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13.2.26

Investigators conducting search of home near Nancy Guthrie’s residence

9:42:00 PM
Investigators conducting search of home near Nancy Guthrie's residence

The Pima County Sheriff's Office is searching a residence about two miles from Nancy Guthrie's Tucson-area home in connection with her disappearance.

Scripps News

"Law enforcement activity is underway at a residence near E Orange Grove Rd & N First Ave related to the Guthrie case," the Pima County Sheriff's Office said late Friday night. "Because this is a joint investigation, at the request of the FBI - no additional information is currently available."

Authorities have not confirmed whether anyone has been detained or taken in for questioning.

Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of"Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing for nearly two weeks. She was reported missing Feb. 1, and authorities believe she was taken from her home against her will.

The investigation has intensified in recent days. Earlier Friday, the sheriff's office said DNA was collected from Nancy Guthrie's home.Authorities also recovered glovesabout two miles away and are analyzing them to determine whether they match those worn by a masked man seen on surveillance video outside her house on the morning she was abducted.

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Masked individual at Nancy Guthrie's home before her disappearance.

Images of that individual were released on Tuesday. The man, who appeared to be armed, was seen in the early morning hours of Feb. 1 attempting to cover Guthrie's doorbell camera. It was disabled minutes later, the sheriff's department said.

Potential suspect in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

Hours after the images were released, aman was taken into custody during a traffic stop south of Tucson. He was released after being questioned by investigators.

Authorities have also been investigating ransom notes sent to multiple news organizations, including KGUN, the Scripps television station in Tucson. The initial note demanded millions of dollars in Bitcoin by Feb. 9 in exchange for Guthrie's release. That deadline passed without any payment being made. The FBI has still not said whether the ransom demand was legitimate.

On Thursday, authorities increased the reward for information leading to a resolution of the case to $100,000.

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China’s ByteDance releases Doubao 2.0 AI chatbot

9:42:00 PM
China's ByteDance releases Doubao 2.0 AI chatbot

BEIJING, Feb 14 (Reuters) - China's ByteDance has ‌rolled out its ‌Doubao 2.0 chatbot, an ​upgrade of Doubao which is currently the country's most ‌widely used ⁠artificial intelligenceapp, according to ⁠QuestMobile, the company said on Saturday.

One ​year after ​Chinese ​startup DeepSeek ‌rattled the global tech industry with the release of a low-cost artificial intelligence ‌model, its ​domestic rivals ​are ​better prepared, ‌vying with it to ​launch ​new models, some designed with more ​consumer ‌appeal.

(Reporting by Kevin ​Yao; Editing by ​Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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‘I thought they were just going to execute me’: American held in Venezuela during Maduro’s last days tells all

9:42:00 PM
James Luckey-Lange in Peru. - James Luckey-Lange

James Luckey-Lange has been spending a lot of time looking at the names he carved on a bar of soap he smuggled out of a Venezuelan prison in his underwear.

The 28-year-old New York native spent just over a month detained by Venezuelan officials, whom he says beat him, deprived him of food and only released him on January 13 following theUS captureof the country's then president, Nicolás Maduro.

At one point, he said, "I thought they were just going to execute me. That was the scariest time. Besides that, I was just really frustrated, really aggravated [and] angry."

Now back at his aunt's home in New Jersey, Luckey-Lange is looking up the names of his former prison mates on his soap and searching for their families on Facebook to let them know they might be alive.

James Luckey-Lange in Bolivia. - James Luckey-Lange

He was held in solitary confinement for long stretches and didn't get a good look at many of his prison mates. "I've never seen a lot of these people's faces. It's hard to find their families if you don't know what they look like," Luckey-Lange told CNN.

"I hope they don't think I'm up there getting tortured right now," he said of those he was held with. "I hope they know I got out."

Dozens of Americans have been arrested and detained in Venezuela over the last several years — part of a long campaign by the former Venezuelan leader to use Americans as political pawns. But Luckey-Lange's detention and release came at an unprecedented moment in US-Venezuela relations. President Donald Trump sent special operations forces to snatch Maduro in early January. His administration is now exerting huge amounts of influence on the interim Venezuelan government led by former Maduro acolytes.

Like many Americans detained in Venezuela, Luckey-Lange was accused of espionage and subjected to the harsh conditions of Venezuela's notorious prisons. The experiences take a physical toll on the inmates that can last for months, if not years, and a mental toll that may never go away.

But Luckey-Lange has no regrets about traveling to Venezuela. "I got to learn something" and see "what's really going on" there, he said wryly on a recent Zoom call from a coffee shop in New Jersey.

'I'm not the type of guy that really wants to be confined'

The US government urges Americans not to travel to Venezuela in part because of "a very high risk of wrongful detention."

The warning didn't resonate with a wanderlust like Luckey-Lange.

"I'm not the type of guy that really wants to be confined," he said.

Luckey-Lange is the son of the late Diane Luckey, a singer known as Q Lazzarus whose single was featured in the film "The Silence of the Lambs." Following her death in 2022, Luckey-Lange traveled throughout Latin America, learning Spanish andbloggingabout his adventures. Venezuela was meant to be his last stop on that trip.

Luckey-Lange wanted to visit Mount Roraima, a plateau in the east of Venezuela with views of Guyana and Brazil. The authorities detained him, he said, in December after he crossed the border from Brazil to ask about a visa.

He was flown several hundred miles from a military base in eastern Venezuela to the capital of Caracas, where he said he was held at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, known as the DGCIM.

Veneuelan prisons generally don't meet "the minimum rules for the treatment of international inmates," much less "the national standards of hygiene, sanitation, care, nutrition, etcetera, that should be met in our prisons," Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the Venezuelan human rights organization Foro Penal, told CNN. Foro Penal confirmed that Luckey-Lange was held at a DGCIM facility.

Luckey-Lange said his fellow prisoners were from all over Latin America and the Caribbean, among other places.

"They starved me and didn't give me any water" for days, Luckey-Lange recalled. "I was chained up in solitary with the camera in my room. Every time I would break out of the restraints from the waist, because it was tied by rope and I would untie it, they'd come in, beat me, throw me back in."

From the start, Venezuelan authorities accused him of being a spy, Luckey-Lange said. His hiking boots were military-style, they claimed. They drew maps in his notebook of roads and military bases in an effort, he said, to frame him as some sort of James Bond.

"No matter what I'd say, they say they didn't believe me because they really wanted to catch a spy," he recalled. "They all wanted to go home and tell their wives, tell their higher-ups, that they had caught a spy."

Some four days later after arriving at DGCIM headquarters, Luckey-Lange was transferred to El Rodeo, a prison complex where Maduro imprisoned scores of political prisoners. He languished there for weeks and was only allowed outside once, he said.

"I was making a joke in there, all we have is books and soap," he told CNN. "All the dominoes, all the chess pieces, everything is made out of soap."

Thinking there was a good chance he would get out of prison before the others, "I started carving the names on soap so I can talk to their families, talk to somebody about getting them out," Luckey-Lange said.

About 10 days before his release, US special forces captured Maduro and his wife. Luckey-Lange and his fellow inmates at El Rodeo had no idea what happened until days later. They got fragments of rumors through a game of prison telephone. Cries from people outside on the street suggested something big was afoot. Military and prison officials told Luckey-Lange and other inmates that Maduro would return to power, he said, even though the deposed leader was already in custody in New York.

After Maduro's ouster, the interim Venezuelan government pledged to release political prisoners, including Venezuelans and foreign nationals, without specifying how many or who would be released. The Trump administration had publicly pressed for the release of all political prisoners.

'You're famous'

Luckey-Lange didn't know he was being freed until he was out.

He had heard his name whispered the night before, he recalled. But when the prison director came to his cell, Luckey-Lange thought he might be taken to the "fourth floor," where he said people were tortured.

In the second week of January, Venezuelan officials drove him from El Rodeo to a private airplane hangar on the outskirts of Caracas. US State Department and Drug Enforcement Administration officials were waiting to help him out of the country, he said.

"You're famous," one of the State Department officials told him, dispelling the impression he had that the outside world didn't know he had been thrown in a Venezuelan prison. His story was already being told without him.

Luckey-Lange eventually ended up in Texas, where he and other Americans held in Venezuela took part in the US government readjustment program known as PISA, or Post Isolation Support Activities. It's typically offered to Americans who have been designated as wrongfully detained to help them acclimate after being imprisoned abroad.

A US official confirmed Luckey-Lange participated in a variation of the program.

Luckey-Lange's health had deteriorated in Venezuela, he said. He had a parasite and his teeth were in bad shape.

Still, outward signs that Luckey-Lange had been through such a harrowing experience were minimal.

Sometimes, in moments alone, it hit him.

"I had a breakdown in the shower the second night [after being released]. That was it," he said.

Luckey-Lange said he wants to travel again. Maybe go from Morrocco all the way down to South Africa.

But not before he reaches as many family members of his former prison mates as he can.

"I had promised all those guys that I was going to help them get out, but I didn't know it was going to be so difficult."

CNN's Uriel Blanco and Mauricio Torres contributed reporting.

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Akshay Bhatia ties Ryo Hisatsune for lead at Pebble Beach

8:22:00 PM
Akshay Bhatia ties Ryo Hisatsune for lead at Pebble Beach

Akshay Bhatia fired a bogey-free, 8-under-par 64 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course to tie Japan's Ryo Hisatsune for the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Friday in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Field Level Media

Hisatsune was the solo first-round leader thanks to a 62 at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Thursday but settled for 67 at Spyglass Hill that featured his first two bogeys of the tournament. He and Bhatia sit at 15-under 129 for the week so far.

Rickie Fowler is in the hunt for his first win in more than 2 1/2 years after shooting 64 at Spyglass Hill. He moved to 14 under for the tournament, one back of the leaders and tied with Sam Burns (67, Spyglass) for third.

The field played one round apiece at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill before spending the weekend rounds at Pebble Beach. There is no 36-hole cut at the $20 million signature event.

Bhatia, 24, is searching for his third career title and biggest achievement on tour. He tied for third last week at the WM Phoenix Open.

"Yeah, just building off last week. Played really nice last week," Bhatia said. "Then, yeah, just starting to kind of catch my groove or my stride."

Bhatia's round began on the back nine with birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 before he chipped in for eagle from the greenside rough at the par-5 14th. He made four more birdies the rest of the way and remained bogey-free for the tournament.

"Some days are easier than others but I have such a good feel with just trying to get the golf ball in play now, don't care necessarily like how my golf swing looks aesthetically," Bhatia said. "I would love it to look perfect, but I'm just trying to be myself and play a bunch of shots and that's how I play good golf."

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Hisatsune was also in contention at Phoenix but settled for a T10. His performance there helped him qualify for this week's elite field through the Aon Swing 5 pathway.

He called his consecutive bogeys at Nos. 18 and 1 a "missed decision" and was satisfied with how he recovered, including making a 10-footer for eagle at his third-to-last hole.

Fowler, who spread nine birdies and one bogey across his card, said he's in this position right now thanks to the work he put in last season to make the top 50 of the FedEx Cup playoffs, earning him a spot in the first two signature events this year.

"My body and shoulder feel a lot better than it did last year," Fowler said. "So it was nice to be able to play the way I did during the summer and grind that out, ultimately get inside the top-50 to kind of secure some starts for the year. So to have that time off to kind of rest, work on some things, be a dad at home, I enjoy it. I was excited to get back out."

Burns finished both Thursday and Friday one off the pace. He could be ready to win his sixth PGA Tour title and his first in nearly three years.

"That's what we train for, that's what we practice for," Burns said. "I'm always excited when I'm up there and I have a chance to win. So it's going to be a great weekend, a good test of golf, and it's always fun to get to do it at Pebble Beach."

Min Woo Lee of Australia had a 65 at Pebble Beach to move into a tie for fifth place at 12 under. The low round of the day belonged to Harris English, whose 63 at Pebble Beach represented a 10-stroke improvement from his over-par round at Spyglass the day before. English is 8 under.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland (67, Pebble) is part of a group tied at 9 under, while Scottie Scheffler is tied for 34th at 6 under. Scheffler followed a pedestrian 72 at Pebble with a 6-under 66 at Spyglass, highlighted by a five-hole stretch on his second nine where he made three birdies and an eagle.

--Field Level Media

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BYU says star wide receiver charged with felony rape is no longer a student there

8:22:00 PM
BYU says star wide receiver charged with felony rape is no longer a student there

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Brigham Young University said Friday that standout wide receiver Parker Kingston is no longer a student at the Utah private school after he wasarrested this weekon a first-degree felony rape charge.

Associated Press

Kingston, 21, made his initial court appearance Friday in St. George, where prosecutors say a woman who was 20 years old at the time told officers that Kingston assaulted her at her home last February. He was arrested following a yearlong investigation in which detectives collected digital and forensic evidence and interviewed witnesses, Washington County Attorney Jerry Jaeger said.

"I found by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Kingston was a danger to the community," Judge John Walton said during the hearing.

Still, Walton allowed Kingston to be released Friday on a $100,000 bond with $10,000 cash immediately paid to the court after he was held initially without bail.

His defense attorney, Cara Tangaro, agreed that Kingston could have no contact with his accuser or any potential witnesses, must stay off social media and would wear a GPS ankle monitor to ensure he doesn't return to the southwestern Utah county, except for court appearances. He appeared before the judge by remote video link from jail Friday.

If convicted, he could serve five years to life in prison.

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BYU spokesperson Jon McBride said the administration and coaches were only made aware of the investigation and the allegations against Kingston after his arrest this week. He declined to answer whether Kingston was kicked out or left the school voluntarily.

Tangaro told The Associated Press on Friday night that she had not yet talked to BYU and could not comment about the case, per a court order.

Kingston told St. George Police that "all sexual activity" with the woman accusing him of rape was "consensual," according to an affidavit unsealed Thursday. The woman told investigators she had made clear to Kingston before he came to her house that she did not want to have sex with him, and she told him to stop several times when he initiated sex, the affidavit said.

BYU, the flagship university of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church, has a strict honor code for students that prohibits all sexual relations outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. Those who violate it can face suspension, and for athletes, many weeks riding the bench.

Other top athletes including Tulane quarterbackJake Retzlaffhaveopted to leave BYUwhen faced with lengthy suspensions for violating the honor code.

Kingston was BYU's leading receiver last season.

He is expected to make his next court appearance Feb. 25.

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