Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including the tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine are escalating; Evacuations remain in place for a relatively populous part of Big Sur, California, threatened by an out-of-control wildfire; Several states accused Google of collecting valuable data about its users' locations through deception, and more.

National

States accuse Google of tricking users to get location data

Attorneys general for three other states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits Monday against Google, alleging that the ubiquitous internet titan collected valuable data about its users' locations through deception.

Google offices in San Francisco with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the background, on Oct. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke)

Affirmative action challengers bring Harvard, UNC to high court

The Supreme Court agreed Monday morning to hear two challenges to the consideration of race in higher education admissions.

Pedestrians walk through the gates of Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Aug. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Markets claw back losses after worries spurred by Fed, Ukraine

What looked to be another miserable Monday turned out to be just a middling one as investors reclaimed heavy drops in equities from earlier in the day by the closing bell.

Philip Finale works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (Courtney Crow/New York Stock Exchange via AP)

Trial over wayward Stormy Daniels book advance kicks off

Opening arguments commenced Monday in a fraud case against disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti, who returned to Southern District of New York to face his second criminal trial here in as many years.

Michael Avenatti during a news conference in Chicago on July 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File)

Regional

Big Sur blaze proves California wildfire season is year-round

Evacuations remained in place Monday for a relatively populous part of Big Sur threatened by an out-of-control wildfire that has so far scorched 700 acres.

The Colorado Fire burns along below Rocky Creek Bridge on Highway 1 near Big Sur, Calif., Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, about a mile from the more famous Bixby Creek Bridge. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

LA unlikely to shake off lawsuit over homeless encampments

The city and county of Los Angeles returned to federal court Monday in a bid to end a lawsuit over failures to adequately address the sprawling homeless encampments across the city that have earned both repeated rebukes from the judge overseeing the case.

In this Oct. 28, 2017, photo, a homeless man takes food from a trash can in Los Angeles' Skid Row area, home to the nation's largest concentration of homeless people. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

International

NATO-Russia clash over Ukraine gets nastier

The tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine are escalating as the two sides build up their forces in a clash that threatens to spin out of control as the wheels of diplomacy grind to a halt.

A woman walks past the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

WHO Europe chief: Pandemic emergency phase likely to end this year

The World Health Organization's European head on Monday said there is hope the worst of the coronavirus pandemic will be over later this year.

Workers walk over London Bridge towards London’s financial district during the morning rush hour on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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