U.S./World category, Page 1021
Agents recover stolen 500-year-old copy of Columbus letter
WILMINGTON, Del. — Federal agents in Delaware have recovered a more than 500-year-old copy of a letter penned by Christopher Columbus that vanished from an Italian library decades ago. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware and Homeland Security investigators, who specialize in the recovery of stolen rare books and historic...
Outer Banks sea turtles rescued from frigid waters
The cold weather isn’t just a pain for us humans. For some sea turtles, it can mean life or death. More than 100 sea turtles, stunned by frigid waters, washed ashore on the soundside of Hatteras Island, N.C., on Monday and Tuesday. “When the water temperatures drop, they are not...
Ex-pharmaceutical exec John Kapoor gets more than 5 years for pushing opioid
BOSTON — The founder of an Arizona pharmaceutical company was ordered to spend 5 1/2 years in prison Thursday for orchestrating a bribery and kickback scheme prosecutors said helped fuel the opioid crisis. John Kapoor, 76, the former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was sentenced in Boston’s federal court after a...
3 U.S. firefighters who died in Australia crash identified
SYDNEY — The three American firefighters who were killed when the aerial water tanker they were in crashed while battling wildfires in Australia have been identified by their employer. The men who died Thursday in the crash of the C-130 Hercules were Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, of Great Falls,...
Snakes could be source of deadly coronavirus outbreak, new study saysVideo
A closer look into the deadly virus that has sickened hundreds in China and around the world suggests the pneumonia-like infection may have come from snakes, a new study has found. The newly discovered coronavirus is linked to a large seafood and animal market in Wuhan, which sells birds, bats,...
Prosecutor: DNA match leads to Florida ‘pillowcase rapist’
MIAMI — A DNA match has led to a Florida man prosecutors suspect is the “pillowcase rapist” responsible for numerous sexual assaults of women in the Miami area during the 1980s. Robert Koehler, 60, was arrested over the weekend in Brevard County and was being held without bond Thursday after...
Veteran accuses bank of discrimination for not taking checks
LIVONIA, Mich. — A black Air Force veteran who tried to deposit settlement checks from a discrimination lawsuit was rejected by his suburban Detroit bank, which suspected fraud and called police. After settling a lawsuit with his former employer, Sauntore Thomas now is suing TCF Bank, alleging racial discrimination. “They...
Greek police find 1.25 tons of cannabis hidden in date paste
ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities say they found more than a ton of processed cannabis camouflaged among a shipment of date paste headed by sea from Lebanon to Libya, police said Thursday. A police statement said the drugs were discovered on Jan. 16 in a ship’s container on a freighter...
Pence: Israel PM, election rival invited to U.S. to talk peace
JERUSALEM — Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main political rival Benny Gantz would visit the White House to discuss the “prospect of peace” with the Palestinians. The dramatic announcement, made after a meeting with Netanyahu, raised speculation that the White...
Michigan veteran accuses bank of discrimination for not cashing checksVideo
LIVONIA, Mich. — A black Air Force veteran who tried to deposit settlement checks from a discrimination lawsuit was rejected by his suburban Detroit bank, which suspected fraud and called police. After settling a lawsuit with his former employer, Sauntore Thomas now is suing TCF Bank, alleging racial discrimination. “They...
Police: Man kills firefighter who was leaving wife’s home
GRANITE QUARRY, N.C. — A North Carolina man shot and killed a firefighter who stepped outside his estranged wife’s house, then walked inside the home and fatally shot himself after confronting the woman, officials said. The man parked a pickup truck in the driveway and was “lying in wait” Wednesday,...
Deputy uses stun gun to settle a beef between K9 and cow
GEORGETOWN, S.C. — A sheriff’s deputy responding to a burglary call in South Carolina was forced to settle a beef between his K9 and a spooked cow by using a stun gun. Georgetown County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Pleasant Hill community on Wednesday when a K9 that was...
9 parents separated from families return to children in U.S.
LOS ANGELES — As his long-lost son walked toward him in an airport terminal, a sobbing David Xol stretched out his arms, fell to one knee and embraced the boy for about three minutes, crying into his shoulder. He had not held the child since May 2018, when border agents...
Jim Lehrer of the ‘MacNeil-Lehrer Report’ dies at 85Video
NEW YORK — Jim Lehrer, co-host and later host of the nightly PBS “NewsHour” that for decades offered a thoughtful take on current events, has died, PBS said Thursday. He was 85. Lehner died “peacefully in his sleep,” according to PBS. He had suffered a heart attack in 1983 and...
Doomsday Clock reset to 100 seconds to midnight
The Doomsday Clock has been moved to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest to destructive than at any point since the clock was created in 1947. It was set at 2 minutes to midnight last year and the year before, but this is the first time the clock has be...
Trump to attend anti-abortion rally in WashingtonVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House says President Donald Trump will become the first president to attend the annual anti-abortion gathering in Washington called the March for Life. Trump has made it a priority to embrace social conservatives, particularly on the issue of abortion. In past years, he has sent members...
Annabella Sciorra: Harvey Weinstein held me down, raped meVideo
NEW YORK — Actress Annabella Sciorra confronted Harvey Weinstein from a witness stand Thursday, her voice quivering as she recounted a rape accusation she kept largely private for decades. “I was punching him. I was kicking him. I was just trying to get him off of me” after he pushed...
Michelle Carter, convicted in texting suicide case, freed from jail
BOSTON — A woman convicted of manslaughter for urging her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself in text messages that included, “Just do it, babe,” was released from jail Thursday. Michelle Carter was released more than three months early from a county jail in Massachusetts, where she had been serving a...
China shuts down more cities in bid to contain deadly virus
BEIJING — China decided Thursday to lock down three cities that are home to more than 18 million people in an unprecedented effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries in the Lunar New Year travel rush....
Man registers beer as emotional support animal
Perhaps it’s one man’s definition of comfort food. A Brooklyn, N.Y., resident registered his beer as an emotional support animal on the USA Service Dog Registration website. Ale Street News was the first to report that Floyd Hayes was initially successful in obtaining a registration letter with a code —...
Police: 8 people shot, 1 dead in downtown SeattleVideo
SEATTLE — A gunman opened fire in downtown Seattle on Wednesday night, killing one person and wounding seven others, authorities said. Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said authorities began receiving calls at about 5 p.m. Wednesday of multiple gunshot victims. One person was found dead in a heavily trafficked area...
Rising Great Lakes prompt calls for more icebreakers
The shipping industry and Michigan businesses are urging Congress to increase the number of icebreaking ships in the Great Lakes as water levels have surged to record highs in most of the lakes and connecting waterways. In the past few winters, higher water levels have created greater ice hazards for...
Erosion, floods make some final resting places not so final
WEYBRIDGE, Vt. — When Revolutionary War soldier Josiah Clark was buried in a small Vermont cemetery near a river bank in 1835, it was supposed to be his final resting place. But erosion over the years made worse by more intense storms has washed away some graves and left the...
Supreme Court seems favorable to religious education funding
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared ready Wednesday to reinvigorate a Montana scholarship program and make it easier to use public money to pay for religious schooling in many states. The court was sharply divided along ideological lines in arguments over a provision in Montana’s constitution that bars...
Chinese city stops outbound flights, trains to fight virus
BEIJING — The Chinese city of Wuhan shut down outbound flights and trains as the world’s most populous country battled the spread of a new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and killed 17, Chinese state media said early Thursday. The state-owned People’s Daily newspaper said no one would...
