SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — , a shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays, was released Monday from a jail in the Dominican Republic amid an ongoing investigation into allegations he had a relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

Franco paid 2 million Dominican pesos ($34,000) as a type of deposit required

While Franco is free to leave the Dominican Republic, he was ordered to appear monthly before authorities as the investigation continues.

Franco did not speak to reporters who crowded

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s Gov. Greg Gianforte and first lady Susan Gianforte have purchased a historic Helena mansion for $4 million that they eventually plan to donate to the state for use as the governor’s mansion, the governor’s office announced Monday.

Gianforte, a Republican, is a multimillionaire who founded a cloud computing company that sold to Oracle in 2011 in a $1.5 billion deal.

“Susan and I are fortunate to have achieved the American dream

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS on Monday announced January 29 as the official start date of the 2024 tax season, and expects more than 128.7 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 tax deadline.

The announcement comes as the agency undergoes a massive overhaul, attempting to improve its technology and customer service processes with tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022.

“As our

ROME (AP) — Opposition politicians in Italy on Monday demanded the government, headed by far-right Premier , to explain how hundreds of demonstrators were able to give a banned fascist salute at a Rome rally without any police intervention.

The rally Sunday night in a working-class neighborhood commemorated the slaying in 1978 of two members of a neo-fascist youth group in an attack later claimed by extreme-left militants.

At one point in the rally, participants raised their right arm in a straight-

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The loud “boom” was startling enough, and the roaring wind that immediately filled the airline cabin left Kelly Bartlett unnerved. Still, it wasn’t until a shaken teenager, shirtless and scratched, slid into the seat next to her that she realized just how close disaster had come.

A section of the Boeing 737 Max 9’s fuselage just three rows away had blown out — at 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) high — creating a vacuum that

The average liter of bottled water has nearly a quarter million invisible pieces of ever so tiny nanoplastics, detected and categorized for the first time by a microscope using dual lasers.

Scientists long figured there were lots of these microscopic plastic pieces, but until researchers at Columbia and Rutgers universities did their calculations they never knew how many or what kind. Looking at five samples each of three common bottled water brands, researchers found particle levels ranged from 110,000 to 400,000 per liter

OTTAWA — These are the 10 most expensive years for natural disasters in Canada as measured by insurance payouts, adjusted for inflation in 2022. This data is from the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

1. 2016, $5.96 billion

Notable event: Fort McMurray wildfire

2. 2013, $3.87 billion

Notable events: Floods in Alberta, Greater Toronto Area; Toronto ice storm

3. 2022, $3.4 billion

Notable events

CALGARY — Analysts say 2024 will be a year of weaker oil prices, something that should bring some relief to weary consumers after two years of soaring energy costs.

On Monday, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude price continued what has been its recent downward slide to land around US$71 a barrel.

Oil prices were volatile in 2023, and have already declined approximately 16 per cent since October due to a combination of factors including growing global supply and slowing demand.

Those trends are

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Workers at a South Florida roofing company found a baby’s body in a large trash bin outside an apartment complex Monday morning, police said.

Police arrived around 8 a.m. and began lifesaving measures, but the baby was unresponsive, Hollywood police spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi said in a statement. She said an investigation is continuing and offered no additional details about the baby.

The workers were preparing to replace the roof at the apartment complex in Hollywood, just south of Fort Lauderdale