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LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James became theoldest player in NBA history with a triple-doublewhen he put up 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the Los Angeles Lakers' 124-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

At 41 years and 44 days old, James broke the record held by Karl Malone, who recorded a triple-double for the Lakers when he was 40 years and 127 days old.

James scored 14 points in a dominant first quarter, and had 22 points and 12 assists heading to the fourth. He grabbed his 10th rebound with 2:06 to play and checked out moments later, wrapping up another sensational game in his unprecedented 23rd NBA season.

James is headed to the All-Star Game this weekend after being selected for the 22nd time. He got his most recent triple-double on Feb. 1, 2025.

Naji Marshall and Max Christie scored 19 points apiece for the Mavericks, who lost their ninth straight to fall into their longest skid in 28 seasons.

NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic didn't suit up against his former team, missing his fourth straight game for the Lakers with a mild hamstring strain. Star rookie Cooper Flagg sat out with a sprained foot for Dallas that will prevent him from participating in All-Star weekend at nearby Intuit Dome.

James and Austin Reaves sat out the Lakers' loss to San Antonio on Tuesday for health maintenance, but both returned in a comfortable victory. Reaves had 18 points and six assists.

Rui Hachimura scored 21 points for the Lakers, who have won seven of 11.

BUCKS 110, THUNDER 93

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former Thunder forward Ousmane Dieng had 19 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks, and Milwaukee beat Oklahoma City.

The Thunder traded Dieng just before the deadline. The 6-foot-9 Frenchman was the G-League Finals MVP as the Oklahoma City Blue won the championship in 2024 and a Thunder reserve.

Both teams were missing important pieces.

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Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers was out attending a funeral, and assistant Darvin Ham filled in. Bucks All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo was out with a right calf strain.

Oklahoma City played without reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain) and co-star Jalen Williams (right hamstring strain). Both will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.

AJ Green scored 17 points for the Bucks, and obby Portis added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Isaiah Joe scored 17 points and Chet Holmgren added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who were coming off road wins against the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix.

TRAIL BLAZERS 135, JAZZ 119

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jrue Holiday scored a season-high 31 points and Donovan Clingan added 23 points and 18 rebounds as Portland beat Utah — hours after the Jazzlost Jaren Jackson Jr. to knee surgeryand werefined $500,000 by the NBAfor sitting healthy stars.

Clingan also had a career-high seven assists and three blocks. Holiday had nine rebounds and seven assists to lead Portland (27-29) to its fourth victory in five games.

Jerami Grant added 18 points and Scoot Henderson scored 15 in his fourth game this season.

Brice Sensabaugh had 28 points while Ace Bailey, Kyle Filipowski and Isaiah Collier each scored 15 for Utah (18-38).

In his first NBA game, Utah two-way player Blake Hinson scored 11 points and hit a 3-pointer to pull the Jazz to 111-108. But the Blazers responded with an 11-2 run capped by Holiday's layup to clinch the win.

Clingan sparked a 10-0 spurt with dominating play on both ends to give the Trail Blazers a 75-65 lead. Portland outscored the short-handed Jazz 40-23 in the third quarter to take control.

Jackson, who led the Jazz to a 2-1 record since arriving from Memphis in a trade last week, did not play. In a post-trade physical exam, Jackson was diagnosed with a benign growth in his left knee and will have surgery next week.

President Donald Trump issued pardons to five former NFL players on Thursday, with White House Pardon Czar Alice Marie Johnson making the announcement on social media.

The five pardoned players are Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon.

"As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation," Johnson wrote on X.

She then added that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones personally told Newton of the news.

Klecko, 72, was sentenced to three months in jail in 1993 for lying to a federal grand jury about an auto-insurance fraud scam in which he took part. He was a two-time All-Pro defensive lineman with the New York Jets from 1977-88. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.

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The 64-year-old Newton, a two-time All-Pro and three-time Super Bowl champion offensive lineman with the 1990s Cowboys, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2002 after he was arrested with 175 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car near Dallas.

Lewis, 46, pleaded guilty in 2004 to using a cell phone to try to set up a drug deal and was sentenced to four months. He played running back for the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns in his 10-year career. He ran for 10,607 yards and 58 touchdowns. His best season came in 2003, when he rushed for 2,066 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. He was Offensive Player of the Year that season and made All-Pro and the Pro Bowl for the only time in his career.

Henry played running back for the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos from 2001-07. He posted back-to-back seasons with more than 1,350 yards with the Bills in 2002-03. The 47-year-old received a three-year prison sentence in 2009 for financing an interstate drug ring.

Cannon served three years of a five-year sentence beginning in 1983 for taking part in a counterfeit-money-printing operation. A two-time All-Pro and three-time AFL champion, Cannon was perhaps best known for his days starring at half back at LSU in the late 1950s. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1959. He died at age 80 in 2018.

--Field Level Media

WASHINGTON (AP) — PresidentDonald Trumpis heading to North Carolina on Friday to celebrate members of the special forces who stormed into Venezuela on the third day of the New Year andwhisked away that country's leader, Nicolás Maduro, to face U.S. smuggling charges.

First ladyMelania Trumpwill also be making the trip to Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the world by population, to spend time with military families.

Trump has been hitting the road more frequently to states that could play key roles in November's midterm congressional elections, including astop before Christmas in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The White House has been trying to promote Trump's economic policies, including attempts to bring down the cost of living at a time when many Americans are becomingincreasingly frustrated with Trump's efforts to improve affordability.

The presidentspoke at Fort Bragg in Juneat an event meant to recognize the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. But that celebration was overshadowed by his partisan remarks describing protesters inLos Angelesas "animals" and his defense of deploying the military there.

Trump has since deployed the National Guard to places like Washington and Memphis, Tennessee, as well as other federal law enforcement officials involved in his crackdown on immigration. Trump'sborder czar,Tom Homan, announced Thursday that the administrationis endingtheoperations in Minnesotathat led to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.

This time, Trump's visit is meant to toast service members involved in his administration's dramatic ouster of Maduro, an operation he has described as requiring bravery and advanced weapons.

His administration has since pushed forbroad oversightof the South American country's oil industry. Next month, heplans to convenea gathering of leaders from a number of Latin American countries in Florida, as the administration spotlights what it sees as concerning Chinese influence in the region.

The March 7 gathering can give Trump a chance to further press a new and aggressive foreign policy which the president hasproudly dubbedthe "Donroe Doctrine," a reference to 19th-century PresidentJames Monroe's beliefthat the U.S. should dominate its sphere of influence.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Montserrat Fuentes stands on the same street corner where she has worked for 20 years. But the sex worker's normal rush of clients every Friday night is nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the busy Mexico City throughway where some 2,500 sex workers make their living is lined with construction, part of larger preparations in the Mexican capital leading up to the2026 FIFA World Cupover the summer.

Fuentes, 42, and others say they have seen their earnings slashed by government projects meant toclean up swathes of the citybefore opening its arms to sports fans fromacross the world. Street vendors also say they are being pushed out and don't know what will be left for them after the competition.

"What we're seeing in Mexico is something that so much of the world has faced when there's an event of this scale. They always want to fix up their city, make it look nice," she said. "But the ones that are hurt are always us at the bottom of the ladder."

The soccer World Cup, which will be hosted simultaneously by Mexico, the United States and Canada, is expected to be a $3 billion economic engine in Mexico as visitors flood airports, hotels, restaurants and sports venues, according to the Mexican Soccer Federation.

But in a country where more than half the workforce is informal, many Mexicansworking under precarious conditionsworry they will be left behind.

Mexico City's government said it was taking actions to offset impacts to sex workers and vendors, and has been in ongoing talks with workers.

Sex workers' earnings hit by World Cup prep

Tension started building in recent months in Mexico City, where the opening ceremony will be hosted, as the local government rapidly renovated its iconicAzteca Stadium, enhanced public transportation and built up public works in historically working class neighborhoods.

Fuentes and many of the sex workers along the Calzada de Tlalpan avenue that passes the stadium said construction of a bike lane beginning in late 2025 has cut their earnings by more than half. Large dividers block cars from pulling to the curb to negotiate. The city later announced nighttime closures of the metro stations running along the road for Cup construction, leaving many women stranded.

"The only thing the government sees is how much money (the World Cup) is going to make them," said Elvira Madrid Romero, president of the sex worker advocacy organization Street Brigade. "Tourists are coming to celebrate at the expense of the poor."

Sex work is not criminalized in Mexico, and in the capital it remains an economic lifeline for around 15,000 people, including transgender women who struggle to find fair pay in other sectors.

Many single mothers in Madrid's coalition worry about how they are going to put food on the table or pay rent. Her organization has negotiated with local authorities, which promised small monthly payments and food deliveries that are a fraction of what the women need to get by, she said.

In September, Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada also announced 58 points along the roadway where sex workers would be able to meet with clients.

"We want a World Cup ... with fair play and a just society," Brugada said in September.

But women haven't seen any such points or aid from local authorities and refuse to be moved from the areas where they work, Madrid said.

Global sporting events carry a toll

Fuentes had to get a second job selling food in the mornings after working all night to pay rent, leaving her exhausted. She began sex work 20 years ago when she was displaced from selling food downtown during another government cleanup effort.

Despite the coalition's insistence that they won't budge, Fuentes worries the same could happen to her again, especially as she sees local authorities move street vendors from the main thoroughfare to sleepy side streets.

"Even if we raise our voices, we can't really do anything," she said. "All we can do is hope that when the World Cup ends, things go back to normal … We don't want to be forced to move."

Such pushes by local governments are common ahead of global sporting events, which often sit at the intersection of wider social and political strains and are widely criticized by activist groups as "social cleansing."

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, the city governmentrounded up African migrants and homeless peopleand bused them out of the city. When Brazil hosted the World Cup in 2014, advocacy organizations reported tens of thousands of people were evicted from their homes.

Mexico City already is experiencing simmering tension as aninflux of foreigners, mainly from the U.S., has increasingly priced people out of some neighborhoods. Critics say authorities have done little to offset thehousing shortage and mounting pricesthat come with a tourism boom once promoted by the government.

Vendors displaced from workplaces

For others working along the avenue, like 68-year-old smoothie vendor Esperanza Toribio Rojas, the prospect of displacement is no longer a hypothetical. She said it's an impending inevitability hanging over her head.

Toribio is among hundreds of vendors selling food, clothes, tools and other wares in the tunnels crossing beneath the avenue that provide access to metro stations serving the World Cup stadium.

For decades, merchants worked in stalls offered by the local government when the passages were rife with crime and filled with trash. Now shoppers stroll by families sharing meals and asking the prices of hanging clothes.

"We're the ones that gave life to this passage," Toribio said. "Back when there was a ton of crime, they never cared to do anything here."

Vendors said they were surprised early last year when local officials descended on the area and said they needed to make way for a city project announced by the mayor in November.

The"Steps to Utopia"initiative, according to Brugada's office, will "prepare the area" for the competition, turning the underpasses into "safe spaces with more than 300 cultural, sports, educational, health and wellness activities."

Local merchants' leader Jaír Torruco said between 100 to 200 merchants were pushed out, while around 250 others like Toribio have refused the government's offer, which they said was not enough to support themselves.

They are still negotiating with authorities in an effort to stay in their stalls, Torruco said.

Mexico City's government said it has provided support to those it has displaced, and said vendors would be able to return to their stalls later. Toribio and others say the don't believe officials, and said they were offered three months in a temporary space, which had to be rented, and that those who moved to a downtown plaza have struggled to make ends meet.

Surrounded by her children and grandchildren, Toribio said she doesn't know how she would afford to move the business that has become her life's work.

"Today the government sees this place, they see that there is life, and they want to take it for themselves," Toribio said. "This is our heritage."

Martín Silva Rey in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean athttps://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

TAIPEI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 37 U.S. lawmakers have written to senior Taiwanese politicians expressing concern about parliament stalling proposed defence spending, saying that the threat posed by ‌China has never been greater.

FILE PHOTO: A soldier speaks to Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te in Hsinchu

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te last year proposed $40 billion in extra defence spending to ‌counter China, which views the island as its own territory. But the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, has refused to ​review the proposal and instead advanced its own, less expensive proposals, which only fund the purchase of some of the U.S. weapons Lai wants.

The U.S. letter, addressed to Taiwan parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu, the heads of the opposition parties the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party, as well as caucus whip for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said the United ‌States and Taiwan share a strong ⁠and enduring partnership.

"However, the threat posed by the People's Republic of China against Taiwan has never been greater. Xi Jinping is focusing every element of the PRC's national power to control Taiwan," said the ⁠letter, released on Thursday and referring to China's president.

The U.S. must address the massive backlog in weapons deliveries to Taiwan, but Taiwan needs to step up too, the letter said.

"We commend Taiwan for making important progress in strengthening its military ​readiness, reserve ​forces, and asymmetric defence capabilities," it said.

"Nevertheless, we fear that ​without significant increases in Taiwan's defence spending ‌at levels reflected in President Lai's proposed special budget, this progress will be insufficient."

Signatories to the letter including Senators Pete Ricketts and Chris Coons, senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Young Kim and Ami Bera, senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

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Several U.S. lawmakers have already made public expressions of concern about the stalled budget.

There was no immediate response to the letter from the KMT or TPP.

Both parties say they support defence spending, but will ‌not sign "blank cheques" and that they have a duty to fully ​scrutinise all budget proposals.

The DPP said in a statement it agreed ​with the letter and hoped the recipients will ​read it "thoroughly".

The delay in passing the spending risks a "rupture" in the joint line of ‌defence against China, Taiwan's defence minister said on ​Wednesday, as Lai again urged ​parliament to approve the spending measure.

The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

The Trump administration has pressed its allies to increase defence spending, ​something Lai and his government have ‌enthusiastically embraced.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Lai ​has repeatedly offered talks with China, but been rebuffed, and says only Taiwan's people can decide ​their future.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)