U.S./World category, Page 1025
Trump boosts school prayer, helps faith groups
President Donald Trump took steps Thursday to give religious organizations easier access to federal programs and reaffirmed students’ rights to pray in public schools. Under orders from Trump, nine Cabinet departments proposed rules intended to remove “regulatory burdens” on religious organizations participating in federal programs by eliminating a requirement that...
Alabama man charged with abusing missing woman’s corpse
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A convicted sex offender has been charged in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama woman whose body was found in a shallow grave weeks after she texted a friend she was “in trouble.” The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office charged Fredrick Hampton, 50, on Thursday with abuse...
37 charged in Puerto Rico to Wisconsin drug smuggling case
MILWAUKEE — Federal prosecutors have charged 37 people accused of sending cocaine and other drugs from Puerto Rico to Wisconsin and elsewhere in the country using the U.S. Postal Service, authorities said Thursday. The United States Attorney’s Office in Eastern Wisconsin said the drugs were sold in the state, as...
FBI arrests 3 white supremacists ahead of pro-gun rally in Virginia
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — FBI agents on Thursday arrested a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist and two other men who are linked to a violent white supremacist group and were believed to be heading to a pro-gun rally next week in Virginia’s capital. The three men are members of The...
Group finds aircraft approval process safe, despite Boeing crashes
A government committee asked to review U.S. approval of new passenger planes after two deadly crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max has found that the system is safe and effective but could be improved. The committee differed sharply with legislators who are investigating Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, which...
Russia’s new PM a career bureaucrat with no political aims
MOSCOW — Mikhail Mishustin never had any political ambitions as a career bureaucrat and his name didn’t come up as a top candidate to become Russia’s next prime minister. But the 53-year-old Mishustin, the longtime chief of Russia’s tax service, was tapped for the post by President Vladimir Putin. The...
Nations of Iran crash victims seek compensation for families
LONDON — The governments of five countries that lost citizens when Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner demanded Thursday that Tehran accept “full responsibility” and pay compensation to the victims’ families — though they had little to offer besides moral pressure to get Iran to comply. After a meeting in...
Police: Suspended student stabs 2 classmates at Texas school
ABILENE, Texas — A recently suspended Texas high school student stabbed two of his classmates Thursday morning before fleeing campus, officials said. Police arrested the student about 30 minutes after the 8 a.m. attack at Abilene High School, police spokesman Rick Tomlin told KTXS-TV. Medics took both victims to a...
Muslim millennial’s site dispels stereotypes for millions
Today she travels the world, attends a red-carpet movie premiere and sits on panels with astronauts, former presidents and feminist icons. But in the years after 9/11, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh was just a New Jersey teenager, writing a blog from her bedroom. She used the blog to connect with other young...
7 killed, 14 tortured in Panama exorcism terror rituals
PANAMA CITY — Prosecutors in Panama said Thursday they have found the corpses of six children and one adult in a clandestine burial pit where a religious sect was found torturing indigenous people in exorcism rituals. Prosecutors said the dead minors found in the pit ranged in age from one...
Prince Harry takes on 1st duties since royal crisis talksVideo
LONDON — Prince Harry went back to work Thursday, mixing with children playing rugby and offering no hint of the days of turmoil that followed his recent announcement that he wished to step back from royal duties and become financially independent. It was a fairly standard event for Harry, who...
Chief justice, senators sworn in for Trump impeachmentVideo
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in Thursday to preside over President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, then immediately administered the oath to the full Senate to ensure “impartial justice” as jurors for only the third such proceeding in American. history. Roberts made the short trip across the street...
Rare video shows 5 mountain lions together in CaliforniaVideo
JACKSON, Calif. — Five California mountain lions were seen together on home surveillance video in a rare gathering of the notoriously solitary big cats. The footage was recorded at a rural residence at the edge of the El Dorado National Forest east of Sacramento, KTXL-TV reported Wednesday. “We shared the...
Astronaut completes spacewalk without helmet camera, lights
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts had to make do with fewer lights and camera views from one helmet Wednesday while performing critical battery work outside the International Space Station. It was the second pairing of NASA’s Jessica Meir and Christina Koch outside the orbiting lab. In October, they teamed...
Virgin Islands suit alleges decades-long abuse by Jeffery Epstein
HAVANA — A lawsuit filed by prosecutors in the Virgin Islands says multimillionaire sex offender Jeffery Epstein used two private islands in the U.S. territory to engage in a nearly two-decade conspiracy to traffic and abuse girls. At one point, the suit filed Wednesday alleges, Epstein and associates organized a...
Fever chart: Earth had its hottest decade on record in 2010sVideo
WASHINGTON — The decade that just ended was by far the hottest ever measured on Earth, capped off by the second-warmest year on record, two U.S. agencies reported Wednesday. And scientists said they see no end to the way man-made climate change keeps shattering records. “If you think you’ve heard...
Michigan lawmakers push sexual harassment probe of colleague Pete Lucido
LANSING, Mich. — A Republican state lawmaker should be subject to a sexual harassment investigation for telling a young female reporter she could have “a lot of fun” with a group of high school boys visiting the Michigan Capitol, legislative leaders said Wednesday. State Sen. Pete Lucido, 59, of Macomb...
Scranton man sentenced for online threat made to Ohio high school
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for sending an online message to a suburban Cleveland high school student in 2018 about a shooting he warned would occur the next day. That warning led hundreds of students to miss classes, authorities said. Russell...
‘OK, Boomer’ makes a Supreme Court appearance in age case
WASHINGTON — “OK, Boomer” made its first appearance in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, invoked by baby boomer Chief Justice John Roberts 12 days before he turns 65. The phrase is a favorite of younger generations and Roberts used it in questions in a case about age discrimination in the...
Authorities charge Florida man with killing wife, 3 children, dogVideo
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A physical therapist killed his wife, three young children and dog in an affluent Florida suburb near Walt Disney World and then left their bodies there for days, authorities said Wednesday. Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said at news conference that Anthony Todt faces homicide charges for...
Virginia House votes to ratify Equal Rights Amendment
RICHMOND, Va. — State lawmakers took a major step Wednesday toward making Virginia the critical 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, though it is far from certain the measure will ever be added to the U.S. Constitution. The Virginia House advanced ratification of the gender equality measure in...
Tennessee Guard airbase on lockdown, reports of shots fired
ALCOA, Tenn — The McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base is on lockdown after receiving reports of shots being fired, Tennessee National Guard Sgt. First Class William Jones said Wednesday. He called it a developing situation. Officer Travers Hurst, a spokesman at the air base in Tennessee, said the Blount...
Democrats to investigate ‘profoundly alarming’ Ukraine texts
WASHINGTON — A House committee chairman said his panel will investigate what he says are “profoundly alarming” text messages that have raised questions about the possible surveillance of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch before she was ousted by the Trump administration last spring. House Democrats on Tuesday night released...
Russian prime minister submits resignation to Putin
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a constitutional overhaul Wednesday to boost the powers of parliament and the Cabinet, a move signalling Putin’s intention to carve out a new position for himself after his current term ends. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev submitted his resignation hours after Putin discussed the...
Theories persist about mystery drones seen in rural Western regions
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — People insist they have spotted fleets of large drones crisscrossing rural America’s night sky, their mission mysterious, raising questions that have veered into conspiracy theories and launching an investigation. Authorities in Colorado have tried to put those theories to rest, announcing that they have confirmed nothing unusual...
