moment, “is to heal in some way, to give closure to some of those questions that I had.”

    Despite its inevitable darkness, most of the film’s 37 minutes celebrate the life’s work of its subject, who won a Peabody and several other awards for his reporting with his brother before his death at 50. It opens quietly, with him thoughtfully and sympathetically interviewing a teen migrant from Honduras on his journey to the U.S. Another key scene comes at a hospital crowded with wounded people in Somalia, where a patient summons Brent to him.

    “You are very honest and faithful, the way you hold that camera,” the man says. “It is not just (that) you’re just holding it, you are doing it from your heart.”

    Craig Renaud says he hesitates to tell the story behind that clip because people will think he made it up.

    “Brent came to me in a dream and was like, ‘You missed the right footage,’” he said. “I went back and I kept digging. And I found that moment. And to this day, that is my favorite moment of the film. I mean, when I first discovered it and watched it, I just had chills all over my body.”

    The Russia-Ukraine war has loomed large among Oscar documentaries.

    “20 Days in Mariupol” from The Associated Press won best documentary feature in 2024. Last year, “Porcelain War,” about Ukrainian artists in the war, was a nominee. This year’s feature category includes “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” in which a teacher pushes back against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s control of information in Russia during the war.

    The glitter of awards season has stayed secondary to the work Renaud and Arredondo have returned to. Renaud spoke to the AP from Panama. Arredondo was on assignment in Colombia, where he was raised. He was summoned by the New York Times when he was at the Oscar nominees luncheon, in a ballroom where he was being feted alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet.

    “I strongly believe that what we do matters,” Arredondo said. “I think what happened to us, helped me think that this is my purpose and this is why I survived. I have to continue to do it.”

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  • ChatGPT-maker OpenAI safety representatives summoned to Canada after school shooting

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    TORONTO — Representatives of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI have been summoned to Ottawa after the company said last week that it considered but didn’t alert Canadian police about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.

    Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Monday that he expects the company’s top safety representatives to explain its protocols and how it decides to forward cases to law enforcement when he meets with them on Tuesday.

    OpenAI said last June that the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar via abuse detection efforts for “furtherance of violent activities.”

    The San Francisco technology company said that it considered whether to refer the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, but determined at the time that the account activity didn’t meet a threshold for referral to law enforcement. OpenAI banned the account in June for violating its usage policy.

    The 18-year-old killed eight people in a remote part of British Columbia this month and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    OpenAI said that the threshold for referring a user to law enforcement is whether the case involves an imminent and credible risk of serious physical harm to others. The company said that it didn’t identify credible or imminent planning. The Wall Street Journal first reported OpenAI’s revelation, reporting that about a dozen employees debated informing Canadian police.

    OpenAI said that it wasn’t until after learning of the school shooting that employees reached out to RCMP with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT

    Solomon said that he contacted OpenAI immediately when he read the reports that OpenAI didn’t contact law enforcement in a timely manner.

    “I have summoned the senior safety team from OpenAI to come here to Ottawa from the United States,” Solomon said. “Canadians expect, first of all, that their children particularly are kept safe and these organizations act in a responsible manner.”

    Solomon said that some of his representatives already met with some OpenAI officials on Sunday. He wouldn’t say whether the Canadian government intends to regulate AI chatbots like ChatGPT, but insists that all options are on the table.

    Police said Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and stepbrother at the family home before attacking the nearby school. Van Rootselaar had a history of mental health contacts with police.

    The motive for the shooting remains unclear.

    The town of Tumbler Ridge in the Canadian Rockies is more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) northeast of Vancouver, near the provincial border with Alberta. Police said the victims included a 39-year-old teaching assistant and five students, ages 12 to 13.

    The attack was Canada’s deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.

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  • Supreme Court agrees to hear from oil, gas companies trying to block climate lawsuits

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    WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change.

    The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, among a series of lawsuits alleging the companies deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change.

    Governments around the country have sought damages totaling billions of dollars, arguing it’s necessary to help pay for rebuilding after wildfires, rising sea levels and severe storms worsened by climate change. The lawsuits come amid a wave of legal actions in states including California, Hawaii and New Jersey and worldwide seeking to leverage action through the courts.

    Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil appealed to the Supreme Court after Colorado’s highest court let the Boulder case proceed. The companies argue emissions are a national issue that should be heard in federal court, where similar suits have been tossed out.

    “The use of state law to address global climate change represents a serious threat to one of our Nation’s most critical sectors,” attorneys wrote.

    President Donald Trump’s administration weighed in to support the companies and urge the justices to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court decision, saying it would mean “every locality in the country could sue essentially anyone in the world for contributing to global climate change.”

    Trump, a Republican, has criticized the lawsuits in an executive order, and the Justice Department has sought to head some off in court.

    Attorneys for Boulder had agued that the litigation is still in early stages and should stay in state court. “There is no constitutional bar to states addressing in-state harms caused by out-of-state conduct, be it the negligent design of an automobile or sale of asbestos,” they wrote.

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    Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

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  • Toyota Racing Development signs 13-year-old Keelan Harvick to a long-term driver deal

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A familiar name may be introduced at the 2031 Daytona 500 when Keelan Harvick will be old enough to enter “The Great American Race” his father won 24 years ago.

    Toyota Racing Development said Monday it has signed the 13-year-old third-generation driver to a long-term deal as Kevin Harvick’s son has fully committed to a NASCAR career.

    “My main goal is to be just like my Dad and just try to make it to the Cup Series,” Keelan Harvick told The Associated Press.

    It’s a slight change of direction for Keelan, who had been pursuing a career in Europe until a jarring incident at a karting event in Italy attended by Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc made him realize he was likely more suited for a career in the top motorsports series in the United States.

    “I was in Italy racing and Charles Leclerc’s nephew raced on my team, and (Leclerc) came to watch the race and all the fans followed him there and they broke down the tent,” Keelan said. “It was just a lot of people and just not for me. There was like hundreds of people at a go-kart race just trying to meet him.”

    Toyota has a detailed schedule for the teenager and will partner him this year with RACKLEY W.A.R. and Kevin Harvick, Inc., to compete in dozens of late model races nationwide. Keelan will drive the No. 62 Toyota Camry with ExxonMobil as his primary sponsor for many of the races.

    It’s an interesting twist for the Harvick family as Kevin Harvick spent his 23-year career driving for Chevrolet and Ford, never for Toyota. Kevin Harvick retired after the 2023 season with 63 career Cup Series wins and the 2014 championship. He became an analyst for Fox Sports in 2024.

    “We’ve concentrated a lot on development and have a theory on how it should go, and I felt like the Toyota process matched what we would do,” Kevin Harvick explained. “I think that the effort that Toyota puts into, not only the driving piece of it, but the human piece of it is very important to us as a family. That was really one of the biggest reasons on why we went this direction.”

    The Toyota Driver Development program has promoted current NASCAR Cup drivers Christopher Bell, Corey Heim and John Hunter Nemechek, who compete with Toyota partner teams. Other drivers such as Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez worked with Toyota but now compete for rival manufacturers.

    TRD provides on-and-off the track opportunities to support development and gives its drivers access to the Toyota Performance Center, which provides support with physical fitness, sports psychology, recovery and nutrition.

    “Everyone at Toyota and TRD are excited to welcome Keelan into the Toyota Racing family,” said Tyler Gibbs, president, TRD, U.S.A. “Keelan has proven himself on-track, and despite his young age, has continued to be wise beyond his years with his professionalism and work ethic off of it.

    “TRD is thrilled to partner with Keelan and his family as Keelan continues to develop his racing craft. We see a bright future ahead for him, and everyone at Toyota is proud to be part of his journey.”

    Keelan Harvick has already found success across multiple racing series and in December scored the biggest victory of his career to date when he became the youngest-ever winner of the Snowflake 125 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. He followed it with a victory in Florence Motor Speedway’s Icebreaker in early February, where he was the youngest winner of that event while also earning his first career Late Model victory.

    He was the 2024 INEX Young Lions National Champion and transitioned from Legends to Late Models, where he won four zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model events and two CARS Tour West Pro Late Model Series races in 2025. Keelan is the first driver to win PLM events in both series in the same season.

    As for his aspirations to reach the Cup Series and follow in his father’s footsteps?

    “I think whatever Toyota thinks I’m capable of, the talent that they think I have, and whenever they think I’m ready to move up,” he said.

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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  • A horse’s neigh may be unique in the animal kingdom. Now scientists know how they do it

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Horses whinny to find new friends, greet old ones and celebrate happy moments like feeding time.

    How exactly horses produce that distinctive sound — also called a neigh — has long eluded scientists.

    The whinny is an unusual combination of both high and low pitched sounds, like a cross between a grunt and a squeal — that come out at the same time.

    The low-pitched part wasn’t much of a mystery. It comes from air passing over bands of tissue in the voice box that make noise when they vibrate. It’s a technique similar to how humans speak and sing.

    But the high-pitched piece is more puzzling. With some exceptions, larger animals have larger vocal systems and typically make lower sounds. So how do horses do it?

    According to a new study, they whistle.

    Researchers slid a small camera through horses’ noses to film what happened inside while they whinnied and made another common horse sound, the softer, subtler nicker. They also conducted detailed scans and blew air through the isolated voice boxes of dead horses.

    The whinny’s mysterious high-pitched tones, they discovered, are a kind of whistling that starts in the horse’s voice box. Air vibrates the tissues in the voice box while an area just above contracts, leaving a small opening for the whistle to escape.

    That’s different from human whistling, which we do with our mouths.

    “I’d never imagined that there was a whistling component. It’s really interesting, and I can hear that now,” said Jenifer Nadeau, who studies horses at the University of Connecticut. Nadeau was not involved with the study, which was published Monday in the journal Current Biology.

    A few small rodents like rats and mice whistle like this, but horses are the first known large mammal to have a knack for it. They’re also the only animals known to be able to whistle through their voice boxes while they sing.

    “Knowing that a ‘whinny’ is not just a ‘whinny’ but that it is actually composed of two different fundamental frequencies that are created by two different mechanisms is exciting,” said Alisa Herbst with Rutgers University’s Equine Science Center, of the study in an email.

    A big lingering question is how horses’ two-toned calls came to be. Wild Przewalski’s horses can do something similar, as can elks. But more distant horse relatives like donkeys and zebras can’t make the high-pitched sounds.

    The two-toned whinnies could help horses convey multiple messages at the same time. The differently pitched neighs may help them express a more complex range of feelings when socializing, said study author Elodie Mandel-Briefer with the University of Copenhagen.

    “They can express emotions in these two dimensions,” Mandel-Briefer said.

    —-

    Associated Press video journalist James Brooks contributed to this report.

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Serena Williams brings athlete discipline to business leadership in ‘The CEO Club’ series

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    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Serena Williams may have traded match points for meetings, but the hustle doesn’t stop — even during interviews.

    When Williams logged onto Zoom for an interview with The Associated Press, she was already mid-glam, toggling between touch-ups and business talk. It was a snapshot of the multitasking life she now leads beyond tennis after stepping away from professional competition in four years. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, business investor and producer is among the featured leaders in the new Prime Video docuseries “The CEO Club,” which premieres Monday.

    Williams has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open, when she said she was “evolving” away from tennis. Earlier this month, she became eligible to return to competition after reentering the sport’s drug-testing pool, although it remains unclear whether she plans to play again.

    For Williams, the transition from elite athlete to entrepreneur draws on the same competitive principles that defined her tennis career.

    “I think the biggest lesson is just never give up, and you have to keep trying,” said Williams, who stars in the series alongside Latin singer Thalia; former model and fashion designer Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger; Market America and Shop.com CEO Loren Ridinger; supermodel Winnie Harlow; wellness entrepreneur Hannah Bronfman; and Isabela Rangel Grutman, founder of ISA Grutman jewelry. The eight episode season follows the prominent executives navigating high-stakes decisions, family responsibilities and personal challenges while building global brands.

    “As a CEO, you don’t win everything. You have to make really hard decisions,” Williams continued. “Just like in sport and in tennis, you have to show up every day. You might lose, but you just have to show up again the very next day.”

    Beyond appearing in the series, Williams also served as an executive producer through her company Nine Two Six Productions, a role she said felt natural after years in the public eye.

    “Being in the public eye for so long, you really want to control the narrative and make sure the truth gets out there,” she said. “Not only for me, but for these amazing women that are in the show as well, it’s super important that the right story is told.”

    Ridinger said the series highlights the realities behind leadership that audiences often don’t see.

    “Everybody thinks you’re just like an overnight success. They don’t realize it took 34 years to get where you’re at,” she said. “Leadership is not that easy. You have to make tough decisions, tough calls. You’re not always a fan favorite of people who you’re working with.”

    Ridinger said building a business while balancing personal responsibilities requires prioritization and discipline, particularly for leaders managing both professional demands and family life. She said maintaining focus often means making intentional decisions about how time and energy are spent each day.

    “You cannot become a slave to emergencies,” Ridinger said. “You have to learn how to prioritize. And the way I do that is very simple. I do the hardest things first every day.”

    Both women emphasized the importance of surrounding themselves with trusted supports systems. They said that’s a common theme that runs throughout the series.

    “The curation of a positive circle is just part of life that we need to have,” Ridinger said. “You’re not going to associate with somebody that doesn’t believe in what you do.”

    Williams said the mental resilience required in sports has also prepared her for the pressures of leadership.

    “When you’re the best, most people want you to not do so well,” she said. “You just have to lean into making those decisions anyway.”

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  • Met Gala guests (and the rest of us) learn the next dress code: ‘Fashion is Art’

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    NEW YORK — You certainly don’t have to tell Beyoncé this: Fashion, when deployed properly, is nothing less than art.

    Now, the fashion-forward superstar will have another chance to make the point. When she co-chairs the Met Gala in May, all eyeballs will be glued to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see how one of the most watched women on the planet, in her eighth gala appearance, interprets the dress code: “Fashion is art.”

    The museum announced the dress code Monday, along with some gala-related details including new guest names. Joining the top co-chairs — Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman,tennis champ Venus Williams and Vogue’s Anna Wintour — is a “host committee” chaired by designer Anthony Vaccarello and filmmaker Zoë Kravitz, and featuring names from Sabrina Carpenter and Teyana Taylor to Lena Dunham and Misty Copeland. Additions include actor Angela Bassett and athlete Aimee Mullins.

    They, and everyone else attending, will be figuring out what to wear come May 4. The code seems to have been chosen for maximum flexibility. And, quips Andrew Bolton, curator of the Met’s Costume Institute: “Hopefully, it will put an end to the rather obsolete ‘Is Fashion Art?’ debate once and for all.”

    For Bolton, though, the show’s the thing, to paraphrase Hamlet. As gala-watchers know, the big party is not only a fundraiser for the institute — a self-funding department — but a launchpad for the annual spring fashion exhibit. Curated by Bolton and his team, this year’s show, “Costume Art,” seeks to present fashion as a through-line in the entire history of art.

    The exhibit will be the biggest, in terms of objects, that the institute’s ever done: nearly 400 in total, or 200 garments and 200 artworks from around the museum, placed in pairs. “It’s a beast,” Bolton said, looking a tad exhausted as he guided a reporter around the beginnings of the exhibit on a recent visit.

    The idea, he noted, is to examine “the dressed body” in all its aspects, and to make the point that not only is fashion art — something previous shows have shown — but that art is fashion. “It’s reversing what we’ve done before,” Bolton says. “Now we’re looking at art through the lens of fashion.”

    What that means, in practice, is that you might see an art object in a glass case — say, a vase from ancient Greece. Displayed above the case will be a garment from the museum’s vast costume collection, echoing the fashion on figures in that vase.

    Right now, that vase is represented by a small color snapshot, affixed with dozens of others to the walls of a small conference room in the bowels of the museum — along with countless Post-it notes. Bolton has been spending lots of time in this space, which looks rather like a teenager’s room (albeit a very cultured teenager.)

    Bolton walks along the walls, pointing out each of 12 sections organized to show the range of bodies — and body types — in art. Some are pervasive, like the classical body or the naked body.

    Others have been overlooked, like the disabled body, the aging body, or the corpulent body. Bolton notes that in art, the corpulent body has almost entirely been used as a fertility symbol. “It’s like the notion that corpulence does not exist without fertility,” he says.

    Then there’s the pregnant body, also much overlooked in both art and fashion history. It’s represented here by the pairing of Edgar Degas’ “Pregnant Woman,” a naturalist sculpture that gives a rare look at 19th-century maternity, with designer Georgina Godley’s 1986 dress featuring exaggerated padded curves — defined as “a radical feminist critique” of traditional fashion.

    The exhibit, which seeks to emphasize diversity in body types, also aims to enable viewers to see themselves in some of the fashions. Thus, mannequins will feature heads with polished steel surfaces — as in mirrors – designed by artist Samar Hejazi.

    Bolton, who’s curated the Met’s biggest costume shows, nonetheless says he felt special pressure here to do “something spectacular.” That’s because “Costume Art” is inaugurating, with fanfare, a prominent new home for the museum’s fashion exhibits. The new Conde M. Nast Galleries — created from what was formerly the museum’s retail store — will occupy nearly 12,000 square feet (1,115 square meters) off the museum’s Great Hall.

    For one thing, that will mean gala guests now can conveniently view the exhibit and then stroll easily to the dinner portion of the evening at the Temple of Dendur — or toggle between the two. A more lasting result: it will prevent snaking lines elsewhere in the museum, once the show opens to the public May 10.

    For “Costume Art,” the galleries, still being completed, consist of two main rooms with different heights — one with an 18-foot ceiling, one with a 9-foot ceiling. The idea is for viewers to weave in and out of each space. “There’s a permeability,” Bolton says.

    He calls the new show, already, one of the highlights of his career — and a statement of intent.

    “We’re trying to make a statement here — that this is something WE can do at the Met,” he explains. “We have access to 16 curatorial departments across the museum.” And, of course, access to the institute’s more than 33,000 garments. “Really, nobody else has this capacity,” Bolton says.

    He hopes the show will inaugurate not only new galleries, but an era of collaboration with the rest of the museum – one that puts fashion, well, forward.

    “Costume Art” will run from May 10 through Jan. 10, 2027.

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  • How refill stores are changing the way we reduce waste

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    Refilling a bottle instead of throwing it away has become a popular way for people to reduce waste — a small, tangible action in response to larger environmental problems.

    But whether refilling actually makes a difference depends on how these systems are used and what they replace. Scores of refill stores have opened in recent years as retailers and customers seek fresh ways to reduce waste. Some brands are also using specialized recycling programs for tricky packaging.

    At Lufka Refillable Zero Waste store in Tampa, customers bring in reusable containers to fill with soap, shampoo and cleaning supplies instead of buying products in single-use packaging. The idea is to cut down on packaging waste by reusing what people already own.

    Customers’ containers are weighed first, then filled. They’re charged by the amount of product added. Over time, that reuse can add up.

    For customer Julie Hughes, the act of refilling feels rewarding. Hughes discovered Lufka two years ago while looking for skincare products and has returned regularly, drawn by the ability to reuse packaging rather than discard it.

    “When you do something positive, you get a little bit of like a dopamine hit and you feel good,” Hughes said on a recent trip to buy liquid hand soap. “There are so many big problems in the world, but we can’t solve all of the big problems, but we do have control over our choices.”

    Some shoppers have been refilling the same containers for six years, said Lufka founder Kelly Hawaii.

    “Just imagine how much waste they’ve personally stopped consuming because they have that one container for that one product,” Hawaii said.

    Refillable packaging is less a new invention than a return to earlier distribution models. Many industries historically relied on refillable or returnable containers, with familiar examples in the U.S. including soda, beer and dairy in the recent past.

    A 2020 study of reusable packaging explains that a shift to single-use packaging took hold mainly because disposable systems simplified logistics and reduced handling costs for producers and retailers. That transition contributed to a steady increase in packaging production and waste over time as reuse infrastructure declined, according to the study published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling: X.

    In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in reuse as part of a broader move toward a “circular economy” that keeps products and materials in use longer to limit waste. The Public Interest Research Group estimates there are hundreds of refillable stores around the country, part of what it calls a “generation of new businesses” aimed at reducing packaging waste.

    Larger chains and brands are also offering refillable options and other innovations. Lush Cosmetics sells certain products “naked,” without packaging, and offers discounts to customers who return containers from its other products. The reusable packaging platform Loop, available in France, partners with major brands such as Nestle and Coca-Cola to distribute products in durable containers that are collected, cleaned and refilled for reuse.

    Despite this resurgence, refillable packaging makes up a small share of the overall market. The systems face barriers to expansion, including hygiene requirements and the need for systems to collect and process containers, according to the study, which also noted that these additional processing and cleaning costs may make them more expensive.

    Reusing vessels for everyday products has advantages over recycling single-use packages, as long as people follow a thoughtful approach, according to experts.

    Shelie Miller, a University of Michigan professor who studies sustainability, said consumers should think of the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” as a priority order, meaning reuse should generally come before recycling.

    Still, reuse doesn’t automatically mean lower environmental impact. Durable reusable containers typically require more energy and materials to produce, so they need to be used long enough to offset the resources that go into them, Miller said. What this means is that the environmental advantage emerges only after repeated use spreads those initial impacts across many uses, which Miller refers to as a “payback period.” How much water and electricity consumers use at home to clean reusable products also factors in.

    A 2021 study by Miller and a colleague examined reusable products including drinking straws, forks and coffee cups and measured their payback periods in separate categories including greenhouse gas emissions, water use and energy demand. The study found that a ceramic coffee mug must be reused between 4 and 32 times before outperforming disposable cups on those measures, which represented faster paybacks than reusable coffee cups made from metal or plastic.

    Convenience also plays a role. If refilling requires a special trip, the added transportation emissions can cancel out the benefits, making refill systems most effective when they fit into existing routines.

    “If you are making dedicated trips just to reduce packaging, it actually can be worse for the environment than if you use the single-use product,” said Miller.

    Large beauty retailers such as Ulta Beauty and Sephora are also partnering with Pact Collective, a nonprofit that collects hard-to-recycle beauty packaging through in-store bins.

    Carly Snider, executive director of Pact Collective, said the program collects packaging made of mixed materials that regular recycling programs can’t process or small pieces measuring less than 2 inches (5 centimeters) — like pumps, droppers and sample-sized containers — that fall through the cracks of machines at recycling facilities.

    “There’s specific things with beauty packaging that makes it really difficult,” said Snider.

    Pact routes those materials through specialized processing, diverting large volumes of material from landfills, said Snider.

    Experts emphasize that refilling and recycling programs aren’t a perfect solution, but when they replace single-use packaging and fit into everyday life, they can help reduce waste.

    “Small things do add up,” Miller said. “And so when you have millions of people who are all doing small things, that really can make a difference, make a change.”

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Police are finding suspects based on their online searches as courts weigh privacy concerns

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    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Criminal investigators hoping to develop suspects in difficult cases have been asking Google to reveal who searched for specific information online, seeking “reverse keyword” warrants that critics warn threaten the privacy of innocent people.

    Unlike traditional search warrants that target a known suspect or location, keyword warrants work backward by identifying internet addresses where searches were made in a certain window of time for particular terms, such as a street address where a crime occurred or a phrase like “pipe bomb.”

    Police have used the method to investigate a series of bombings in Texas, the assassination of a Brazilian politician and a fatal arson in Colorado.

    It’s not a wild guess by investigators to conclude that people are using Google searches in all manner of crimes, as the company’s search engine has become the main gateway to the internet and users’ daily lives increasingly leave online traces. The potential value to investigators of the data Google collects is obvious in cases with no suspect, such as the search for Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper.

    The legal tension between the need to solve crimes quickly and the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against overly broad searches was at the heart of a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that upheld the use of a reverse keyword warrant in a rape investigation.

    Privacy advocates see it as giving police “unfettered access to the thoughts, feelings, concerns and secrets of countless people,” according to an amicus brief filed in the Pennsylvania appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Internet Archive and several library organizations.

    In response to written questions about the warrants, Google provided an emailed statement: “Our processes for handling law enforcement requests are designed to protect users’ privacy while meeting our legal obligations. We review all legal demands for legal validity, and we push back against those that are overbroad or improper, including objecting to some entirely.”

    Pennsylvania State Police were stymied in their investigation into the violent rape of a woman in 2016 on a remote cul-de-sac outside Milton, a small community in the center of the state. With no clear leads, police obtained a warrant directing Google to disclose accounts that searched for the victim’s name or address over the week when she was attacked.

    More than a year later, Google reported two searches for the woman’s address were made a few hours before the assault from a specific IP address, a numeric designation that lists where a phone or computer lives on the internet.

    That led them to the home of a state prison guard named John Edward Kurtz.

    Police then conducted surveillance and collected a cigarette butt he discarded that matched DNA recovered from the victim, according to court records. He confessed to the rape and attacks involving four other women over a five-year period, and was convicted in 2020. Now 51, he’s been sentenced to 59 to 280 years.

    Kurtz’s attorneys argued police lacked probable cause to obtain the information and impinged on his privacy rights.

    The state Supreme Court rejected those claims late last year but split on the reasons why. Three justices said Kurtz should not have expected his Google searches to be private, while three more said police had probable cause to look for anyone who searched the victim’s address before the attack. But a dissenting justice said probable cause requires more than just a “bald hunch” and guessing that a perpetrator would have used Google.

    Kurtz lawyer Douglas Taglieri made the same point in a court filing, but conceded, “It was a good guess.”

    Julia Skinner, a prosecutor in the case, said reverse keyword searches are much more effective when there are specific and even unusual terms that can narrow results, such as a distinctive name or an address. They are also particularly effective when crimes appear to have been planned out beforehand, she said.

    “I don’t think they’re used super frequently, because what you need to target has to be so specific,” she said. There were 57 searches returned in the Kurtz case, but many of them were first responders trying to locate the home in the immediate aftermath of the crime, Skinner said.

    In the similar case in Colorado, police sought the IP addresses of anyone who searched over a 15-day period for the address of a home where a deadly arson occurred. Authorities got IP addresses for 61 searches made by eight accounts, ultimately helping identify three teenage suspects.

    The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that although the keyword warrant was constitutionally defective for not specifying an “individualized probable cause,” the evidence could be used because police had acted in good faith about what was known about the law at the time.

    “If dystopian problems emerge, as some fear, the courts stand ready to hear argument regarding how we should rein in law enforcement’s use of rapidly advancing technology,” the majority of Colorado justices ruled.

    Courts have long permitted investigators to seek things like bank records or phone logs. However, civil liberties groups say extending those powers to online keywords turns every search user into a suspect.

    It’s unclear how many keyword warrants are issued every year — Google does not break down the total number of warrants it receives by type, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in a January 2024 brief.

    The two groups said police working on the bombings in Austin, Texas, sought anyone who searched for terms such as “low explosives” and “pipe bomb.” And in Brazil, investigators trying to solve the 2018 assassination in Rio de Janeiro of the politician Marielle Franco asked for those who searched for Franco’s name and the street where she lived. A Brazilian high court is expected to decide soon on the legality of those search disclosures.

    Reverse keyword warrants are distinct from “geofence” warrants, where criminal investigators seek information about who was in a given area at a particular time. The U.S. Supreme Court said last month it will rule on that method’s constitutionality.

    For many people, their Google search history contains some of their most personal thoughts, from health issues and political beliefs to financial decisions and spending patterns. Google is introducing more artificial intelligence into its search engine, seemingly a way to learn even more about users.

    “What could be more embarrassing,” asked University of Pennsylvania law professor and civil rights lawyer David Rudovsky, if every Google search “was now out there, gone viral?”

    Google warns users personal information can be shared outside the company when it has a “good-faith belief that disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary” to respond to applicable laws, regulations, legal processes or an “enforceable government request.”

    In the Kurtz case, Pennsylvania Justice David Wecht drew a distinction between Kurtz deciding to search for the victim’s name on Google and a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the use of broad collections of cellphone location data.

    “A user who wants to keep such material private has options,” Wecht wrote. “That user does not have to click on Google.”

    ___

    AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed.

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  • Robotaxis are coming to London. The city’s famed black cab drivers are skeptical

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    LONDON — The Ford Mustang Mach-E cruises down a London road choked with traffic, using its onboard AI system to avoid jaywalkers and cyclists, and navigate roadwork as it drives to its destination.

    The autonomous vehicle from British startup Wayve Technologies is on a test run ahead of the U.K. government’s robotaxi trials set to launch in the spring. Tech companies including U.S. company Waymo and China’s Baidu also plan to take part in the pilot program, making London the latest arena in the global robotaxi competition.

    While self-driving cabs aren’t new, London’s ancient road layout and busy streetscapes could pose special challenges for the technology.

    There’s also skepticism from London’s famed black cab drivers, who must pass a grueling training course known as “The Knowledge,” which requires memorizing hundreds of routes and takes years to complete. They’ve previously opposed technology that’s disrupted their industry, and protested the arrival of Uber.

    Self-driving taxis are “a solution looking for a problem,” said Steven McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, which represents black cabbies.

    He doubts that robotaxis would have any advantage on London’s road network, which is laid out in a convoluted spiderweb that dates back to Roman times — unlike the grid layout in American cities like San Francisco and Phoenix where Waymo operates.

    The British capital is notorious for being one of the world’s most congested cities and its streets are already clogged with other modes of transport, including private cars, buses, motor scooters, bicycles and electric rental bikes.

    McNamara and many others have noted that robotaxis face another challenge from pedestrians crossing the streets. While jaywalking is illegal in the United States and many other countries, it’s not an offense in Britain.

    “It’s virtually impossible to drive anywhere (in London) without somebody walking in front of you,” McNamara said. In London, with a population of nearly 10 million, he wondered “how these cars are going to deal with those volumes of people?”

    The robotaxi companies say there’s room for the new technology.

    “I think Londoners are going to love autonomous driving. It’s going to be another choice alongside the Tube, cycling, walking, “said Wayve CEO Alex Kendall in a recent interview at the company’s workshop.

    Wayve is teaming up with Uber for the taxi trials, which are part of Britain’s move to adopt national regulations for self-driving vehicles. The nation is seeking to position itself as a world leader in the technology.

    Chinese tech company Baidu is also teaming up with Uber, as well as its ride-hailing rival Lyft, to operate its Apollo Go autonomous vehicle service in the London pilot.

    Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, will also take part and plans to launch a London passenger service by the third quarter of 2026, company representatives told reporters last month.

    Waymo officials sought to ease concerns that the company would suddenly flood London streets with robotaxis, noting that it has operated 1,000 total vehicles in San Francisco since going into full service in 2024.

    “We’re not here to replace anyone,” Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher said. “We’re here to add another option for people who will choose to take black cabs or other modes of transportation when it suits them and choose to take Waymo, when it makes sense.”

    Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace sedans have been spotted doing test runs around London. Wayve’s Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles have also been doing road tests with human backup drivers sitting behind the wheel, ready to intervene if needed.

    On a recent demo ride for The Associated Press, Wayve’s Ford steered automatically through a three-mile (five kilometer) loop in North London without any problems.

    Cruising down a straight and open stretch of road, the car maintained a steady pace of 19 miles (30 kilometers) per hour, a tick under the speed limit.

    A traffic light changed as the car approached, forcing it to brake firmly and lightly jolting the passengers forward — the only moment that the driving was less than smooth.

    Kendall said Wayve takes a different approach from traditional self-driving technology. It doesn’t rely on “high definition” maps and “hand-coded” safety systems rules written by programmers anticipating every scenario.

    Instead, it uses an AI trained on millions of hours of data gathered by its cars to learn and understand how the world works.

    “This is the key thing for self-driving, because every time you drive on the road, you’re going to experience something different,” Kendall said. “You can’t rely on a self-driving car being told how to behave in every scenario it encounters.”

    He said Wayve is positioning itself as a technology company providing hardware and software that can be added to any vehicle to make it autonomous. It signed a deal with Nissan in December to build self-driving cars that will go on sale in Japan and North America by 2027.

    Kendall wouldn’t reveal any more specific details about the robotaxi service it will operate in collaboration with Uber, such as pricing.

    Waymo, which has its own app to hail rides, will have “competitive” prices and fares will be in line with the market, officials said last month, while adding that it is often able to “demand more premium pricing.”

    Experts say there’s a role for robotaxis in Britain, but it might be a niche one.

    They’re best poised to fill gaps in Britain’s public transport network, such as serving villages that have lost bus services connecting them to bigger towns and cities because of budget cuts, said Kevin Vincent, director of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Automotive Research at Coventry University.

    There will still be demand for human drivers, especially from out-of-town visitors and tourists, he said.

    If you find a “cab driver who knows the area, you can ask him questions. You feel confident and comfortable you’re going where you need to go,” which is a service that won’t be easily replaced in the short term, Vincent said.

    Self-driving taxis can’t replicate the human touch, said Frank O’Beirne, who has been driving black cabs for 14 years.

    For example, one of his recent fares was a pair of blind passengers going to touristy Leicester Square. He ended up parking at a cab rank and walking them across the street to their destination, a Chinese restaurant that turned out to be in the basement of a casino.

    “They would never have found that, ever, (on their own),” said O’Beirne. “There’s nothing like us. I can’t see the space where autonomous taxis can operate, really.”

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  • Winners of the 2026 British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTAs

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    LONDON — Winners of the 2026 British Academy Film Awards, announced Sunday:

    Film — “One Battle After Another”

    British Film — “Hamnet”

    Director — Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”

    Actor — Robert Aramayo, “I Swear”

    Actress — Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”

    Supporting Actor — Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”

    Supporting Actress — Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”

    Rising Star (voted for by the public) — Robert Aramayo

    Outstanding British Debut — Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies for writing and directing “My Father’s Shadow”

    Original Screenplay — Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”

    Adapted Screenplay — Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”

    Film Not in the English Language — “Sentimental Value”

    Musical Score — “Sinners”

    Cinematography – Michael Bauman, “One Battle After Another”

    Editing – Andy Jurgensen, “One Battle After Another”

    Production Design — “Frankenstein”

    Costume Design – Kate Hawley, “Frankenstein”

    Sound — “F1”

    Casting — Lauren Evans, “I Swear”

    Visual Effects — “Avatar: Fire and Ash”

    Makeup and Hair — “Frankenstein”

    Animated Film — “Zootropolis 2” (released in the U.S. as “Zootopia 2”)

    British Short Film — “This is Endometriosis”

    British Short Animation — “Two Black Boys in Paradise”

    Children’s and Family Film – “Boong”

    Documentary – “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”

    Outstanding British contribution to cinema — Clare Binns, Creative Director of PictureHouse Cinemas

    BAFTA Fellowship — NBCUniversal Entertainment chairperson Donna Langley

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  • Cleveland takes on New York, seeks 6th straight home win

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    New York Knicks (37-21, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (36-22, fourth in the Eastern Conference)

    Cleveland; Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. EST

    BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cavaliers -3; over/under is 229.5

    BOTTOM LINE: Cleveland will try to keep its five-game home win streak intact when the Cavaliers play New York.

    The Cavaliers have gone 22-13 against Eastern Conference teams. Cleveland is ninth in the Eastern Conference with 15.4 fast break points per game led by Donovan Mitchell averaging 4.2.

    The Knicks are 25-14 in conference games. New York is fourth in the Eastern Conference giving up only 111.8 points while holding opponents to 45.9% shooting.

    The Cavaliers’ 14.6 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 13.8 per game the Knicks give up. The Knicks average 117.5 points per game, 2.1 more than the 115.4 the Cavaliers allow to opponents.

    The teams square off for the third time this season. The Knicks won the last matchup 126-124 on Dec. 25, with Jalen Brunson scoring 34 points in the victory.

    TOP PERFORMERS: Evan Mobley is scoring 17.7 points per game and averaging 8.6 rebounds for the Cavaliers. Mitchell is averaging 25.0 points and 3.2 rebounds over the last 10 games.

    Mikal Bridges is scoring 15.6 points per game and averaging 4.2 rebounds for the Knicks. Brunson is averaging 23.8 points and 4.6 rebounds over the last 10 games.

    LAST 10 GAMES: Cavaliers: 8-2, averaging 122.8 points, 43.9 rebounds, 30.1 assists, 10.7 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 51.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.1 points per game.

    Knicks: 7-3, averaging 116.5 points, 43.6 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 7.4 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 47.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.2 points.

    INJURIES: Cavaliers: Max Strus: out (foot).

    Knicks: Mitchell Robinson: out (ankle), Miles McBride: out (ankle).

    ___

    The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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  • US futures fall while Asian markets are mostly higher after the Supreme Court nixes Trump’s tariffs

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    BANGKOK — U.S. futures fell and most Asian markets climbed Monday after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

    Tokyo’s markets were closed for a holiday.

    Hong Kong led regional gains as its Hang Seng index surged 2.2% to 27,003.47. But the Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3% to 4,082.07.

    In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.1% to 5,873.07.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 9,041.00.

    Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.4%.

    The mixed reactions are “highlighting the winners-and-losers effect of shifts in tariff policy that has just delivered a boost to countries who previously had a comparatively bad deal,” Benjamin Picton of Rabobank said in a commentary.

    “U.S. tariff policy will continue to be a source of uncertainty for markets as traders attempt to price in the implications of what is still a movable feast,” he wrote.

    The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%. The future for the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.8%.

    On Friday, Wall Street kept calm after the Supreme Court’s ruling against Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when they were announced last year.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 6,909.51. It had been flipping between small gains and losses before the court’s ruling, following discouraging reports showing slowing growth for the U.S. economy and faster inflation.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 49,625.97. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,886.07.

    Tariffs also aren’t going away, even with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Trump in the afternoon said he would use other avenues to put taxes on imports from other countries after calling the court’s decision terrible.

    “Just so you understand, we have tariffs, we just have them in a different way,” Trump told reporters in an afternoon briefing. He said he would sign an executive order to impose a 10% global tariff under a law that could limit it to 150 days. He later raised that to 15%.

    The president also said he’s exploring other tariffs through other avenues, ones that would require an investigation through the Commerce Department.

    The reaction has been tentative given persisting uncertainties over what Trump will do.

    On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies dropped 14.1% for one of the market’s sharpest losses. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected, but it gave a profit forecast for the upcoming year that fell short of estimates.

    Akamai plans to spend a bigger percentage of its revenue this upcoming year on equipment and other investments. It’s the latest potential indicator of how shortages of computer memory created by the AI boom are affecting customers throughout the economy.

    Discouraging reports showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation drew a relatively muted response from investors.

    The reports underscore the tricky situation the Federal Reserve faces as it sets interest rates, but did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice this year, according to data from CME Group.

    Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices a boost, but they also risk worsening inflation. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they want to see inflation fall further before they would support cutting rates further.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 53 cents to $65.95 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 51 cents to $70.79 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar slipped to 154.11 Japanese yen f rom 154.99 yen. The euro rose to $1.1828 from $1.1780.

    The price of gold rose 1.9%, while the price of silver was up 5.5%.

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  • US futures fall while Asian markets are mostly higher after the Supreme Court nixes Trump’s tariffs

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    BANGKOK — U.S. futures fell and most Asian markets climbed Monday after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

    Tokyo’s markets were closed for a holiday.

    Hong Kong led regional gains as its Hang Seng index surged 2.2% to 27,003.47. But the Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3% to 4,082.07.

    In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.1% to 5,873.07.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 9,041.00.

    Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.4%.

    The mixed reactions are “highlighting the winners-and-losers effect of shifts in tariff policy that has just delivered a boost to countries who previously had a comparatively bad deal,” Benjamin Picton of Rabobank said in a commentary.

    “U.S. tariff policy will continue to be a source of uncertainty for markets as traders attempt to price in the implications of what is still a movable feast,” he wrote.

    The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%. The future for the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.8%.

    On Friday, Wall Street kept calm after the Supreme Court’s ruling against Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when they were announced last year.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 6,909.51. It had been flipping between small gains and losses before the court’s ruling, following discouraging reports showing slowing growth for the U.S. economy and faster inflation.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 49,625.97. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,886.07.

    Tariffs also aren’t going away, even with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Trump in the afternoon said he would use other avenues to put taxes on imports from other countries after calling the court’s decision terrible.

    “Just so you understand, we have tariffs, we just have them in a different way,” Trump told reporters in an afternoon briefing. He said he would sign an executive order to impose a 10% global tariff under a law that could limit it to 150 days. He later raised that to 15%.

    The president also said he’s exploring other tariffs through other avenues, ones that would require an investigation through the Commerce Department.

    The reaction has been tentative given persisting uncertainties over what Trump will do.

    On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies dropped 14.1% for one of the market’s sharpest losses. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected, but it gave a profit forecast for the upcoming year that fell short of estimates.

    Akamai plans to spend a bigger percentage of its revenue this upcoming year on equipment and other investments. It’s the latest potential indicator of how shortages of computer memory created by the AI boom are affecting customers throughout the economy.

    Discouraging reports showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation drew a relatively muted response from investors.

    The reports underscore the tricky situation the Federal Reserve faces as it sets interest rates, but did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice this year, according to data from CME Group.

    Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices a boost, but they also risk worsening inflation. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they want to see inflation fall further before they would support cutting rates further.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 53 cents to $65.95 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 51 cents to $70.79 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar slipped to 154.11 Japanese yen f rom 154.99 yen. The euro rose to $1.1828 from $1.1780.

    The price of gold rose 1.9%, while the price of silver was up 5.5%.

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  • Madison Booker scores 23 points and No. 4 Texas routs Mississippi State 92-42

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    AUSTIN, Texas — Madison Booker scored 23 points, Jordan Lee added 17 and No. 4 Texas routed Mississippi State 92-42 Sunday.

    Texas (26-3, 11-3 Southeastern Conference) has won 41 straight home games, the longest such streak in the country.

    Both Booker and Lee were accurate from the field. Booker hit 8 of 12, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Lee shot 6 of 10, including a season-best five 3-pointers in eight tries.

    The Longhorns hit 11 of 22 3-pointers, setting a season high for the second straight game. They made 10 of 28 during a 93-62 win at Arkansas on Thursday.

    Aaliyah Crump scored 12 points for Texas and Ashton Judd added 11. Breya Cunningham grabbed 12 rebounds and Rori Harmon had 11 assists.

    Favour Nwaedozi scored nine points to lead Mississippi State (18-10, 5-9). The Bulldogs shot 38% and committed a season-high 28 turnovers.

    Mississippi State came in averaging 15 turnovers a game. The Bulldogs committed 17 by halftime. Texas turning them into 24 points while taking a 50-18 lead.

    Mississippi State: at Texas A&M on Thursday.

    Texas: hosts No. 24 Georgia on Thursday.

    ___

    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

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  • NASA will return its moon rocket to the hangar for more repairs before astronauts strap in

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Grounded until at least April, NASA’s giant moon rocket is headed back to the hangar this week for more repairs before astronauts climb aboard.

    The space agency said Sunday it’s targeting Tuesday for the slow, four-mile (6.4-kilometer) trek across Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting.

    NASA had barely finished a repeat fueling test Thursday, to ensure dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks were plugged, when another problem cropped up.

    This time, the rocket’s helium system malfunctioned, further delaying astronauts’ first trip to the moon in more than half a century.

    Engineers had just tamed the hydrogen leaks and settled on a March 6 launch date — already a month late — when the helium issue arose. The helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage was disrupted; helium is needed to purge the engines and pressurize the fuel tanks.

    “Returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is required to determine the cause of the issue and fix it,” NASA said in a statement.

    NASA said the quick rollback preps preserve an April launch attempt, but stressed that will depend on how the repairs go. The space agency has only a handful of days any given month to launch the crew of four around the moon and back.

    The three Americans and one Canadian assigned to the Artemis II mission remain on standby in Houston. They will become the first people to fly to the moon since NASA’s Apollo program that sent 24 astronauts there from 1968 through 1972.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • 3 players targeted with racist abuse online after Premier League games

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    Three Premier League players were targeted with racist abuse online after their games this weekend.

    Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri shared images of racist messages they were sent privately over Instagram following their teams’ match at Stamford Bridge that finished 1-1.

    On Sunday, Wolverhampton striker Tolu Arokodare showed racially aggravated messages he received on Instagram after a 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace, during which he had a penalty saved.

    The incidents came days after UEFA began an investigation into claims by Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior that he was racially abused on the field by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni during a Champions League game in Lisbon.

    Fofana, who was sent off for receiving two yellow cards against Burnley, posted screenshots of messages he had been sent and wrote on Instagram: “2026, it’s still the same thing, nothing changes. These people are never punished.

    “You create big campaigns against racism, but nobody actually does anything.”

    Mejbri wrote on his Instagram story: “It’s 2026 and there are still people like that. Educate yourself and your kids, please.”

    Chelsea said in a statement the abuse directed at Fofana was “completely unacceptable and runs counter to the values of the game and everything we stand for as a club.”

    “We stand unequivocally with Wes,” the statement read. “He has our full support, as do all our players who are too often forced to endure this hatred simply for doing their job.

    “We will work with the relevant authorities and platforms in identifying the perpetrators and take the strongest possible action.”

    Burnley said in its statement there was “no place for this in our society and we condemn it unreservedly.”

    One of the racist messages sent to Arokodare on Sunday appeared to be from a gambler.

    Writing on his Instagram story, Arokodare said: “It’s still unbelievable to me that we’re playing in a time where people have so much freedom to communicate such racism without any consequences.”

    ___

    AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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  • It’s a quiet box office weekend as ‘GOAT’ edges ‘Wuthering Heights’

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    It was a battle of the holdovers at the North American box office this weekend, with the family friendly film “GOAT” edging out the R-rated “Wuthering Heights.”

    Sony Pictures Animation’s “GOAT” took in $17 million, while Warner Bros.’ “Wuthering Heights” earned $14.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Both films are in their second weekend.

    Overall, it was a quiet weekend at movie theaters around the country, with new offerings all opening under $10 million. Those results applied to the faith-based sequel “I Can Only Imagine 2,” the Glen Powell black comedy “How to Make a Killing” and the horror film “Psycho Killer,” which currently has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. One bright spot in theaters was Baz Luhrmann’s immersive documentary “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” which earned $3.3 million from only 325 locations in its limited IMAX release. That film expands to nationwide distribution on Feb. 27.

    “GOAT” dropped a slim 38% in its second weekend in theaters, which the studio attributed to positive word-of-mouth. The Stephen Curry-produced movie, about a small goat with big sports dreams (voiced by “Stranger Things’” Caleb McLaughlin) has made over $58.3 million. Globally, its running total is at $102.3 million.

    “Wuthering Heights” meanwhile fell 57% from its opening last weekend, bringing its domestic total to $60 million. Internationally it added another $26.3 million, pushing its global total to $151.7 million against an $80 million production budget. The movie’s top international market continues to be the U.K., where it has made $22.5 million alone.

    Third place for the weekend went to Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s “I Can Only Imagine 2,” a follow-up to the 2018 Dennis Quaid movie that made $86 million against a $7 million budget. The sequel opened with $8 million, a far cry from the first film’s $17 million launch, though that was in line with expectations. It did score a rare A+ CinemaScore.

    Amazon and MGM’s “Crime 101” fell 59% in its second weekend, bringing in $5.8 million to take fourth place. The Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo heist thriller has now made $24.7 million against a reported $90 million budget. “Send Help” rounded out the top five with $4.5 million.

    “How to Make a Killing” landed in sixth place with $3.6 million. A24 released the StudioCanal movie in 1,600 North American theaters. The film, loosely inspired by “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” stars Powell as a man who, in a quest to acquire a $28 billion inheritance, decides to kill off his family members. Directed by John Patton Ford (“Emily the Criminal”), “How to Make a Killing” was not well-received by critics: it’s sitting at a “rotten” 47% on Rotten Tomatoes.

    “Pyscho Killer,” released by 20th Century Studios, fared much worse and opened outside of the top 10. The horror-thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker ( “Seven” ) and directed by Gavin Polone (a notable television and film producer in his directorial debut) tanked in its first weekend in theaters with $1.6 million in ticket sales from 1,110 theaters. Audiences were not any happier with it than critics; According to PostTrak, only 31% of ticket buyers would “definitely recommend” it.

    With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

    1. “GOAT,” $17 million.

    2. “Wuthering Heights,” $14.2 million.

    3. “I Can Only Imagine 2,” $8 million.

    4. “Crime 101,” $5.8 million.

    5. “Send Help,” $4.5 million.

    6. “How to Make a Killing,” $3.6 million.

    7. “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” $3.3 million.

    8. “Solo Mio,” $2.6 million.

    9. “Zootopia 2,” $2.3 million.

    10. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $1.8 million.

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  • New law puts Kansas at vanguard of denying trans identities on drivers licenses, birth certificates

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    TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver’s licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many birth certificates under a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents.

    The new law takes effect Thursday. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure but the Legislature’s GOP supermajorities overrode it last week as Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. have pursued another round of measures to roll back transgender rights.

    The bill prohibits documents from listing any sex other than the one assigned birth and invalidates any that reflect a conflicting gender identity. Florida, Tennessee and Texas also don’t allow driver’s licenses to reflect a trans person’s gender identity, and at least eight states besides Kansas have policies that bar trans residents from changing their birth certificates.

    But only Kansas’ law requires reversing changes previously made for trans residents. Kansas officials expect to cancel about 1,700 driver’s licenses and issue new birth certificates for up to 1,800 people.

    “It tells me that Kansas Republicans are interested in being on the vanguard of the culture war and in a race to the bottom,” said Democratic state Rep. Abi Boatman, a transgender Air Force veteran appointed in January to fill a vacant Wichita seat.

    Kansas’ new law enjoyed nearly unanimous GOP support. It is the latest success in what has become an annual effort to further roll back transgender rights by Republicans in statehouses across the U.S., bolstered by policies and rhetoric from President Donald Trump’s administration.

    Trump and other Republicans attack research-backed conclusions that gender can change or be fluid as radical “gender ideology.” GOP lawmakers in Kansas regularly describe transgender girls and women as male and as they say they’re protecting women.

    Like fellow Republicans, Kansas Senate Majority Leader Chase Blaisi said Trump’s reelection and other GOP victories in 2024 show that voters want “to return to common sense” on gender.

    “When I go home, people believe there are just two sexes, male and female,” Blasi said. “It’s basic biology I learned in high school.”

    Kelly supports transgender rights, but GOP lawmakers have overridden her vetoes three of the past four years. Kansas bans gender-affirming care for minors and bars transgender women and girls from female sports teams, kindergarten through college.

    Transgender people can’t use public restrooms, locker rooms or other single-sex facilities associated with their gender identities, though there was no enforcement mechanism until this year’s law added tough new provisions.

    Transgender people have said carrying IDs that misgender them opens them to intrusive questions, harassment and even violence when they show it to police, merchants, and others.

    In 2023, Republicans halted changes in Kansas birth certificates and driver’s licenses by enacting a measure ending the state’s legal recognition of trans residents’ gender identities. Though the law didn’t mention either document, it legally defined male and female by a person’s “biological reproductive system” at birth.

    However, a lawsuit led to state court decisions that last year permitted driver’s license changes to resume.

    Legislators in at least seven other states are considering bills to prevent transgender people from changing one or both documents, according to a search using the bill-tracking software Plural.

    But none would reverse past changes.

    The extra step by Kansas legislators reinforces a message “that trans people aren’t welcome,” said Anthony Alvarez, a transgender University of Kansas student who works for a pro-LGBTQ rights group.

    Kansas is likely to notify transgender residents by mail that their driver’s licenses are no longer valid and they need to go to a local licensing office to get a new one, said Zachary Denney, spokesperson for the agency that issues them.

    The Legislature hasn’t earmarked funds to cover the cost, so each person will pay it — $26 for a standard license.

    Alvarez already has had four IDs in four years as he’s changed his name, changed his gender marker and turned 21.

    He’s always planned to stay in his native Kansas after getting his history degree this spring.

    But, he said, “They’re just making it harder and harder for me to live in the state that I love.”

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  • Why adults pursuing career growth or personal interests are the ‘new majority’ student

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    FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Interested in starting a business, learning about artificial intelligence or exploring a new hobby? There’s a class for that.

    Millions of U.S. adults enroll in credit and non-credit college courses to earn professional certificates, learn new skills or to pursue academic degrees. Some older students are seeking career advancement, higher pay and job security, while others want to explore their personal interests or try new things.

    “They might have kids, they might be working full-time, they might be older non-traditional students,” said Eric Deschamps, the director of continuing education at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. But returning to school “opens doors to education for students that might not have those doors open to them otherwise.”

    Older students, many of whom bring years of work and life experience to their studies, often are juggling courses with full-time jobs, caregiving and other family responsibilities. It is a challenging balancing act but can also sharpen priorities and provide a sense of fulfillment.

    Here’s what experts have to say about returning to school, what to consider beforehand and how to balance coursework with work and personal commitments.

    UCLA Extension, the continuing education division of the University of California, Los Angeles, offers more than 90 certificate and specialization programs, from interior design, early childhood education and accounting to photography, paralegal studies and music production. Individual courses cover a wide range of topics, including retirement planning, writing novels, the business of athletes and artists, and the ancient Japanese art of ikebana, or flower arranging.

    About 33,500 students — nearly half of them older than 35 — were enrolled during the last academic year. UCLA reported a full-time enrollment of about 32,600 degree-seeking undergraduate students during the same period.

    “I prefer calling our (adult) learners not only continuous, but the new majority student. These are learners who tend to already be employed, often supporting a family, looking for up-skilling or sometimes a career change,” Traci Fordham, UCLA’s interim associate dean for academic programs and learning innovation, said.

    Higher education experts say some adults take classes for professional development as economic concerns, technological advances and other workforce changes create a sense of job insecurity.

    “A great example of that is artificial intelligence. These new technologies are coming out pretty quickly and for folks that got a degree, even just 5 or 10 years ago, their knowledge might be a little bit outdated,” Deschamps said.

    Adults interested in becoming students again may want to assess their time and budgets, and weigh the potential benefits and consequences, including the financial impact, the potential for burnout and rewards of education that may take a while materialize, academic advisors say.

    Deschamps suggests asking where you want to be in 5 or 10 years and how the training and knowledge received through an additional class or certificate can help get you there. For example, if you want to start a microbrewery, learning to brew your own beer or launching a business will help. If a promotion or career change is the goal, training for a new job, refreshing skills or understanding a different industry may help show you are qualified.

    Schools like UCLA and Northern Arizona University are working to make continuing education courses accessible by keeping the cost low in comparison to degree-track classes and offering financial assistance. A variety of learning environments usually are offered — in-person and online classes, accelerated and self-paced instruction — to help adults integrate schoolwork with their home and work lives.

    Katie Swavely, assistant director for academic advising and student success at UCLA, started at community college before transferring to UCLA to study anthropology. She said it took her 10 years after graduating to go back for her master’s degree in counseling with a focus on academic advising. Swavely completed that degree in 2020 and credits access to the program through employer-sponsored tuition assistance from her job at the time.

    “I felt like in so many ways I didn’t really know who I was or what I wanted to do other than just pay the bills and survive,” said Swavely, who is married and has two children. “It was hard. And I thought about quitting many times. We had to budget to the extreme and find additional ways to make it work.”

    She added: “There are questions of how are we going to make it work and do we have the money. As a parent, sacrifices are there all the time. You make those judgment calls every day. But making sure that you’re investing in yourself. There’s always gonna be reasons why it’s not today, not this month, not this year, but it’s also OK to just jump in and go for it and see how it works out.”

    As an avid book lover, Swavely now wants to take a book editing course and hopes to continue her education and enroll in that through the university soon.

    Some experts say one of the main barriers to returning to school is psychological. There might be concerns that their writing skills are rusty and that they don’t know enough math or technology, bringing up feelings of uncertainty or failure.

    “I think this is tied to access. Many of our learners, not all of them, haven’t imagined themselves in any kind of higher education, post-secondary education environment,” Fordham said.

    Swavely said it was important for her to build a support network and take advantage of the counseling and advising options that were available to her as a student.

    She encourages adults who are furthering their educations to spend time “finding your community.” Having people around who helped build up her confidence at home and during classes got her through graduate school, Swavely said. She also suggests setting boundaries and giving yourself grace when you need need help.

    “The biggest piece of advice is for people to realize you’re never too old to learn,” she said.

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