The U.S. Capitol is photographed Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)2026-04-16T11:02:36Z WASHINGTON (AP) In a rare bipartisan moment, the House has agreed to consider legislation that would extend temporary protections for Haitian immigrants, pushing back against the Trump administrations efforts to end the program.The bill expected for a vote Thursday would require the Trump administration to extend for three years Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, which would allow hundreds of thousands of qualifying immigrants to remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation. House Democrats forced the bill forward Wednesday, joined by a small number of Republicans, over the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leadership. Trumps attempt to end the status for Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and other nations in crisis is cruel, unlawful, & life-threatening, said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., on social media. She is co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus and represents one of the largest Haitian communities in the country. The congresswoman said deporting people back to Haiti would be a death sentence in a country ravaged by natural disaster and gang violence. This is common-sense policy that will save lives, she said during Wednesdays floor debate. Congress can help. Congress can do the right thing. Congress races ahead of Supreme Court actionThe outcome is the latest effort by House Democrats to maneuver past the Republican majority using a so-called discharge petition once a rare tool that is being increasingly wielded to form bipartisan coalitions.The effort to help the immigrants from Haiti comes as President Donald Trumps administration is working to end Temporary Protected Status for several groups of immigrants, exposing them to the possibility of deportation. In a matter of days, the Supreme Court is prepared to consider a fast-track case that would end the protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants in a challenge that is widely seen as threatening the broader program. The Trump administration filed emergency appeals after lower courts stopped the immediate end of the program for 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,000 people from Syria. Read More Its part of the administrations efforts to strip certain immigrant groups of legal status as the White House works to fulfill Trumps campaign promise of conducting the largest mass deportation operation in history. Some 1.3 million people fleeing countries around the world have been granted temporary protected status. Protections for Haitians were first granted in 2010 after a devastating earthquake that has displaced more than 1 million people, according to court documents. The protections have been extended multiple times as the country has experienced violence and upheaval.The conservative-majority court has sided with the Trump administration on the issue before and allowed the end of temporary legal status for a total of 600,000 people from Venezuela while lawsuits play out, leaving them to face potential deportation.Trump has described migrants from poorer countries in vulgar terms, and he has falsely accused Haitian migrants in Ohio of eating their neighbors cats and dogs. Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., whose district includes Long Islands Haitian community, said she promised constituents she would work to protect their status and introduced the legislation as soon as she took office last year.Its cruel to expect Haitians to be forced to return to these deadly, dangerous conditions, she told a press conference. Human lives are at risk.Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said the hundreds of thousands of Haitian status holders in the U.S. have become an inseparable part of the fabric of the nation.They have built businesses, built families, built up their communities, she said during debate. She hoped the House action would become a blaring beacon against the Trump administrations deportation policies. Once rare, a discharge petition is becoming a powerful tool to force votes The discharge petition process forces the bill to the House floor for consideration. It is the same tool bipartisan lawmakers used to pass legislation that required the Justice Department to release the files of the sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. A discharge resolution needs majority support in the House, where Republicans hold slim control and are typically able to swat back such efforts from Democrats. But increasingly Democrats have pulled a few Republicans to their side.Pressleys effort won support from four Republicans on the initial petition, and several more on Wednesdays vote to consider the measure.If the bill is approved in the House, the measure would next go to the Senate, where the outcome is uncertain.

A week before the NFL draft, Ben Solak hits the top priorities for every single team -- and the prospects who can meet those needs.

You know about the reveal mishap. Here's what went into creating the sculpture that will forever honor a Seattle icon.

A look back 10 years later at the selection of Jones, one of the most important picks in franchise history.

From Engelbert on down, the WNBA should be about "look at us," not "woe is me," Wetzel writes.

Morant is now the last man standing on a Grizzlies team that hopes to move on from him this summer.

The Lakers lost two of their three stars back on April 2. Now their a home underdog against the Rockets.

Fifita, who runs monthly community events, is one of just five senior QBs nationally who has not transferred.

Tiger Woods' attorney is fighting prosecutors' attempts to subpoena the 15-time major champion's prescription drug records from a pharmacy, according to records.

Eric Karabell looks into the crystal ball to tell fantasy baseball managers what might come to pass in the not-too-distant future.

An early setback and a positive test -- since cleared -- didn't define Baumgardner. Now, she's on the doorstep of leading the sport.

Greg Wyshynski catches you up on all the storylines you might have missed entering WrestleMania 42.

Kennedy to Testify Before Congress for First Time This Year

Few lower-league clubs could ever take on soccer's giants, but when it comes to attention-grabbing kits, these three are in a league of their own.

Three weeks into the season, two red-hot NL teams are shooting up our list while another powerhouse plummets.

This balcony looks like it's fit for a beach resort.READ MORE...

Bernardo Silva will leave Manchester City in the summer, the club have confirmed.

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday joined U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer in calling on FIFA to contribute toward World Cup transit security costs.

A woman with a dog walks among the rubble of a house damaged after a Russian strike on residential area in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)2026-04-16T07:22:19Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others as terrified residents cowered in their homes, officials said Thursday.Russia launched nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles, primarily targeting civilians, in its biggest aerial barrage in almost two weeks, authorities said. Tetiana Sokol, a 54-year-old resident of Kyiv, said two missiles hit near her home and she took cover with her dog in the hallway as flashes lit up the night and windows shattered from the blast wave.On the third attack everything broke, everything flew, we were shocked, we didnt know where to run. I grabbed whatever came to hand and ran away with the dog, she told The Associated Press. I still cant find the cats in the house, they climbed out somewhere, I dont even know. No windows, nothing, the dog is still walking around in stress. Moscows forces have hit civilian areas almost daily since its all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, with the regular assaults occasionally punctuated by massive attacks. More than 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have died in the strikes, the United Nations says. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation was launched in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia, where long-range drones and missiles have hit Russian oil refineries and war-related manufacturing plants. The Russian barrage was aimed at facilities associated with the Ukrainian armed forces, the Defense Ministry claimed.European Council President Antnio Costa described it as yet another horrendous attack while people slept in their homes. Read More Zelenskyy on a mission to improve air defenses The latest bombardment came in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys 48-hour trip this week to Germany, Norway and Italy in an urgent search for more air defense systems that can stop Russian missiles. Ukraine has developed a significant domestic arms industry, especially in the production of drones and missiles, but it cant yet match the sophistication of U.S. Patriot air defense systems. Ukraines top diplomatic priority is securing allies help to buy and build more and better air defenses, Zelenskyy said this week. Cash-strapped Ukraine also needs the speedy disbursement of a promised loan from the European Union of 90 billion euros ($106 billion) that has been blocked by Hungary.Ukraine fears the Iran war is burning through stockpiles of the advanced American-made systems it needs, and has argued against a U.S. temporary waiver on Russian oil sanctions that Kyiv says is helping finance the Kremlins war effort. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Another night has proven that Russia does not deserve any easing of global policy or lifting of sanctions, Zelenskyy said on X.He thanked Germany, Norway and Italy for new agreements this week on supporting Ukraines air defense. Officials are also working with the Netherlands on additional supplies, he said. At the same time, he noted that some partner countries havent followed through on pledges of military support.I have instructed the Commander of the Air Force to contact those partners who earlier committed to providing missiles for Patriot and other systems, Zelenskyy said.Other areas of Ukraine and Russia were also hit The bombardment was the biggest in weeks. Last month, Russia fired 948 drones and 34 missiles in the space of 24 hours in the largest assault of the war on civilian areas. At least four people were killed overnight in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old, with more than 50 others injured, according to authorities. Officials said the attack damaged 17 apartment buildings, 10 private homes, as well as a hotel, office center, car dealership, gas station and a shopping mall in the capital.Nine people were killed and 23 injured in the southern port city of Odesa, three women were killed and around three dozen injured in the central Dnipro region, and one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia in the south. Such attacks cannot be normalized. These are war crimes that must be stopped and their perpetrators held to account, Ukraines Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.Ukraines air force said air defenses shot down or disabled 667 out of 703 incoming targets, including 636 Shahed-type drones and other uncrewed aerial vehicles.It said 20 strike drones and 12 missiles hit 26 locations.Meanwhile in Russia, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev reported that a 14-year-old girl and a woman were killed in Ukrainian strikes in the Black Sea port of Tuapse.He said that attacks damaged six apartment buildings, 24 private houses and three schools. Drone fragments also fell near Tuapse.Russias Defense Ministry said that its air defenses downed 207 Ukrainian drones overnight.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine HANNA ARHIROVA Arhirova is an Associated Press reporter covering Ukraine. She is based in Kyiv. twitter instagram mailto

The Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum" is seen on a one dollar coin, Monday, April 13, 2026, in Portland, Maine.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)2026-04-16T04:02:13Z NEW YORK (AP) The aspirations cut a wide swath through American history since 1776 from the All men are created equal of the Declaration of Independence and the We the people of the Constitution, to the indivisible, with liberty and justice for all of the Pledge of Allegiance. One can find it in the countrys name the UNITED States of America and in the sentiment of the motto written in Latin on its coins and one-dollar bills: E Pluribus Unum, or out of many, one.The effort has been optimistic and unrealistic, successful and a failure, enduring as an American ideal during moments when citizens struggled and struggle today to practice it. How has the notion of unity in American society evolved in 250 years and more? What does it mean and what doesnt it mean, particularly in fraught and troubled moments? Its a question, says one scholar, that every society has to answer. A large wall mural showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence is seen over visitors at the National Archives, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File) A large wall mural showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence is seen over visitors at the National Archives, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More I. The beginnings of these United StatesFrom the milestone moment of the nations beginning, the founders emphasized that unity would be a vital component of the new country, where government would be based not on a king and monarchy as in Europe but instead, as the Declaration says, on the consent of the governed.It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, George Washington said as he stepped down from two terms as the first American president. Read More At the start of the experiment, the fabric of a nation first stitched together from 13 original colonies, defining what unity meant was far from settled. Thirteen United States flags representing the 13 original colonies are seen at Liberty State Park with 1 World Trade Center, bottom left, and the Statue of Liberty, bottom right, in the background, Sept. 11, 2014, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File) Thirteen United States flags representing the 13 original colonies are seen at Liberty State Park with 1 World Trade Center, bottom left, and the Statue of Liberty, bottom right, in the background, Sept. 11, 2014, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Even as the founders spoke of high-minded ideals, they put limits on who they allowed to take part, who had rights and freedom and who didnt. All these years later, determining the meaning of unity can still be a challenge. Do we interpret that Latin motto to mean a blending of different perspectives to create a country that is greater than the sum of its parts, or does it mean there can only be one, that unity requires sameness? Either way, heres the thing about aspirations, as anyone whos ever quit on a New Years resolution can tell you: They dont turn into reality without effort and commitment, or come out of just a sole moment, no matter how singular. Our individual lives are built not just from the milestones but from the everydays in between. How could the life of a nation be any different? II. Aspiration vs. reality Even as unity has stood among the ideals, the on-the-ground experience of life in America for the last 2 centuries has reflected the reality that in this created nation, theres never been just ONE America, where everyone lived in the same way or had the same access to power and prosperity. It wasnt there at the countrys inception. And in the moment the U.S. is living now, it certainly isnt either.I think the United State has had a more volatile history in terms of how it deals with questions of inclusion and exclusion, how it draws the line and polices the line of whos in and whos out, says Daniel Immerwahr, a professor of history at Northwestern University. Its a question that every society has to answer whos on the inside, whos on the outside, he says. I would say that whats interesting about the United States in this regard is how changeable and nonobvious some of the answers to those questions are. Sometimes the differences have been straightforward like geography (rural vs. urban, plains vs. mountains) and climate (heat vs. snow, wildfires vs. flooding). Sometimes they were, and remain, cultural people from different countries of origin, newcomers vs. generations deep, speaking different languages, following different denominations of Christianity or other religions entirely. And of course, the differences have been economic; rich and poor have always lived differently. But sometimes, the differences have been travesties like enslaved Africans and their American-born descendants, forced to live under the lash as they worked in the fields and elsewhere for the benefit of white owners. Even after slavery was outlawed, they were subject to discrimination and worse under racism that was legalized in systemic ways into the 20th century and that echoes still. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his I Have a Dream speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. (AP Photo/File) The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his I Have a Dream speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. (AP Photo/File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The Indigenous tribes whose populations were decimated by death and disease as the American experiment moved westward and newly arrived settlers hankered after their tribal lands, and whose cultures were stripped from generations as the U.S. government tried to force unity through brutal efforts at assimilation. Communities of people barred from possibility because of gender, sexual orientation or other characteristics. There have also been persistent efforts across eras to create a country where the opportunities available to some say, voting, economic growth, or access to education would be made available to all. That came gradually through protest movements, legal action, and callbacks to those same American founding ideals and aspirations of unity and equality.It provided a language for the groups that were challenging these exclusions to draw on invoking the ideals of the Revolution and the Declaration and saying, Look, this is what the nation is supposed to be about, says Eileen Cheng, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College. They could challenge the system and yet claim that they were being the true Americans. III. What could unity even look like?One of the things about ideals, though, is that they can be somewhat abstract. What does it mean for a country to be united? Does unity mean uniform? Is it, to borrow a reference from one of satirist Terry Pratchetts books, that people are on the same side, or can they be on different sides that happen to be side by side. Is unity overall even a good thing in the context of a raucous democracy?A look around the globe and through the history books shows theres no single answer. There have been countries with a single official language, others that have recognized multiple languages, and some, like the United States, that for generations have never officially designated any. At times, countries have chosen official religions. Nations have different standards and processes for naturalizing new citizens.There are always tensions between the unity and the separateness, said Paul Wachtel, a psychology professor at the City College of New York. Theres no society that is just one or just the other whats really most essential is that we learn how to negotiate those tensions.The United States experienced that firsthand in its infancy. The Constitution we live under is the second attempt at a framework for government. The first, the Articles of Confederation, kept the federal government weaker and the individual states stronger. It quickly became clear that having such a weak central government i.e., less unity wasnt effective for the new country, leading to the Constitution.For some countries, like many in Europe, those negotiations have taken place under the weight of centuries of history and geography, and other established backdrops like the existing form of government, which impacted the direction they decided to go. The U.S., from the founders perspective, was a new entity.What it is to be of the United States is to adhere to a set of principles rather than to have a certain kind of lineage, Immerwahr says. Sometimes that makes the United States remarkably open, and then sometimes that gets the leaders of the United States in all kinds of weird contradictions as they try to explain why theyre doing some forms of inclusion and not others.The United States has a decidedly mixed history when it comes to dealing with those tensions. Things have fluctuated. Take migration, for example. There have been eras when the influx of people coming to these shores was seemingly a never-ending stream, but also times when much of the world was barred. In politics, the idea that there would be different factions represented by different parties was loathed by some, even as it became embedded in the political culture. Groups that were once looked down on are later brought into the fold, and vice versa. New citizen Ivette Lagos, originally from Brazil, wears a stars and stripes scarf while reciting the Oath of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony where nearly 200 people from more than 50 different countries became United States citizens at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Nov. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) New citizen Ivette Lagos, originally from Brazil, wears a stars and stripes scarf while reciting the Oath of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony where nearly 200 people from more than 50 different countries became United States citizens at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Nov. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More What have we learned over the last 250 years is that things change, says Cindy Kam, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. We are inclined to be social animals, but what those groups are is culturally constructed. So political elites, social elites, cultural elites, they do that work in identifying what the groups are, who is part of us and who is a part of the other.By no means is it settled; if anything, the demographic, technological, economic and other changes of the last several decades are making discussions about unity more relevant than ever. In recent years, Americans have lived in a country where polarization is rampant, and serious sometimes dire questions abound over what the future holds. Thats probably more in line with the countrys beginnings than people realize. This polarization, people talk about it like its a new thing. But I think its really a return back to the way that we were at the beginning of the country, Cheng says. Its not like this kind of linear development where were growing more and more accepting of difference. I think its up and down.___This story is part of an Associated Press package looking at the United States at age 250. For more stories, click here. DEEPTI HAJELA Hajela writes about the ways in which America is changing as part of the APs Trends+Culture team. She is based in New York City.

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)2026-04-16T04:01:38Z The same ChatGPT chatbot that gave OpenAIs chief financial officer Sarah Friar a tilapia recipe for a recent Sunday night dinner at home is also now doing her most mundane tasks at work like summarizing her emails and Slack messages. Friar and other company executives are banking OpenAIs future on more of the latter as it shifts its focus to business-oriented products while shedding some of its consumer offerings as a pathway to profitability. OpenAI says it will introduce a new artificial intelligence model for high-value professional work as the company faces heightened competition with rival Anthropic in attracting corporate customers to adopt AI assistants in their workplaces.Youll see a new model coming from us in short order. We feel very excited about it, Friar said in an interview with The Associated Press.OpenAI boasts of more than 900 million weekly users of its core ChatGPT product, and Friar said about 95% of them dont pay anything for the popular chatbot. But while all those interactions build habits and reliance, they also strain the costly computing resources needed to power the companys AI systems and highlight the need for big business customers to help pay the bills. OpenAI, valued at $852 billion, and Anthropic, valued at $380 billion, both lose more money than they make, putting the privately-owned San Francisco-based AI research laboratories in a fierce competition to generate more revenue as they race toward becoming publicly traded on Wall Street. A push to improve performance and sales of OpenAIs business-oriented products already Anthropics bread and butter has driven OpenAI to abandon some consumer initiatives, like the AI video generator app Sora. Read More I think it was a little heartbreaking, but were like, OK, its not the main event right now, Friar said. We need to make sure that our new model thats coming has enough compute. Codenamed Spud, OpenAI says its smartest model yet offers stronger reasoning, better understanding of intent and dependencies, better follow-through and more reliable output in production. Its part of OpenAIs answer to Anthropics new Claude Mythos, which Anthropic claims is so strikingly capable that it is limiting its use to select customers because of its apparent ability to surpass human cybersecurity experts in finding or exploiting computer vulnerabilities.Friar, the former CEO of neighborhood social platform Nextdoor, said business customers accounted for about 20% of OpenAIs revenue when she was hired in 2024 as chief financial officer. She said its now 40% and expected to account for half of OpenAIs sales by the end of the year. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Its a sharp turnaround from late last year, when OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman was promoting a now-shuttered Sora partnership with Disney, launching a plan to sell ads on ChatGPT and floating the idea of letting ChatGPT engage in erotica with paid adult users.Altman said on the Mostly Human podcast earlier this month that a sharper focus was needed and Friar agrees. Tech companies, when theyre growing, its just this natural thing that happens. Theres so many cool things you could do, she said, adding that companies can end up doing really badly if they do too many things, while great companies are very good at, in a reasonable period of time, kind of doing that winnowing down and refocusing and its super painful.Signaling that shift was the hiring three months ago of Slack CEO Denise Dresser to be OpenAIs first chief revenue officer. Dresser said in a recent AP interview that she has been laser-focused on meeting with corporate leaders and positioning OpenAI as the go-to platform for workplaces employing AI agents to automate a variety of computer-based job tasks.Its really clear to me that companies are past the experimentation phase and theyre into using AI to do real work, Dresser said. Leaders at companies are recognizing that AI is probably the most consequential shift of their lifetime.But those leaders also have a choice, namely Anthropics Claude that has become widely used by software professionals. Founded in 2021 by a group of ex-OpenAI leaders who said they wanted to prioritize AI safety, Anthropic has positioned itself as the more responsible AI vendor. The distinction drew attention when President Donald Trumps administration punished the startup after a contract dispute over AI use in the military, and Altman used the opportunity to cement OpenAIs own deal with the Pentagon. Consumer interest in Anthropic surged and the company said its annualized revenues hit $30 billion, a higher number than what OpenAI has reported, though they measure it differently. Friar and Dresser declined to reveal OpenAIs latest sales but both have suggested that Anthropics number is inflated because it doesnt account for revenue it must share with cloud computing providers Amazon and Google. Even so, it remains a tight competition thats also tied to the health of the stock market and the future of the economy.Theyre likely quite close, said Luke Emberson, a researcher at nonprofit institute Epoch AI. Certainly the trends show Anthropic is growing much faster than OpenAI. If that continues, theyre likely to cross soon.The urgency led Dresser to send a memo to OpenAI employees on Sunday, first reported by The Verge, that asserted that Anthropics coding focus gave them an early wedge but expressing confidence that OpenAI has the real structural advantage as AI usage expands beyond software developers and OpenAI builds enough computing capacity to operate its AI systems.Their story is built on fear, restriction, and the idea that a small group of elites should control AI, Dressers memo said of Anthropic. Our positive message will win over time: build powerful systems, put in the right safeguards, expand access, and help people do more.But for skeptics of the financial viability of AI products like ChatGPT and Claude, the trajectory of both money-losing companies is alarming as smaller startups increasingly become dependent on their AI tools. Anthropic has already imposed rate limits on heavy users, forcing some to wait for hours to use Claude, and both companies have set up service tiers that reward premium payers, said author and AI critic Ed Zitron.Its what I call the subprime AI crisis, Zitron said. People built their lives and they built their businesses on top of these companies that, as they try and save money, will start turning the screws.One thing that both AI leaders and critics agree on is that it is an expensive technology, though whether it is worth the cost in electricity-hungry AI computers remains to be seen. People will say, well, Once they go public, theyre safe. Thats not true, Zitron said. Public companies can and will die, especially ones that are dependent on $100 billion to $200 billion every year or so, just to keep breathing. MATT OBRIEN OBrien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

As we introduce 2027's top prospects, here's what their college careers could look like.

Mr. Fairfax, a Democrat, served as lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022.

Nuptials were held at the same convenience store where the bride first threatened to put a bullet in the grooms skull if he didnt empty the fucking register.The post Teresa Willis and Brendan Cooks appeared first on The Onion.

NEW YORKIn an eight-hour-long video posted Tuesday to the Criterion Collections YouTube channel, actor Nick Offerman can be seen paying a visit to the Criterion Closet to rebuild the film librarys shelves.Dont tell me youve been using particle board in here, said the 55-year-old woodworker, who frowned, rolled up his sleeves, and began unshelving hundreds of Blu-rays and DVDs to create a clean and clear work area. Ah, yes, its Ingmar Bergmans Autumn Sonatalets put it in a stack over there with everything else. You call these wood shelves? Interesting. My pick is Tear it down. You folks are just lucky I packed some hand tools in my carry-on.The video concludes with Offerman applying an oil finish to the new custom black walnut shelves, briefly surveying his handiwork, and then leaving wordlessly.The post Nick Offerman Visits Criterion Closet To Rebuild Shelves appeared first on The Onion.

WATERBURY, CTAdmitting his career had come between him and what mattered most, local man Andrew Tesser confirmed Thursday that mounting work obligations had caused him to seriously neglect his relationship with alcohol.I thought I had it under control, but then I got promoted, and suddenly I was skipping every happy hour to stay late on Zoom calls with clients in other time zones, said Tesser, who added that he knew he had a problem when he started coming home from work so exhausted that beers would sit unopened in his fridge for days, and he would find himself uttering empty promises to make up for it over the weekend. It breaks my heart to realize how much Im missing out on because Im not showing up at the barits like I dont even know the regulars anymore. The other day the bartender asked where Id been and said, The gin sodas miss you, man. I almost started crying. Im worried that one day Im going to look back and realize I wasted my best drinking years on an unfulfilling job.Vowing to turn his life around, Tesser told reporters he has resolved to shut his laptop promptly at 5 p.m. each Friday so he can spend a two-day bender enjoying quality time with Twisted Tea.The post Increased Work Commitments Causing Man To Neglect Alcohol appeared first on The Onion.

STANFORD, CACalling it a pretty slow one as far as natural selection and genetic drift were concerned, biologists from Stanford University confirmed Tuesday that not much evolution happened today.According to our observations over the past 24 hours, the vast majority of species on earth have pretty much just been holding steady and staying the course, gene-wise, said biologist Clarice Abernathy, adding that the heritable characteristics of eastern chipmunks, sensitive ferns, and nearly all other living organisms were pretty much exactly where they were yesterday. No real genetic curveballs from frogs today, nor any new species of bats or ungulates to report. Nothing crawling out of the ocean to give terrestrial life a shot, either. A house sparrow with venom glands hatched, which could have been interesting, but it got eaten by a cat almost immediately, so thats still a wash for evolution. Oh, and yak hair is, like, half a millimeter shorter now, but you really have to be looking for it to notice.At press time, the biologists were reportedly blasting an armadillo with gamma radiation to see if they couldnt get a little evolution going themselves.The post Biologists Confirm Not Much Evolution Happened Today appeared first on The Onion.

ATHENS, GANoting that the dead body was far more handsome than her deceased brother, local woman Danielle Lundy confirmed the casket she purchased this week still had a stock corpse inside. I get that they want to sell caskets, but it feels kind of dishonest to put these perfect dead bodies with their ideal facial features in there, Lundy said of the younger, physically fit corpse, which had a better haircut than her departed sibling. Its a nice place holder, I suppose, even though John was never this well groomed when alive. Ill admit this stock corpse is easing me into the grieving process. At press time, Lundy decided that she preferred the stock corpse and left it in the casket for the funeral.The post Casket Still Has Stock Corpse In It appeared first on The Onion.

Its an alternative to your standard liquid dish soap.READ MORE...

I thought I would be a cool bride. I believed this because I never dreamed of my own wedding. When other girls daydreamed aloud about riding down the aisle on a pony, or gracefully officiated the union of a Princess Diana Beanie Baby and a Hot Wheels truck, I came up blank. Despite a constant stream of 90s media featuring transformative white dresses, there was nothing my imagination could conjure for it. I was busy scheduling meetings on my toy Palm Pilot. This was fine until 30 years later, when my now-husband asked me what I wanted for our own wedding, and I had nothing. After years of watching friends plan weddings, I only had one preference for the day: I didnt want to feel stressed out.There are a few industries that prey on emotion particularly brazenly. The funeral industry is one. The wedding industry is another. I knew this going in. I thought I could defeat hundreds of years of socially ingrained pressure backed by a multi-billion dollar consumer machine. No problem.What I did not account forshamefully, considering how much time I spend thinking and writing about technology in my professional lifewas that in the more than three decades Id spent building a resistance to deeply gendered expectations on my existence, that machine was perfecting the art of making me feel weird, broke, and ugly, and I wouldnt recognize what was happening until I was deep in it. Im talking about the wedding planning algorithm. When Lillie and her fiance Morgan got engaged, Lillie told me she saw the difference in her social media feeds the moment she texted her friends the news. (Theyre using first names only in this story for their privacy.) Immediately, all of my social media was just flooded, she told me in a phone call. And I think at the beginning it was all just so shiny and new. I was like, This is so awesome. So I did kind of consume a lot of bridal media pretty strongly out of the gate, because I didn't quite realize yet how much it was going to take over every single one of my social media apps.We talk a lot here on 404 Media about the algorithm. Usually we're referring to either Instagram Reels or Tiktok. Part of the reason we discuss and dissect it so frequently is because if you're not careful, the algorithmthe spew of content these apps automatically show you based on your past viewing habits, data from other apps, or what the app thinks youre interested inbecomes a mirror of your mind; this is dangerous territory considering it's easy to manipulate by people, brands, networks and corporations with perverse incentives.Some of this actually seems, and sometimes is, helpful at first. The design pattern of infinite scrolling relies on a variable reward system to be effective and truly endless. The next thing you see in your feed might be the exact nugget of wisdom, life hack, or listicle you needed to make your life better, or, in this case, your wedding flawless. But youll never know unless you keep scrolling through the next hundred useless or actively brainrotting videos.Like Lillie, the moment I got engaged and started Googling wedding dresses and venues was the moment my entire social media experience shifted into the Bride Algo. Every Reel and Tiktok, and I do mean every single post, contained something new I needed to change about myself: Everything I did to lock in for my wedding & lose 34 lbs in 5 months without missing out on living life. If you spend $150k on a wedding and stay married for 40 years, that's only about $10 a day. Not bad for one of the best days of your life.What I will NOT be doing as a 2026 bride.Bridal Breakdown PSA to 2026 Brides.POV: Youre not fat, youre just puffy.25 Things Guests Secretly Hate About WeddingsLEAVE THAT MAN AT THE ALTARJournalist CT Jones calls the effect this content has on even the most level-headed people wedding brain. They recently wrote: Theres this fog around my head that I cant seem to shake when it comes to this event. My TikTok algorithm tells me every three swipes about the biggest mistakes people make that ruin their special days.Today's authority on weddings is Vogue, and in January 2020, Vogue correctly identified that social media was changing everything about how couples plan weddings. Women of the 2010s became a lot more knowledgeable thanks to social media, designer Danielle Frankel told the magazine. They began seeing not just their friends getting married, but aspirational brides they follow on Instagram. Theres something kind of cool about researching through real people and their experiences, and the ability to share stories through a social platform. In the six years that followed, this chipper assessment of there being something kind of cool about literal celebrity weddings does not age well. Being an influencer or content creator became one of the dwindling few ways for anyone in a creative field to make a living, a situation solidified by a tanked economy, a never-ending housing crisis, widespread unemployment, and AI gutting of a variety of fields.Fast forward to earlier this month, New York magazine published a story about the behind-the-scenes process that decides whose wedding makes it into Vogue, and what happens when they dont. One woman in the fashion industry had a breakdown after Vogue turned her down, journalist Charlotte Klein wrote, adding that the jilted bride went to trauma rehab after. But the real crux of the issuehow multi-million dollar Vogue weddings, most of which are not celebrities but are parties thrown by total unknowns, are perceived, consumed, and rely on real, normal peoples attentioncomes at the very end of the story, in a quote from a mysteriously anonymous fashion editor: A wedding is a lot of work. Its a full production and youre spending months on it and youre designing itits a creative achievement in a way. If someone puts on a play or does an art installation, they get press and attention for it. And its like, Well, I did all this stuff for my wedding. Where is my round of applause?That editor is talking about the Beckhams of the world, and the reality TV stars, and the old, old money Beltway normies. But theyre also talking to, and about, the rest of us.This is all so much insidious than it used to be. While the lifestyles of the rich and famous used to be reserved for magazines and Hollywood, were all swimming in the same algorithmic ocean now. Today, Instagram encourages people to treat life itself like a wedding-like a production engineered to be witnessed and admired by an audience, Jia Tolentino wrote in her 2019 book of essays Trick Mirror. It has become common for people, especially women, to interact with themselves as if they were famous all the time. Under these circumstances, the vision of the bride as celebrity princess has hardened into something like a rule. Expectations of bridal beauty have collided with the wellness industry and produced a massive dark star of obligation.I know that Im not alone in the Weddingtok and the Bridal Algo because people have started making videos mocking the content thats stressing us all out. If you feel calm, its probably because youre forgetting something, one planner says in a satirical video. The comments on these send-up videos reveal hundreds of women saying theyre stressed beyond belief, losing their minds, or otherwise crashing out. A comment on another such video: Me locking in because Im getting married next month and I fucking hate myself is literally my entire personality. On another: Pulling my hair out and screaming and cant wait to disappear. Looking back, the moment I first heard the phrase cake inspo board feels like foreshadowing. I'd emailed a handful of bakeries and filled out a dozen inquiry forms at that point in the planning process. Because of competitiveness among vendors about rates and offerings (or possibly because some evil McKinsey for Weddings-type MBA entity decided this is a useful lead generation sales flow), every piece of information has to come directly from a vendor these days and is almost never listed on their websites publicly. Its acquired by prospective clients, who blast 400 inquiries to their contact forms, some of them requiring multiple choice quizzes about the budget, timeline, wedding day vibe and personal social media handles. A few bakers got back to me with quotes for simple cakes. One asked for my mood board. For a cake? Like... flavors? I felt like Id missed a step going down the stairs. I didn't have a vision board for the cake. I needed a vision board for the cake.Prior to planning a wedding, I hadnt used Pinterest since 2008. When I started using it again after several vendors asked me for it, I felt a sugary thrill at pinning a disjointed collage of flowers, dresses, and other things Id only describe as moon-landing-aspirational boards. Pinterest, meanwhile, is increasingly a minefield of AI slop, and has been for a while, with AI-generated makeup inspiration photos and dresses, which makes the process feel more confusing and unachievable.Alongside the thickly-iced and piped vintage triple-layer cakes is thinspo content, in the form of viral walking routines, the Gabby George arm workouts, and ads for ordering a GLP-1 online. Thinspo content is all over Pinterest and other social media platforms.On Pinterest, every single photo is bones. Like, I can see clavicles. I can see sternums. I can see collarbones, Lillie said. Especially with the bridal outfits. Once she starts feeling herself spending too much time looking through this kind of content, she takes a break."I'm like, okay, you know what? At least it's not just me, at least I'm not the only one who's like, This is crazy.I asked my friend Kelli Sullivan, whose objectively stunning wedding I attended in 2025, if shed felt any of these anxieties while planning hers. I feel like social media especially in recent years has gone so overboard with talking about and showcasing weddings, and particularly in a super influencer and curated style, that even subliminally influenced my own decisions when planning, she said.I dont feel like social media gave me direct pressure when it came to planning and decision making, but it definitely influenced my wedding, Kelli said. But it wasnt all bad for her, necessarily. I really loved immersing myself in that niche of social media and was inspired by Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok wedding ideas that helped shape many of my decisions and ideas I never would have really even considered as a possibility otherwise, she said. I also really appreciated insights from other brides and hearing their horror stories and similar struggles made me feel less alone when things felt heavy in planning.Lillie said the same. That is just the beauty of social media, sometimes, to just not feel alone. That has been really, really helpful for me, she said. But I'm like, okay, you know what? At least it's not just me, at least I'm not the only one who's like, This is crazy.Attending Kellis wedding, and all the other beautiful but vastly different weddings my friends have planned over the years, felt essential to understanding the many unspoken rules around ceremony, etiquette, and tradition, and all the ways these rules should be broken. But Lillie is the first of her friends to have a wedding. I will kind of be the guinea pig for all of my friends, I guess, to look at my wedding and be like, this is how Lillie did it, she said. Thats also kind of been a lot of pressure. It's hard.Adding to that pressure, she and Morgan are navigating these expectations as a lesbian couple in Idaho, and where they live skews heavily Mormon, conservative, and Christian. They use social media to vet vendors friendliness toward queer couples before contacting them, scanning Facebook and Instagram pages for signs of intolerance or hate. Lillie calls this being on the lookout.Are these people that I want to interact with? How are they going to treat me? Am I going to be treated differently? I have to get some stuff altered for the boys suits, and wed gotten in contact with a local seamstress up here, and I'm like, scrolling through her Facebook to see how she feels about me. And that's just a tiring thing to do. But its for my own safety. I don't want to go into these people's houses if its not going to be somewhere safe for me. That sometimes sounds really dramatic, but it's not. It just kind of casts a sort of shadow over everything, Lillie explained. This is supposed to be just such a joyous time of our life.Almost all of the most viral wedding planning content on social media is aggressively heteronormativea reflection of an industry struggling to keep up, and attitudes toward queer relationships and marriage in this country that are painfully, dangerously outdated. Lillie tells vendors that she and her fiance are both women, and they still ask her who the groom is. They routinely ask her, Whos going to be the boy? Meanwhile, Tiktok tells us a silk scarf basque waist dress and a sparkler exit is the real sin. During my own planning, guests and vendors frequently asked me what our colors were. I didn't want to have specific colors, but the algorithm told me that even multicolor weddings are on-trend (derogatory), part of a wildflower fad of eclecticism. The algo also told me, over and over, that no matter what else I did, there was one combination to avoid lest I become a cringe dated chopped unc chud of a bride: chartreuse and burgundy.One of the planning tasks I truly enjoyed was picking out and arranging my own (minimal) florals. If the wedding youre planning is at a venue thats not all-inclusivemeaning, its on you to supply everything from the chairs and linens to the sound system, florals, food, desert, on and ona lot of the process is emails and payment portals. I wanted to choose and assemble my own flowers for this reason: I needed to do something with my hands, finally, that brings me joy.My fianc and I went to a wholesale flower market two days before our wedding and picked bunches. And ultimately, when I got to the flower market with no plan for my bouquet other than to choose what called to me, I ended up with a swaggy handful of hanging burgundy amaranthus stems and bright lime Bells-of-Ireland. Now everyone would know I got married sometime between 2025-2026.This fear of being dated is a real joy killer, and a heavily-pushed narrative on the bridal algo right now. I love Basque waisted dresses and find them reliably flattering for my body shape, but #2026Bride influencers deemed them inexplicably cringe at some point in the last year, so my attraction to them soured, and finding a dress became a nightmare of rush shipping, returns and restocking fees. (While writing this story, InStyle published a piece that could only be made in that lab: a series of collage illustrations imagining Taylor Swift in wedding dresses, including one captioned If youre on #WeddingTok in 2026 like I am, youll know that the patron saint of basic bitches, Taylor Swift, is a basque-waist dress, burgundy-and-chartreuse color palette girl.)The fact that I can be swayed at all by what an internet person thinks, as a 36 year old with decades of being socially weird under my belt, disturbs me. I know that everything about what we do, wear, say, and choose is destined to be dated someday because we exist in a specific time. And yet, realizing when I got back with my bouquet and 15 pounds of freshly cut florals that Id still somehow broken the years biggest, most made up mean-girl rule made me feel like an uncool little kid again.In the car on the way back from the flower market, I bemoaned all of these things to my fianc, who endured our apartment transforming into a shipping warehouse for weeks. He asked if it's a comparison is the thief of joy type-thing. It is that, but the comparison is no longer with some girl you went to high school with. Rather, it's an entire universe of options, budgets, opinions, and salespeople. In the scroll, its hard to tell the difference between a wedding real people got married at, and a photo spread that's meant to highlight a set of vendors or brands. Twenty years ago, an average couple might have had a wedding in their backyard or at the firehouse with catering, but surely they werent this stressed about tablescapes or cake inspo Pinterest boards."Most couples arent models, most budgets arent six figures, and most wedding days dont unfold under perfect conditions."People are getting wise to this. And theres one type of wedding that I scrolled past over and over again before I realized they were all entirely staged: styled shoots. Styled shoots are a common cheat. Its kind of unethical imo. Once you know what to look out for, its pretty obvious, Lana Dubkova, a documentary-style event and brand photographer, recently posted on X. Lanas been a photographer for a decade but started doing weddings full-time in 2023. In a styled shoot, photographers, confectioners, designers, florists, venues, stylists, and the rest of the wedding vendor galaxy come together, often with professional models to serve as the bride, groom and guests, to display their wares in an editorial setting. These arent real weddings, but are meant to advertise their work to real couples and planners. And they are impacting real couples wedding day wants.Lana told me in an email that although her clients typically come to her for her own candid style, she often needs to gently recalibrate their expectations. A common tension is that couples want both a highly immersive experience and an extensive set of posed, editorial images... without realizing those require time! A wedding day is finite, and every decision is a tradeoff: more time spent on photos often means less time spent with guests, she said. Most of these expectations come from social media, where timelines, budgets, and logistics are invisible. Whats presented as effortless is usually highly produced, and that disconnect can create unnecessary pressure.She doesnt believe styled shoots are all bad. They do serve a purpose for vendors portfolios. There's a case to be made that maybe you're not getting hired for the type of weddings you would like to photograph and so you invest the money into a styled shoot to be able to display the style of wedding you want to be hired for in your portfolio, she said. Takes money to make money etc. But let's say you're a client looking to hire a photographer for a wedding. How would you feel if you found out the photographer you hired had ONLY styled shoots in their portfolio and had never actually shot a real wedding before? I imagine you'd want to know that ahead of time.Styled shoots become problematic when theyre presented without context, she said. A styled shoot is, by definition, a controlled environment: professional models, ideal lighting, high-end venues, curated florals, and unlimited time. Real weddings are the opposite: dynamic, time-constrained, and emotionally complex. Most couples arent models, most budgets arent six figures, and most wedding days dont unfold under perfect conditions. A photographers ability to work quickly, adapt to changing light, and make people feel comfortable matters far more than their ability to create a perfect image in a controlled setting.If youre not planning a wedding or havent in the last three years or so, you might not be familiar with any of the content Ive described so far. But this is the insidious nature of the algorithm. No one else is seeing yours. No one attending my wedding (except for others who were also recently married and are online) knew or cared that chartreuse and burgundy have been deemed cliche. They just liked the bouquet and thought it was pretty. And if they knew, they didnt say it to my face, because talking about the internet in real life is absurd.If social media didnt exist or especially exist in the way it does with the curation (for weddings in particular) I probably would have done things way differently and maybe simpler, Kelli told me. Having a universe of options shown constantly online did give decision fatigue and also a pressure to have everything be aesthetic, especially with the knowledge that what we will share from the wedding will be perceived by others on social media.If I knew then what I know now, would I have planned a smaller wedding? Would I have probably eloped? Yes, Lillie told me. Do I still have, like, $8,000 in nonrefundable deposits down? Yes.The things I remember about my friends weddings are not their tablescapes or whether they featured some forbidden color combination, and I didnt make lists of things that made me secretly hate them. I remember, most of all, the moments around the weddings: meeting at a cobblestone street cafe the night before for warm Kronenbourgs, pouring mimosas on a moving bus in the morning, gluing an eyelash back on in a beach bathroom, fireworks shows both planned and unplanned, watching my newlywed friends sing and dance and feeling grateful to witness it all. The million tiny moments I remember from my own wedding are part of a different galaxy than all the shit my algorithm told me to worry about.In the end, I didnt make a cake vision board. I picked up cakes at the grocery store two days before the wedding, and in the heat of the evening, they melted into piles of buttercream goo before we could cut them fast enough. While we struggled to light candles, they toppled into heaps of pink and white icing and we just laughed.Now that Im several weeks beyond my own wedding, my algorithm has moved on, almost entirely free of bridal content of any kind. It has realized, or decided, that I have no need for it anymore, and must push me on my way to the next Arbitrary Human Milestone. Its the exact same type of pseudo-authority influencers and ragebait disguised as wisdom, just for another industry the profit-making machine has been waiting eons to target me with: babies.Tip Jar

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00509-9Can you squeeze your graduate programme into a 40-hour working week? These 13 current and former PhD candidates reveal their top time-management tips.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01236-xQuantum machines are making inroads into biology, but have no advantage over classical machines yet.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01213-4Study of gene expression also finds age-related increases in mens vulnerability to certain cancers.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01210-7Most of the individuals in a seventeenth-century-Switzerland burial site had performed strenuous manual labour and died before the age of 20.

Asked about the antics like Sergio Garcia's outburst at the Masters, Max Homa said it casts a bad look on professional golfers but also acknowledged that it's a sport that can stir up those emotions.

John Bishop, left, and others work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)2026-04-16T04:40:18Z NEW YORK (AP) The U.S. stock market is holding near its record high Thursday as Wall Street waits for more clues about what will happen in the Iran war before making its next big move. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, a day after topping its prior all-time high set in January for its 10th gain in 11 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 110 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was edging 0.1% higher. Stocks have leaped more than 10% since hitting a low in late March, driven by hopes for an end to the war or something that could avert a worst-case scenario for the global economy. Now, the wait is on to see if such hopes were prescient or just wishful thinking. Pakistans army chief is set to meet with Iranian officials in Tehran Thursday in a bid to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war. Oil prices ticked higher, showing that caution still remains in financial markets. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 1.4% to $96.24. Its gone from roughly $70 before the war to as high as $119 at times on uncertainty about how long the war will keep oil stuck in the Persian Gulf area and away from customers. The key upside risk for the market is that peace talks between the US and Iran break down, ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote Thursday. This isnt an unrealistic scenario, given that US and Iranian demands remain fairly wide apart. Read More In the meantime, big U.S. companies are continuing to deliver growth in profits for the start of 2026 thats even better than analysts expected. Such growth is the lifeblood of the stock market, whose level tends to follow the track of corporate profits over the long term. Marsh & McLennan rose 2.2%, and Prologis climbed 3.6% after both delivered stronger results than expected. PepsiCo likewise reported better results than expected, but its stock rose a more modest 0.3%. Customers bought more snacks during the quarter, after the company said in February it would cut prices on Lays, Doritos, Cheetos and Tostitos chips to win back people frustrated by high prices.Technology stocks also broadly got some support after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., an industry heavyweight, reported stronger revenue and profit for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. TSMCs Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said the company expects strong demand to continue into the spring. On the losing end of Wall Street was Abbott, which fell 4.1% even though it reported slightly better results than analysts expected. The health care company cut its forecast for profit over the full year, mostly because of its purchase of cancer-screening company Exact Sciences. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Allbirds slumped 26.1%, but that gave back only a portion of its 582% surge from the day before. The company formerly known for sneakers is pivoting to the artificial-intelligence industry and hopes to rent out high-powered chips as a service. In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed across much of Europe and Asia. Japans Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4%, South Koreas Kospi rallied 2.2% and Hong Kongs Hang Seng rose 1.7% for some of the worlds larger moves.China on Thursday reported 5% economic growth for the January-March quarter, an acceleration from the previous quarter. While economists say China has largely shrugged off the initial impacts of the Iran war, some are warning its massive export engine could be hit more significantly in the coming months on slower global economic growth.In the bond market Treasury yields eased a bit after a report showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week.The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.26% from 4.29% late Wednesday. ___AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Police investigte the scene of an apparent domestic-related shooting early Thursday, April 16, 2026in Annandale, Va. (WJLA via AP)2026-04-16T13:24:20Z ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) Police in Virginia say Justin Fairfax, the states former lieutenant governor, shot and killed his wife and then fatally shot himself.Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Thursday that both were found dead at their northern Virginia home after the couples teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight.The police chief said the couple was going through a divorce.Davis said his officers responded to the home in January after Justin Fairfax alleged his wife had assaulted him.There are several cameras set up inside the house. Apparently. Mrs. Fairfax, at some point during these divorce proceedings, set up a lot of cameras inside the home. We reviewed those cameras, and we corroborated that the alleged assault never occurred. So, there was no arrest made. ___ EDITORS NOTE This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org ALLEN G. BREED Breed is an Associated Press general assignment/feature writer. He joined the AP in 1988 in Kentucky. twitter mailto

The Dodgers shattered Major League Baseball's spending record in 2025 with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last season.

This immigration case is really about procedure.

It's early. Still, the richest showdown in baseball history said a lot about both teams.

This image provided by International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) shows the strong stellar wind from the supergiant star pushes the jets launched by the black hole away from the star. ( (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) via AP)2026-04-16T09:43:47Z CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole.The jet power from this relatively close black hole-star system is equivalent to 10,000 suns, an international research team reported Thursday. They also tracked the jet speed: roughly 355 million mph (540 million kph) half the speed of light.Located 7,200 light-years away, Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole the first one ever identified more than a half-century ago but a blue supergiant star, its constant companion. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).The University of Oxfords Steve Prabu and his team based their findings on 18 years of high-resolution radio imaging obtained by a global telescope network. He conducted the research while still at Australias Curtin University, which led the study published in Nature Astronomy. Prabu and his colleagues were able to measure the swift power of these dancing jets as he calls them, as they were pushed in opposite directions by the stars wind. The group based its calculations on how much the jets were bent by the stellar wind as well as computer modeling. Until now, a black holes jet power had to be averaged over tens of thousands of years, the researchers said.Prabu said a key finding is that 10% of all the energy released as matter falls toward the black hole is carried away by the jets. Read More On the skimpy side as black holes go, the one in Cygnus X-1 is continually pulling gases from its stellar playmate as they orbit one another. Discovered in the 1960s, the binary system is located in our Milky Ways Cygnus, or swan, constellation.The supergiant star feeds material to the black hole, giving it something to eat and launch as jets, Prabu said in an email.These jets can help scientists better understand how black holes help shape galaxies and other cosmic structures through large-scale shocks and turbulence. Prabu plans to apply similar techniques to other black holes. It would be exciting to measure jet power in many more systems, he said.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The UEFA Champions League quarterfinals largely lived up to expectations, with three of four games going down to the wire. Now that the dust has settled, let's break down the semifinals and predict who advances.

Despite the economic risks from the war, Beijing will likely stick to a hands-off approach. It is wary of being entangled in a conflict it opposed and has little sway over.

Nearly 600 people have been sickened across the state, which has seen an increase in vaccine exemptions among children in recent years.

Ohio State isnt the only university in turmoil, but few others have faced so many issues lately. One lawmaker called the school a national embarrassment.

The upstart golf circuit couldnt conquer the sport, despite big spending by Saudi Arabia. Its end signals limits to how much the country will spend.