U.S./World category, Page 1006
Case of missing children tied to doomsday beliefs, 3 deaths
HONOLULU — Family members used to describe Lori Vallow as an attentive mother who had her kids’ best interests at heart. But that was before she reportedly declared herself a god sent to prepare the world for an imminent apocalypse. Before three untimely deaths of people surrounding her. Before her...
This comedian says Border Patrol pulled him off a bus. Now he’s suing the government
SEATTLE — Libyan funny guy Mohanad Elshieky often riffs on cross-cultural quirks, such as the tendency of Americans to tell him that in this country, his name is pronounced “Mohammed.” “It’s just not how names work, they’re not based on location,” the New York-based comedian said in a Comedy Central...
White supremacists greater threat to NJ citizens than Al-Qaida and ISIS, study says
New Jersey residents are more likely to be attacked by a white supremacist than Al-Qaida. That is the grim assessment of a comprehensive New Jersey terrorism study released Friday. The state’s “Terrorism Threat Assessment” report — 42 pages long — noted that officials have raised the threat level from white...
Tobacco company must pay $12.5 million to widow of man who died of lung disease, jury finds
MIAMI — James “Jim” McHugh started smoking when he was a teenager and continued to do so for nearly five decades. He tried quitting cold turkey. He tried chewing gum. He even tried hypnosis. By the time he found a prescription medicine that could help him, he was a very...
Marchers support Assange ahead of London extradition hearing
LONDON — Hundreds of supporters of Julian Assange marched through London on Saturday to pressure the U.K. government into refusing to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States to face spying charges. Famous Britons, including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood joined...
Autopsy photos shown in trial of Mississippi man charged with killing 8
MAGNOLIA, Miss. — A deputy sheriff responding to a domestic dispute was killed by a shot to the left side of his head, a forensic pathologist testified Friday in the death-penalty trial of a man charged with killing the deputy and seven other people in Mississippi. The defendant, Willie Cory...
Virus spreads in South Korean city as thousands are screened
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Saturday reported an eight-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 433, most of them linked to a church and a hospital in and around the nation’s fourth-largest city, where health workers scrambled to screen thousands of worshippers. The country also reported...
Man guilty of killing 2 who tried to stop his slurs on train
PORTLAND, Ore. — A man accused of fatally stabbing two people who prosecutors say tried to stop his racist tirade against two young black women on a Portland, Oregon, commuter train was convicted of murder Friday after an emotional trial that featured testimony from both women and the sole survivor...
AP Exclusive: DEA agent accused of conspiring with cartel
MIAMI — A once-standout U.S. federal narcotics agent known for spending lavishly on luxury cars and Tiffany jewelry has been arrested on charges of conspiring to launder money with the same Colombian drug cartel he was supposed to be fighting. Jose Irizarry and his wife were arrested Friday at their...
Kobe Bryant’s pilot had been disciplined by FAA over weather-related flight violation
LOS ANGELES — The pilot of the helicopter that crashed into a Calabasas hillside last month, killing NBA star Kobe Bryant and eight others, violated federal flight rules in 2015 when he flew into busy airspace near Los Angeles International Airport despite being ordered not to by air traffic control,...
Greyhound to stop allowing immigration checks on buses
SEATTLE — Greyhound, the nation’s largest bus company, said Friday it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks. The company’s announcement came one week after The Associated Press reported on a leaked Border Patrol memo confirming that agents can’t...
Roman Forum find could be shrine to Rome’s founder, Romulus
ROME — Italian archaeologists unveiled to the media Friday an exciting new find from the Roman Forum, which they say could be the lost shrine dedicated some 2,600 years ago to Romulus, Rome’s legendary founder and first king. Visually, the discovery first announced Tuesday is not very remarkable: Peering down...
The toxic legacy of old oil wells: California’s multibillion-dollar problem
ARVIN, Calif. — Across much of California, fossil fuel companies are leaving thousands of oil and gas wells unplugged and idle, potentially threatening the health of people living nearby and handing taxpayers a multibillion-dollar bill for the environmental cleanup. From Kern County to Los Angeles, companies haven’t set aside anywhere...
South Korea becomes newest front in shifting virus outbreak
SEOUL, South Korea — Cases of a new virus swelled Friday in South Korea, making the country the newest front in a widening global outbreak centered in China and now reverberating elsewhere. South Korea said two people have died and 204 have been infected with the virus, quadruple the number...
U.S., Taliban truce takes effect, setting stage for peace deal
ISLAMABAD — A temporary truce between the United States and the Taliban took effect on Friday, setting the stage for the two sides to sign a peace deal next week aimed at ending 18 years of war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home. If successfully implemented, the weeklong “reduction...
Weinstein jury indicates it is split on most serious counts
NEW YORK — Jurors deliberating in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial indicated Friday that they are deadlocked on the most serious charges, but the judge told them to keep trying. In a note sent to the judge during their lunch break, jurors asked if it were permissible for them to be...
Ohio woman accused of calling 911 after parents cut off cellphone
CANTON, Ohio — An Ohio woman was arrested for calling 911 when her parents cut off her cellphone service, authorities said. Seloni Khetarpal was arrested Feb. 13 by Massillon police and charged with disrupting police services, a fourth-degree felony, The Canton Repository reported. Jail records show that Khetarpal, 36, repeatedly...
Arizona governor, GOP lawmakers end sanctuary city ban push
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican lawmakers have pulled a contentious proposal to enshrine an existing ban on so-called “sanctuary cities” in the state constitution. The decision announced late Thursday night came on the eve of a now-canceled House hearing on the proposal the Republican governor asked lawmakers...
Trump tries new approach for $1 trillion infrastructure plan
JEFFERSON CITY — As a presidential candidate in 2016, Donald Trump promised a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would use tax incentives to spur private investment in public works projects. He has so far failed to persuade Congress to pass anything like that. In another election year, Trump has outlined...
Firm wants to recover the Titanic’s iconic telegraph machine
NORFOLK, Va. — The salvage firm that has plucked silverware, china and gold coins from the wreckage of the Titanic now wants to recover the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Machine that transmitted the doomed ship’s increasingly frantic distress calls. Lawyers for the company, R.M.S. Titanic, Inc., called witnesses before a federal...
North Carolina police charge mother in 1999 slaying of baby
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Authorities in North Carolina say they solved a 20-year-old cold case Thursday when they tracked down a woman accused of killing her newborn son and dumping his body along a road in 1999. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office charged Deborah Riddle O’Conner, 54, with first-degree murder, the...
Mother of 2 missing Idaho children arrested in HawaiiVideo
HONOLULU — The mother of two Idaho children missing since September was arrested Thursday in Hawaii. Lori Vallow, also known as Lori Daybell, 47, was arrested on a warrant issued in Madison County, Idaho, and was being held on $5 million bail, Kauai police said. Seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and...
Snow falls across coastal North Carolina, Virginia; more than 12 million under winter alertVideo
RALEIGH, N.C. — Snow was falling Thursday across North Carolina and Virginia, including in coastal areas that rarely see snow. More than 12 million people were under some form of winter weather alert, including the Charlotte and Raleigh metro areas. Gov. Roy Cooper said parts of northeastern North Carolina will...
Coroner finds evidence Hollywood therapist Amie Harwick was strangledVideo
LOS ANGELES — A prominent family therapist and former fiancee of comedian Drew Carey appears to have been strangled before she was thrown off the third-floor balcony of her Hollywood Hills apartment, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Thursday. An ex-boyfriend is facing charges. Dr. Amie Harwick, 38, died...
New enforcement operation focuses on meth trafficking hubsVideo
ATLANTA — Federal authorities are targeting methamphetamine “transportation hubs” around the country in an effort to block the distribution of the highly addictive drug, officials announced Thursday. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon visited Atlanta to announce the launch of Operation Crystal Shield. Atlanta is one of eight...
