U.S./World category, Page 1186
White House steps up attacks as Mueller report release nears
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took a victory lap after special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his Russia investigation. It may have been premature. The scramble to frame the investigation’s findings in the best political light is sure to be renewed in coming days when Mueller’s report is expected to be...
Storm to hit Rockies before forming new ‘bomb cyclone’
HELENA, Mont. — Flood, snow, avalanche and fire alerts popped up Monday from Idaho to Colorado, as parts of the U.S. interior that were paralyzed by blizzards and floods last month braced for round two of an unusual weather phenomenon. Welcome to springtime in the Rockies and parts of the...
‘Smallville’ actress Allison Mack pleads guilty ahead of sex cult trial
A “Smallville” actress accused of recruiting women into a sadistic sex cult in upstate New York pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering and conspiracy charges. Allison Mack was charged with duping women into joining NXIVM by telling them it was a self-help group. The Albany-based operation was founded by Keith Raniere,...
Felicity Huffman, 12 other parents to plead guilty in college scheme
BOSTON — Actress Felicity Huffman and a dozen other prominent parents have agreed to plead guilty in the sweeping college admissions cheating scam that has ensnared wealthy families and athletic coaches at some of the nation’s most selective universities, federal authorities said Monday. The “Desperate Housewives” star and the other...
3 American soldiers, 1 U.S. contractor killed in Afghanistan
KABUL — Three American service members and a U.S. contractor were killed when their convoy hit a roadside bomb on Monday near the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, the U.S. forces said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission said the four Americans...
Louisiana officer Jonathan Landrum cleared in fatal shooting
LAKE CHARLES, La. — The family of a 26-year-old man who was killed after threatening a store clerk with a lethal-looking BB gun plans to sue now that a Louisiana grand jury has cleared the officer who shot him. The grand jury rejected three possible charges against Lake Charles Police...
Bad idea: Pouring gas on wet ballfield, setting it on fire
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — Authorities say it could cost over $50,000 to repair a Connecticut baseball diamond where somebody dumped gasoline and set it on fire to dry out the infield. Police are investigating the fire in Ridgefield in which 25 gallons of gasoline was poured on the field Saturday. First...
For some river towns, flood protection is simply too costly
CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — The window of the Bee Naturals bath-and-body shop offers a view out of a Mark Twain novel: The sprawling Mississippi River at one of its widest points lapping against a small-town Missouri waterfront as barges float by and eagles dart in the air above. But with a...
Global warming is shrinking glaciers faster than thought
WASHINGTON — Earth’s glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. The most comprehensive measurement of glaciers worldwide found that thousands of inland masses of snow...
U.S. labels Iran Revolutionary Guard ‘terrorist organization’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. is designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization,” in an effort to increase pressure on the country. It is the first time that the U.S. has designated a part of another country as a terrorist organization. The designation imposes...
Spacewalking astronauts tackle battery, cable work
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts tackled battery and cable work outside the International Space Station on Monday. It was the third spacewalk in just 2 ½ weeks for the space station crew. NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques hustled through their part in battery swap-outs that...
Suspected rhino poacher killed by elephant then eaten by lions, authorities say
Five suspected poachers entered Kruger National Park in South Africa last week to kill rhino living there, according to authorities. Only four of the men left alive. The fifth was killed by an elephant and later “devoured” by a pride of lions, park officials said in a statement. “Entering Kruger...
17-foot, 140-pound python captured in Florida park
Researchers last week captured and killed the largest Burmese python to be removed from Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades, according to wildlife officials. The 17-foot, 140-pound female snake — an invasive species devastating to native wildlife — was discovered using a new tracking approach that leans on...
2 South Carolina men charged with killing, burying women
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Two South Carolina men have been charged with murder after sheriff’s deputies found two bodies buried at a house just outside Spartanburg, authorities said. The arrests were made after one of the suspects shot himself in the head in front of deputies, survived, and subsequently told deputies...
Uganda police say kidnapped U.S. woman and driver are freed
KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan police said on Sunday they had rescued an American woman and her driver who had been kidnapped by gunmen in a national park. The two “are in good health” and “in the safe hands” of security officials, police said in a Twitter update. Although authorities provided...
4 adults, 2 kids shot and wounded at Chicago baby shower
CHICAGO — Two men who opened fire on a crowd of people gathered for a baby shower, wounding six people, including two children, may have acted in retaliation for an earlier gang conflict, police said Sunday. Authorities have only “shards of information” about what happened at the family gathering in...
French priest’s 150-year-old heart being venerated in NYC
NEW YORK — The 150-year-old heart of a French priest is on a U.S. tour — a Roman Catholic relic with New York City as its latest stop. It was on display Saturday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, where both the faithful and the curious lined up to...
Maldives leader celebrates victory in parliamentary election
MALE, Maldives — Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s party is leading in the vote count in the parliamentary election and has already declared a landslide victory that could give him a free hand in efforts to restore political freedoms and tackle corruption. The official results are expected late Sunday. Solih’s...
Connecticut Medical Examiner seeks to ID bodies from 1944 circus fire
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s medical examiner is seeking to exhume two female bodies found after the 1944 Hartford circus fire in an attempt to identify at least one of them. Chief State Medical Examiner James Gill told The Hartford Courant he is hoping modern DNA testing can put a name...
Judge rules New York county can’t ban unvaccinated children from schools, parks
Ten days after a New York county banned unvaccinated children from public places in an effort to stem the rise of measles cases, a state judge put the injunction on hold. “Children are hereby permitted to return to their respective schools forthwith and otherwise to assemble in public places,” Judge...
South Florida teacher faces suspension for showing videos with nudes
The pictures displayed by a high school art teacher showed nudity, for sure. The question is whether they were artistic or obscene. Brenda Fischer, a veteran teacher at Western High School in Davie, Fla., faces a three-day suspension for showing her students a video with nude models in positions that...
Band of toddlers escapes Louisiana day care, found wandering near highway
Several 1-year-old children apparently escaped a Louisiana day care and were found wandering near a highway, prompting state officials to yank the facility’s license. According to the New York Daily News, four 1-year-old children at the Color Wheel Learning Center in Ascension Parish “found their way out of the facility’s...
Vietnam vet who died Christmas Eve is finally laid to rest
RALEIGH, N.C. — When a Vietnam War veteran died Christmas Eve with no family nearby, a community of veterans, a friend and military supporters in North Carolina stepped up to make sure he was finally laid to rest with military honors. They ensured that Phillip “Flip” Drye’s military paperwork, delayed...
Anti-government protests prompt talk of ‘Balkan Spring’
PODGORICA, Montenegro — It all started with a video posted on social media: a secret recording from 2016 that appears to show a well-known local tycoon hand over an envelope containing bundles of cash to a party associate of Montenegro’s long-standing leader. The prominent businessman, a former close friend and...
Mormons bracing for more changes at church conference
SALT LAKE CITY — Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are preparing for more changes as they gather in Utah for a twice-yearly conference to hear from the faith’s top leaders. Church President Russell M. Nelson has implemented a host of changes in his first year...
