U.S./World category, Page 1189
British prime minister’s party fumes over her Brexit outreach to opposition leader
LONDON — It might be the biggest gamble of her political career. Theresa May’s last-minute invitation to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to work together on Britain’s exit from the European Union stunned friends and foes — and signaled the prime minister’s desperation to deliver Brexit. May’s dramatic swerve across her...
Police: Black woman charged following beating by white man
DALLAS — A black woman who Dallas police say was beaten by a white man over a parking dispute now has been charged with a felony for later shattering a windshield on the man’s pickup. Police said Tuesday that 24-year-old L’Daijohnique Lee is charged with criminal mischief following last month’s...
Justice Department finds ‘severe’ problems in Alabama prisons
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Justice Department issued a scathing report on Alabama’s prisons on Wednesday, saying the state is violating the Constitution by failing to protect inmates from violence and sexual abuse and by housing them in unsafe and overcrowded facilities. The department gave Alabama 49 days to correct the...
Baby born inside California McDonald’s
FRESNO, Calif. — A woman gave birth to a baby at a McDonald’s restaurant in Madera, Calif., police say. It happened Monday night when the woman went into labor in the lobby, according to a Madera police Facebook post. When officers and paramedics from Pistoresi Ambulance arrived, they realized there...
Polish priest apologizes for burning of ‘Harry Potter’ books
WARSAW, Poland — A priest in northern Poland who led a public burning of books that included titles from the “Harry Potter” series and other items parishioners wanted destroyed has apologized, saying the ritual was not intended to condemn specific authors, religions or social groups. The Rev. Rafal Jarosiewicz called...
Creepy cargo: Philippines seizes 757 tarantulas from Poland
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine customs officials were astonished when they opened nicely gift-wrapped boxes of cookies and oatmeal flown in all the way from Poland and found a hair-raising contraband: hundreds of live tarantulas. Bureau of Customs personnel seized the 757 tarantulas at a mail exchange center near Manila’s international...
U.S. investigates seizure risk with electronic cigarettes
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are investigating whether electronic cigarettes may trigger seizures in some people who use the nicotine-vaping devices. The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has reviewed 35 reports of seizures among e-cigarettes users, particularly young people. Regulators stressed it’s not yet clear whether vaping is...
Woman buys out Payless shoe store for Nebraska flood victims
HAYS, Kan. — A Kansas woman donated 204 pairs of shoes to Nebraska flood victims after buying everything that was left at a closing Payless store. The Hays Post reports the shoes were part of a flood relief shipment taken to farmers in Nebraska by Fort Hays State’s agriculture sorority,...
Alabama bill would outlaw abortion as lawmakers aim at Roe
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama is the latest Republican-leaning state seeking to enact a strict abortion ban as conservatives take aim at the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Energized by new conservatives on the Supreme Court, abortion opponents in multiple states hope to ignite new legal battles that...
Trump urges even more defense spending by NATO allies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump praised NATO countries for increasing their financial contributions to the Western alliance, but he hounded them to pay even more, saying America still shoulders a disproportionate share of the cost of protecting Europe. The president met Tuesday with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who was in...
Trump pivots on pledges, exploring the art of the climb-down
WASHINGTON — His border shutdown went from imminent to uncertain. A major health care push was declared and then delayed. Funding cuts were inserted in his proposed budget and just as quickly taken out. President Donald Trump has been exploring the art of the climb-down. Trump pivoted on two big...
‘Obamacare’ repeal off the table for GOP until after 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — “Not any longer.” And with that, a triumphant Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to close the book Tuesday on a divisive Republican debate, convincing President Donald Trump to shelve plans to replace the Affordable Care Act until after the 2020 election. “I made it clear to...
Police: Mom says she might have misjudged man who touched child
BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia say a woman now says she might have misinterpreted an incident when she reported that a man was trying to abduct her 5-year-old daughter at a mall. News outlets report the woman told police Monday that she stopped the man by pulling out...
Kentucky judge rules against unvaccinated student in lawsuit
WALTON, Ky. — A Kentucky judge has ruled against a student who sued after he wasn’t allowed to play basketball because he wasn’t vaccinated for chickenpox. In the lawsuit against the Northern Kentucky Health Department, 18-year-old Jerome Kunkel claimed the vaccine is against his religious beliefs. WXIX-TV in Cincinnati reports...
Reports: Avocados would run out in 3 weeks if border shuts down
Americans could run out of avocados in three weeks, if President Trump follows through on a threat to shut down the U.S./Mexico border, according to the head of the largest avocado distributor and grower in the world. Steven Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, claims shutting down the...
Police: Suspected killer of rapper Nipsey Hussle arrested
LOS ANGELES — Police on Tuesday arrested the man suspected of fatally shooting rapper Nipsey Hussle, authorities said. Eric Holder, 29, had been on the run for two days before he was captured in Bellflower, a Los Angeles-area city about 20 miles southeast of where Hussle was gunned down two...
Venezuelans storm border as Colombia warns Russia
BOGOTA, Colombia — Hundreds of Venezuelans desperate for food and services stormed the Colombian border on Tuesday, while Bogota indirectly warned Russia against a military deployment in support of Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolas Maduro. Parliament speaker Juan Guaido, whom dozens of countries have recognized as the country’s interim president, is...
April storm to sock the Northeast, has even brought snow to North Carolina
No, April’s not fooling. A powerful bomb cyclone will develop off the Carolina coast Tuesday, skirting the Eastern seaboard with wind, heavy precipitation and even some late-season snow. Flakes were flying in Charlotte on Tuesday morning, where the local National Weather Service office hoisted a statement cautioning “snow showers through...
Ex-governor candidate found guilty in Oklahoma murder-for-hire plot
OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a former Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate and zookeeper in an attempted murder-for-hire plot. Jurors returned the guilty verdict following six days of testimony in the trial of Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, 56, who was accused of trying to arrange the killing of Florida...
More condoms, fewer cigarettes found in annual beach cleanup
SANDY HOOK, N.J. — Volunteers cleaning up New Jersey beaches last year found everything but the kitchen sink. Oh wait, they found one of those, too. Unsurprisingly, nearly 82% of the trash removed during Clean Ocean Action’s beach sweeps last spring and fall was plastic, including beverage bottles, shopping bags,...
Lithuanian man discovers he’s sole passenger on huge jetliner to Italy
VILNIUS, Lithuania — A Lithuanian man flying to Italy got a pleasant surprise when he boarded the plane: He was the only passenger on the Boeing 737-800. Skirmantas Strimaitis, who was flying from capital Vilnius to the northern Italian city of Bergamo for a skiing holiday March 16, had the...
Delay sought on California ruling allowing high-capacity ammo magazines
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s attorney general said Tuesday it appears the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines has started in the state for the first time in nearly two decades after a federal court judge tossed out a statewide ban. Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked a federal judge to delay implementing...
Dam’s spillway gets first use since 2017 California crisis
OROVILLE, Calif. — Officials at the nation’s tallest dam unleashed water down a rebuilt spillway Tuesday for the first time since it crumbled two years ago and drove hundreds of thousands of California residents from their homes over fears of catastrophic flooding. Water flowed down the spillway and into the...
Defense Ministry tells Algeria’s leader to quit immediately
ALGIERS, Algeria — The Algerian Defense Ministry called Tuesday for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to quit “immediately” after two decades in office, saying “there is no more time to waste” after six weeks of nationwide protests against the chief of state and his inner circle. The ministry’s appeal came in a...
Amtrak wasted $23M on unneeded office space, inspector general says
WASHINGTON — Amtrak wasted at least $23 million by acquiring unneeded office space in Boston, New York, Washington and several other cities, according to a report by the railroad’s inspector general. The report by Stephen Lord, the assistant inspector general for Amtrak, sketches a picture of a quasi-public, federally-subsidized passenger...
