U.S./World category, Page 1074
Social Security checks to rise modestly amid push to expand benefitsVideo
WASHINGTON — Millions of retirees will get a modest 1.6% cost-of-living increase from Social Security in 2020, an uptick with potential political consequences in an election year when Democrats are pushing more generous inflation protection. The increase amounts to $24 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates...
Public to get access to Nuremberg trials digital recordings
PARIS — Audio recordings from the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders will be made available to the public for the first time in digital form after nearly two years of work conducted in secret. The Memorial of the Shoah in Paris will officially accept the recordings at a ceremony Thursday...
2 Florida men tied to Guiliani arrested on campaign charges
WASHINGTON — Two Florida businessmen tied to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have been arrested on campaign finance violations resulting from a $325,000 donation to a political action committee supporting Trump’s reelection. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested on a four-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy,...
Florida man accused of forcing small alligator to drink beer
PALM CITY, Fla. — Authorities say they’ve arrested a Florida man who provoked a small alligator into biting his arm and poured beer into the animal’s mouth. News outlets report 27-year-old Timothy Kepke and 22-year-old Noah Osborne were charged last week with unlawfully taking an alligator. Florida Fish and Wildlife...
Season greeting: Fall snowstorm pushing through Great Plains
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A powerful winterlike storm moving through the Great Plains was closing schools and causing travel headaches in several states, authorities said Thursday. Winter storm warnings and watches stretched from Wyoming and Montana through western Nebraska and into the Dakotas and Minnesota. Forecasters said the storm packs...
Olga Tokarczuk, Peter Handke win Nobel literature prizes
STOCKHOLM — Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian writer Peter Handke won the 2018 and 2019 Nobel Prizes for literature on Thursday, a rare double announcement that came after no prize was announced last year due to sex abuse allegations that tarnished the group awarding the prizes. The Swedish Academy...
Ukraine president: ‘No blackmail’ in conversation with Trump
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday there was “no blackmail” in the phone call with President Donald Trump that helped spark an impeachment inquiry. Zelenskiy is trying to save his reputation and distance himself from the U.S. political drama. In an all-day “media marathon” held in a...
Evidence from ex-Dallas cop’s murder trial fuels mistrust
DALLAS — Evidence from the trial of a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing her neighbor has fueled new questions about whether accused officers are treated differently than other suspects, including testimony that a camera in the cruiser where the officer sat after the shooting was flipped off and...
Officials find more fetal remains connected to late doctor
INDIANAPOLIS — Authorities in Illinois discovered additional fetal remains Wednesday stashed in a car that had belonged to a doctor who performed abortions in Indiana, a month after his death led to the discovery of more than 2,200 other sets of remains in his garage. Investigators for the Will County...
Delta all-women crew flew 120 girls to NASA to encourage female aviatorsVideo
Something you don’t see everyday: the entire crew and passengers on a flight’s manifest were the same gender — female. That’s exactly what happened Sunday, when Delta celebrated Girls in Aviation Day. Part of its fifth annual Women Inspiring our Next Generation (WING) Flight, the flight took 120 girls ages...
Arizona county assessor charged in human smuggling case
PHOENIX — The assessor of Arizona’s most populous county has been accused of human smuggling in an adoption fraud scheme that brought dozens of pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the United States to give up their children for adoption, court records show. Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen has...
In new book, woman accuses former ‘Today’ show anchor Matt Lauer of rape
A woman who worked with NBC at the Sochi Olympics claims she was raped by former anchor Matt Lauer at a hotel there, an encounter the former “Today” show host says was consensual. Brooke Nevils makes her claim in Ronan Farrow’s book, “Catch and Kill,” a copy of which was...
Trump defends Syria move, doesn’t want U.S. troops in Mideast
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday over sharp criticism of his decision to pull back U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, insisting he is focused on the “BIG PICTURE” that doesn’t include American involvement in “stupid endless wars” in the Middle East. “Fighting between various groups that has been...
Turkey launches military offensive into SyriaVideo
AKCAKALE, Turkey — Turkey launched a military operation Wednesday against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria after U.S. forces withdrew from the area, with activists reporting airstrikes on a town on Syria’s northern border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the campaign, which followed an announcement Sunday by...
Goat rams through sliding glass door, naps inside bathroom in OhioVideo
CLEVELAND — An Ohio homeowner never envisioned becoming semi-famous because of a goat butting its way into her home and taking a nap in her bathroom. “This is the most random story in the world,” Jennifer Keathley said Tuesday, breaking out into laughter. The break-in happened Friday when an escaped...
Killer Samuel Little’s lifetime of evil backed up by a prodigious memory
Samuel Little’s depravity is matched only by his prodigious memory. Little, a California inmate considered by the FBI to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, has confessed to 93 slayings committed across the country between 1970 and 2005, recounting the crimes with astonishing, near-photographic detail. He even...
German synagogue is attacked on holy day; 2 dead nearbyVideo
HALLE, Germany — A heavily armed assailant ranting about Jews tried to force his way into a synagogue in Germany on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, then shot two people to death outside the building in an attack Wednesday that was livestreamed on a popular gaming site. The attacker shot...
9-year-old charged with murder in 5 Illinois fire deaths
EUREKA, Ill. — A 9-year-old child accused of causing a mobile home fire that killed three children and two adults in central Illinois has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder. The juvenile also was charged with two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson, the (Peoria)...
NTSB: Firm tied to collapsed Miami bridge wasn’t qualified
MIAMI — The firm that reviewed the design of a Miami university bridge that collapsed and killed six people last year was mistakenly listed in a Florida state report as qualified for that type of project even when it wasn’t, federal documents show. The National Transportation Safety Board released nearly...
Alabama capital elects first black mayor in 200-year history
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s capital, a city once known as the cradle of the Confederacy and later the birthplace of the civil rights movement, elected its first African American mayor Tuesday. Probate Judge Steven Reed, 45, clasped the history-making victory to be elected the next mayor of Montgomery after defeating...
2 suspects in custody, 1 sought in cop trial witness slaying
DALLAS — Three Louisiana men are suspected in the killing of a witness who testified at the murder trial of a former Dallas police officer, authorities said Tuesday, cautioning that the killing had nothing at all to do with that trial or case. One of the suspects, Michael Mitchell, 32,...
Report: Home heating bills will be slightly lower this winter
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is predicting a cheaper winter when it comes to home heating bills. The agency said households that primarily use electricity or natural gas as their heating source can expect to spend slightly less than last winter. Households that use heating oil can expect to spend...
Bernie Sanders says he should have listened to symptoms
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he was “dumb” not to have listened to the symptoms he was experiencing before he was stricken with a heart attack last week. The 78-year-old Sanders made the comments Tuesday outside his Vermont home as he headed to an appointment with...
Railroads to renew push for one-man crews in contract talks
OMAHA, Neb. — The biggest U.S. freight railroads appear ready to renew their push to reduce their crews to one person from the current two-man operation used at major railroads now. Eight U.S. railroads have filed a federal lawsuit against the union that represents rail conductors to force the SMART...
California governor set to sign law capping rent increases
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s governor says he will sign a law on Tuesday that caps rent increases for some people over the next decade as the nation’s most populous state grapples with a housing crisis. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday he will sign the bill on Tuesday in Oakland, an...
