PARIS — PARIS (AP) — Celine Dion made a triumphant return Friday with a very public performance: closing out the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony from the Eiffel Tower. Nearly two years after revealing her stiff person syndrome diagnosis, Dion belted Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” (“Hymn to Love”) as the finale of the roughly four-hour … Read more
Thousands of former college athletes will be eligible for payments ranging from a few dollars to more than a million under the $2.78 billion antitrust settlement agreed to by the NCAA and five power conferences, a deal that also paves the way for schools to directly compensate athletes while attempting regulate payments from boosters. Details … Read more
RALEIGH. N.C. — North Carolina state regulators now declare a nonprofit run by the wife of North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson must repay over $132,000 for what they call disallowed expenses while carrying out a federally funded child care meal program. The state Department of Health and Human Services revealed a larger amount in … Read more
LONDON — A wax figure of Sinéad O’Connor that did not compare to how the late singer looked caused a minor meltdown among fans and family members, leading a Dublin museum on Friday to pull it from its collection. The National Wax Museum Plus apologized to O’Connor’s family and said it would immediately begin creating … Read more
PARIS — The Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony got underway after a rough start to the Summer Games on Friday, with rainy skies over the Seine and suspected acts of sabotage targeting France’s flagship high-speed rail network. French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane kicked off the opening ceremony with the Olympic flame in his hands. In a … Read more
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials Friday announced a recall of some Boar’s Head liverwurst and deli meats as they investigate a listeria outbreak that has sickened nearly three dozen people and caused two deaths. Boar’s Head Provisions Co. recalled liverwurst because it may be tainted with the listeria bacteria, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. … Read more
SANTIAGO, Chile — Table tennis player Zeng Zhiying left China in 1989, the same year of the Tiananmen Square massacre, to teach the sport in northern Chile. Fast-forward 35 years, she will debut in the Olympic Games at age 58 under the name she adopted in the South American nation: Tania. Tania Zeng, who became … Read more
BALTIMORE — Kevin Spacey’s $5.6 million waterfront condominium in Baltimore has been sold at auction amid the disgraced actor’s financial struggles following a slew of sexual misconduct allegations. Last summer, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. That was his second court victory … Read more
OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska law that combined abortion restrictions with another measure to limit gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate a state constitutional amendment requiring bills to stick to a single subject, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday. The state’s high court acknowledged in its ruling that abortion and gender-affirming care “are … Read more
PARIS — France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics. Germany’s national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said there were short-notice cancellations and delays of … Read more
