U.S./World category, Page 1064
Survivors: Burning train in Pakistan took 20 minutes to stop, 74 dead
MULTAN, Pakistan — A raging fire swept through a train in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab Province on Thursday killing 74 people and survivors said afterward it took nearly 20 minutes for the train to stop amid contradictory reports about the condition of the train’s brakes. Three carriages were consumed by flames...
Stable costs but more uninsured as ‘Obamacare’ sign-ups open
WASHINGTON — More Americans are going without health insurance, and stable premiums plus greater choice next year under the Obama health law aren’t likely to reverse that. As sign-up season starts on Friday, the Affordable Care Act has shown remarkable resiliency, but it has also fallen short of expectations. Even...
Trump to welcome military working dog Conan to White HouseVideo
WASHINGTON — Every dog has his day, just not at the White House. President Donald Trump tweets that the military working dog injured in the raid last weekend that killed the Islamic State leader will leave the Middle East for the White House sometime next week. And the president appears...
Chicago teachers OK tentative agreement but strike goes on
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s teachers union voted to approve a tentative contract agreement with city officials Wednesday but refused to end a strike that has canceled two weeks of classes unless the city’s mayor adds school days to cover that lost time. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday night that she...
California nursing home patients had minutes to flee fire
JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. — A wildfire pushed by gale-force winds moved with terrifying speed toward a psychiatric nursing care facility Wednesday, leaving caregivers just 15 minutes to evacuate more than five dozen residents, many of them elderly and confined to wheelchairs and beds. They copied residents’ paperwork, gathered medications and...
Georgia Supreme Court temporarily halts man’s execution
ATLANTA — With about eight hours to spare before a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk was to be put to death Wednesday, Georgia’s highest court stepped in and temporarily halted the execution. Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday at...
At-large python found in West Virginia by letter carrier
RICHWOOD, W.Va. — An 11-foot python that was on the loose in West Virginia was found Tuesday, about a month after it got out of its tank, broke through a window screen and slithered outside. Richwood Police Chief Charles Burkhamer says a letter carrier saw the snake laying out in...
Federal wildlife official sentenced for sexual assault
BEND, Ore. — A federal program administrator overseeing endangered species policy for Washington state was sentenced to a month in jail for sexually assaulting a female co-worker while attending a conference in Oregon. The Bulletin reports Eric Rickerson was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to third-degree sex assault, harassment, coercion,...
3 killed, 9 injured in shooting at party in California home
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A gunman opened fire on a party killing three people and wounding nine at a home in the Southern California city of Long Beach, authorities said Wednesday. Police said a man in dark clothing with his face concealed fired the shots from an alley behind the...
1 killed when plane crashes into townhome in Atlanta area
ATLANTA — A small plane crashed into an Atlanta-area townhome Wednesday morning, killing at least one person, authorities said. A second person who was on the plane was unaccounted for, DeKalb County Fire Capt. Dion Bentley told reporters. The Piper PA-28 plane crashed shortly after taking off from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport...
California wine production mostly unaffected by wildfires
The headlines sound ominous: “Devastating Fires in Northern California Wine Country.” One might think the industry has been brought to its knees and that the wine will stop flowing from the likes of Napa and Sonoma. The facts to date tell a different story. When the fires broke out in...
Death row man’s extravagant last meal: Steak, lobster, burger, cake …Video
A man scheduled for a lethal injection in Georgia has ordered his final meal. And it’s a tall order. Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was convicted of malice murder and set for execution for the April 1994 killing of 50-year-old convenience store clerk Richard Slysz in Thomasville. For his last meal,...
Activist Greta Thunberg declines climate prize, urges more action
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has inspired millions across the world to stage protests urging leaders to better tackle global warming, has declined an environmental prize, saying “the climate movement does not need any more prizes.” Two fellow climate activists spoke on Thunberg’s behalf at an...
Teen’s family says he complained of bullying before death
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. — A 13-year-old complained to an administrator that he was being bullied at his Southern California middle school days before the assault that killed him, the boy’s family said. Juana and Felipe Salcedo, the aunt and uncle of Diego Stolz who raised the boy since his parents...
Immigration official says U.S.-Mexico border crisis not over
WASHINGTON — A top U.S. Border Patrol official has a warning: The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is not over. Even though crossings have been down over the past few months and news of custody deaths and teeming facilities full of children and families has faded from front pages and...
Lebanese prime minister quits amid anti-government protests
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s prime minister resigned Tuesday, bowing to one of the central demands of anti-government demonstrators shortly after baton-wielding Hezbollah supporters rampaged through the main protest camp in Beirut, torching tents, smashing plastic chairs and chasing away protesters. The demonstrators later returned to the camp in time to hear...
Study triples population at risk of climate-triggered floods
WASHINGTON — A new study says the number of people threatened by climate change-triggered flooding is about three times higher than previously thought. But it’s not because of more water. The study says it is because the land, especially in Asia and the developing world, is several feet lower than...
Federal judge blocks Alabama’s strict abortion ban
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Alabama’s near-total abortion ban from taking effect next month, saying the law, part wave of new abortion restrictions by conservative states, is clearly unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued an expected preliminary injunction temporarily blocking Alabama from enforcing the law...
Small plane crashes, sets New Jersey houses ablaze; pilot missingVideo
WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — A small plane crashed in a residential neighborhood in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City on Tuesday morning, setting two houses ablaze and leaving the pilot unaccounted for. The twin-engine Cessna 414 crashed into a house in the Colonia section of Woodbridge Township at 11...
Immigration official says U.S.-Mexico border crisis not over
WASHINGTON — A top U.S. Border Patrol official has a warning: The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is not over. Even though crossings have been down over the past few months and news of custody deaths and teeming facilities full of children and families has faded from front pages and...
Grandfather charged in Puerto Rico cruise ship death
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A man who police say dropped his young granddaughter from the 11th floor of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico in July has been accused of negligent homicide. A judge on Monday ordered the arrest of Salvatore Anello after prosecutors submitted evidence and said...
Swiss lament glacier melting as UN focuses on mountainsVideo
GENEVA — A Swiss minister says over 10% of the Alpine country’s glaciers have been lost over the past five years — a depletion not seen in over a century — as the U.N.’s weather agency opened its first-ever meeting on how climate change is affecting mountains. Minister for Home...
Egypt arrests train conductor after youth jumps to his death
CAIRO — An Egyptian train conductor who forced two poor street vendors without tickets to jump off a moving train, leading to the death of one of the youths, has been arrested, authorities said Tuesday. The incident, which took place Monday in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, has stirred...
Utah holds annual bison roundup on Great Salt Lake islandVideo
SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of horseback riders are again conducting the annual roundup of bison on an island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The roundup on Antelope Island that began Saturday is conducted over three fall weekends, with the first devoted to the actual roundup and the next two...
Army officer says he raised concerns about Trump and UkraineVideo
WASHINGTON — A military officer at the National Security Council twice raised concerns over the Trump administration’s push to have Ukraine investigate Democrats and Joe Biden, according to testimony the official is to deliver Tuesday in the House impeachment inquiry. Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq...
