U.S./World category, Page 1045
Poland wants troops, police to shoot wild boars over swine fever
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s agriculture minister on Wednesday proposed that army and police personnel should be allowed to shoot wild boars on a large scale in areas affected by the African swine fever, to help fight the disease that has been found in the west of the country after it...
Texas police officer killed by man fleeing traffic stop
NASSAU BAY, Texas — A Houston-area police sergeant was killed when a man wanted on a domestic violence warrant broke free from police while being handcuffed, fled from a traffic stop and struck her with his vehicle, police said. The search continued early Wednesday for the man, who police said...
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time ‘person of the year’
NEW YORK — Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time’s “person of the year” Wednesday, becoming at age 16 the youngest person to whom the U.S. magazine has given the title. Thunberg emerged as the face of the youth climate movement after she started skipping school once a week...
As Newtown students grow up, some turn to activism
NEWTOWN, Conn. — They were children themselves when they lost siblings, friends, and schoolmates in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Too young to comprehend the massacre, they spent years in shock and denial. Seven years later, some young people in Newtown, still struggling with the trauma, are emerging as...
Jersey City’s mayor says gunmen targeted kosher market
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The mayor of a New Jersey city said Wednesday that authorities believe gunmen targeted a kosher market during a furious shooting that killed six people and filled the streets with the sounds of heavy gunfire for hours just across the Hudson River from New York City....
Richmond gets a new soaring statue, this one with dreadlocksVideo
RICHMOND, Va. — A massive bronze sculpture of a young black man with dreadlocks astride a muscular horse was permanently installed Tuesday in Virginia’s capital city, not far from one of the country’s most prominent displays of Confederate monuments. Thousands of people crowded the lawn of the Virginia Museum of...
3 charged with running $722M cryptocurrency scam
NEWARK, N.J. — Three men were charged with running a cryptocurrency mining operation that officials labeled a “high-tech Ponzi scheme” that bilked investors out of $722 million, federal officials announced Tuesday. Matthew Goettsche, 37, was arrested Tuesday in Colorado, while Jobadiah Weeks, 38, was taken into custody in Florida and...
Betsy DeVos: Defrauded students may only get partial loan relief
Students who are cheated by their colleges will receive full loan forgiveness only if they end up earning far less than their peers, while others will receive relief between 25% and 75% of their debt under new rules unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. Education Department. The policy is a departure...
Final full moon of the decade to peak at 12:12 on 12/12
The moon will appear full for the final time this decade on Dec. 12 at 12:12 a.m., according to NASA. A full moon in December is known as the Cold Moon in the Northern Hemisphere. Numerologists may have something to say about all the twelves in the date and time,...
Pentagon orders review of international student vettingVideo
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Tuesday ordered a broad review of vetting procedures for international students who participate in training on U.S. military installations and demanded the process be strengthened, in direct reaction to last week’s deadly shooting at a Pensacola Navy base by a Saudi aviation student. The memo...
Finland gets world’s youngest prime minister, a woman age 34
HELSINKI — Finland became the country with the world’s youngest sitting head of government Tuesday when the Nordic country’s parliament chose a 34-year-old woman who is a prolific user of social media and a keen advocate for environmental issues as prime minister. Lawmakers in the 200-seat Eduskunta voted 99-70 to...
6 killed in New Jersey gunbattle, including police officerVideo
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Six people, including a police officer and three bystanders, were killed in a furious gun battle Tuesday that filled the streets of Jersey City with the sound of heavy fire for hours, authorities said. The dead included the two gunmen, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly...
Women seek access to strip clubs in constitutional battle
ORLANDO, Fla. — A lawsuit over women’s right to enter strip clubs unaccompanied by men is making Florida cities and counties worry about the future of their local civil-rights laws. An Orlando area strip club denied two Alabama women access because its policy required women to enter with men to...
Justices seem to favor insurers’ Obamacare claims for $12B
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to rule that insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama. Several justices indicated their agreement with arguments from the insurers that...
George Laurer, inventor of ubiquitous UPC, dies at 94
WENDELL, N.C. — George J. Laurer, whose invention of the Universal Product Code at IBM transformed retail and other industries around the world, has died. He was 94. A funeral was held on Monday for Laurer, who died Thursday at his home in Wendell, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh....
Chile combs Antarctic for missing plane with 38 aboard
SANTIAGO, Chile — Searchers using planes, ships and satellites were combing Antarctic seas on Tuesday, hunting for a Chilean Air Force transport plane carrying 38 people that vanished en route to a base on the frozen continent. Seven hours after contact was cut off, the Air Force declared the plane...
Chinese migrants found hiding in appliances at U.S. crossing
SAN DIEGO — Eleven Chinese migrants were discovered hiding in furniture and appliances inside a truck stopped by agents as it entered the U.S. from Mexico at a Southern California border crossing, federal officials said. At least one person was crammed inside a washing machine and another was curled up...
U.S. sanctions individuals suspected of human rights abusesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed economic sanctions on more than a dozen individuals suspected of human rights violations in six countries and banned two others from entering the United States, including a former Saudi official in Turkey for his alleged role in the murder of Saudi journalist...
Bill Cosby loses appeal of sexual assault conviction
Bill Cosby lost his bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction Tuesday, as an appeals court upheld the verdict in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. In its ruling, the Superior Court upheld the right of prosecutors to call other accusers to bolster their case — the same...
Exxon Mobil prevails in lawsuit over climate regulations
NEW YORK — Exxon Mobil won Tuesday in a closely watched lawsuit over the costs of climate change, with a judge saying there was no proof the energy giant duped investors about the toll that regulations could take on its business. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office didn’t prove...
U of Phoenix agrees to $50M settlement over false ad claims
The University of Phoenix and its parent company have agreed to pay $50 million in cash and cancel $141 million in student debt to settle allegations of deceptive advertisement brought by the Federal Trade Commission. The deal, announced Tuesday, settles a dispute over an ad campaign the for-profit college unrolled...
Brazil’s Bolsonaro calls activist Greta Thunberg a ‘brat’
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday called young Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg a “brat” after she expressed concern about the slayings of indigenous Brazilians in the Amazon. Bolsonaro questioned the coverage news media have given Thunberg, 16, who who on Sunday tweeted a link to...
Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to become 1st active-duty Purple Heart Base
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP) — An Air Force base in Ohio plans to join the Purple Heart Trail community on Tuesday as the first active-duty Purple Heart Base. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will have a public designation ceremony at the National Museum of the United States Air Force...
‘They’ named Merriam-Webster word of the year
NEW YORK — A common but increasingly mighty and very busy little word, “they,” has an accolade all its own. The language mavens at Merriam-Webster have declared the personal pronoun their word of the year based on a 313% increase in look-ups on the company’s search site, Merriam-Webster.com, this year...
Pelosi announces agreement on North American trade pact
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced agreement on a modified North American trade pact, handing President Donald Trump a major Capitol Hill win on the same day that Democrats announced their impeachment charges against him. The California Democrat said the revamped U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is a significant improvement...
