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The Associated Press Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and will bring characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Luke Skywalker to the AI company’s Sora video generation tool, in a licensing deal that the two companies announced on Thursday. The agreement makes the Walt Disney Co. the first major content licensing partner for Sora, which uses generative artificial intelligence to create short videos. Under the three-year licensing deal, fans will be able to use Sora to generate and share videos based on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters. AI video generators like Sora have…

By JOSH FUNK and MARK VANCLEAVE, Associated Press RANDOLPH, Minn. (AP) — When Donald Trump promised new tariffs while running for president, Gene Stehly worried that trade disputes would jeopardize his international sales of corn, soybeans and wheat. A little more than a year later, Stehly said his fears have become a reality, and Trump’s latest promise of federal assistance is insufficient to cover farmers’ losses. “Maybe this will all come out to be better at the end, but I can tell you right now, it certainly isn’t the case at the moment,” Stehly said. Trump announced Monday that his…

It is that time of year again. The American Tort Reform Foundation has published its annual Judicial Hellholes report evaluating jurisdictions “where judges in civil cases systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner.” California as a state has long held the distinction of topping out the list either as the top “Judicial Hellhole” or at least in the top five due to its unjust, plaintiff-friendly civil justice system. Citing a 2024 estimate from the The Perryman Group, ATRF notes, “California residents pay a “tort tax” of $2,458.33 (fourth highest in the nation) and 829,255 jobs…

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks are rising on Thursday, but a drop for Oracle is holding Wall Street back as investors question whether its big spending on artificial-intelligence technology will pay off. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% in early trading and pulled a bit further from its all-time high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 233 points, or 0.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower. Oracle was one of the heaviest weights on the market and sank 14.5%…

By GISELA SALOMON, Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy split more than 5,000 children from their families at the Mexico border during his first term. Border crossings sit at a record low nearly a year into his second administration and a new wave of immigration enforcement is dividing families inside the U.S. Federal officials and their local law enforcement partners are detaining tens of thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants. Detainees are moved repeatedly, then deported, or held in poor conditions for weeks or months before asking to go home. The federal government was holding an…

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who heads the agency central to President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda, is expected to face fierce questioning from Democrats on Thursday as the public face of the Republican administration’s hard-line approach to immigration. It has been months since Noem last appeared in Congress in May. Since then, immigration enforcement operations, especially in Los Angeles and Chicago, have become increasingly contentious, with federal agents and activists frequently clashing over her department’s tactics. As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during…

By DAVE COLLINS, MATT O’BRIEN and BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the artificial intelligence chatbot intensified her son’s “paranoid delusions” and helped direct them at his mother before he killed her. Police said Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, a former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his mother, Suzanne Adams, and killed himself in early August at the home where they both lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. The lawsuit filed by Adams’ estate on Thursday in California…

By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly $1,200 since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. Using Treasury Department numbers on revenue from tariffs and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them, the Democrats’ report Thursday found that American consumers’ share of the bill came to nearly $159 billion — or $1,198 per household — from February through November. “This report shows that (Trump’s) tariffs have done nothing but drive prices…

By LINLEY SANDERS and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s approval on the economy and immigration have fallen substantially since March, according to a new AP-NORC poll, the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the 2026 midterms. Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. That is down from 40% in March and marks the lowest economic…

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers’ chances of another trip to Las Vegas – and a shot at winning the NBA Cup’s ultimate prize of $530,000-plus per player – passed by them almost as quickly as the San Antonio Spurs’ variety of speedsters did on Wednesday night. Because even with Spurs star big man Victor Wembanyama sidelined for the 12th consecutive game because of a calf strain, the Lakers had no answers for San Antonio’s speed advantage. The Spurs broke down and got into the teeth of the Lakers’ defense at Crypto.com Arena, built a comfortable lead behind strong 3-point shooting…