U.S./World category, Page 1197
New Zealand mosque killings spark debate over free speech
DUNEDIN, New Zealand — New Zealanders are debating the limits of free speech after their chief censor banned a 74-page manifesto written by the man accused of slaughtering 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. The ban, issued Saturday, means anybody caught with the document on their...
Powerball jackpot now $750M after no winning ticket drawn
DES MOINES, Iowa — Lottery officials say the Powerball jackpot has ballooned to $750 million after no ticket matched all six numbers in the most recent drawing. The numbers drawn Saturday night are 24, 25, 52, 60 and 66, with a Powerball of 5. The next drawing for what would...
Russian arrested smuggling drugged orangutan in Indonesia
DENPASAR, Indonesia — Authorities say they have arrested a Russian tourist who was attempting to smuggle a drugged orangutan out of Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. Andrei Zhestkov, 27, was captured late Friday at the airport after an X-ray found the 2-year-old male orangutan in a rattan basket inside his...
Driver working with NBC News killed in Syria
BAGHOUZ, Syria — A driver working with an NBC News crew in Syria has been killed by an explosive device in eastern Syria, where several media outlets are covering the liberation of the last sliver of territory held by the Islamic State group. NBC employees escaped unharmed and expressed “deepest...
Barr preparing a summary of Mueller report’s key conclusions
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr scoured special counsel Robert Mueller’s confidential report on the Russia investigation with his advisers, deciding how much Congress and the American public will get to see about the two-year probe into President Trump and Moscow’s efforts to elect him. Barr was on pace to...
No timetable for reopening Texas ship channel following leak
HOUSTON — Officials have no timetable for reopening a portion of the Houston Ship Channel, one of the busiest commercial waterways in the country, after another setback caused flammable chemicals to seep into the water near a fire-ravaged petrochemical tank farm, a Coast Guard commander said Saturday. Coast Guard Capt....
Atlanta police set up hotline for ‘child murders’ case
ATLANTA — Atlanta’s mayor and police chief are leading a push to re-examine evidence from a string of murders that terrorized the city’s black community between 1979 and 1981. As a result, authorities are being inundated with calls. Now, officials have set up a central hotline for anyone with information...
U.S. underground nuclear waste dump explained
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It wasn’t long after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and World War II ended that the United States began to realize it had to do something with the waste that was being generated by defense-related nuclear research and bomb-making that would continue through the Cold...
Florida man used Instagram to lure teen across state lines and assault her, police say
A Florida man has been arrested and accused of using Instagram to lure a 17-year-old girl across two states to his home, then sexually assaulting her. An arrest affidavit alleges that Richard Brown, 25, struck up a friendship with the girl via Instagram, claiming to be 19 years old and...
Ethiopian Airlines chief questions Max training requirements
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The warning and training requirements set for the now-grounded 737 Max 8 aircraft may not have been adequate, in light of the Ethiopian plane crash that killed 157 people, the chief of Ethiopian Airlines said Saturday. After the Lion Air crash off Indonesia in October, the...
Man accused of fatally stabbing woman after freeway crash
PEORIA, Ariz. — A 25-year-old Arizona man who was driving a San Diego-area woman’s car is accused of fatally stabbing her after the vehicle veered off a freeway and crashed in a Phoenix suburb, resulting in a chaotic scene involving passers-by who stopped to help. Fernando Acosta of Phoenix got...
Patriots owner Robert Kraft apologizes in Florida prostitution case
MIAMI — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is apologizing after being charged in a Florida massage parlor prostitution investigation. “I am truly sorry,” Kraft said in a statement Saturday. “I know I have hurt and disappointed my family, my close friends, my co-workers, our fans and many others who...
Florida newspaper posts video of 2017 high-wire accident
SARASOTA, Fla. — A Florida newspaper has posted video of a 2017 high-wire accident that sent five performers in tightrope-walking star Nik Wallenda’s troupe tumbling more than 30 feet to the ground. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune obtained the video from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. Wallenda was among eight performers rehearsing...
Experts warn Midwest flood risk could persist for months
ST. LOUIS — Even as floodwaters receded in hard-hit places in in the Midwest, experts warned Saturday that with plenty of snow still left to melt in northern states, the relief may only be temporary. Rainfall and some snowmelt spurred flooding in recent weeks that’s blamed in three deaths so...
Man convicted of manslaughter in fatal post-Super Bowl fight
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. — A man has been convicted of passion provocation manslaughter in the stabbing death of another man after a fight in New Jersey during celebrations over the Philadelphia Eagles’ victory in the Super Bowl last year. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that jurors acquitted 57-year-old Supreme Life of...
Cruise ship passengers hauled off ailing ship by helicopter
HELSINKI — A cruise ship with engine problems sent a mayday call off Norway’s western coast on Saturday, then began evacuating its 1,300 passengers and crew amid stormy seas and heavy winds in a high-risk helicopter rescue operation. The Norwegian newspaper VG said the Viking Sky cruise ship ran into...
Florida city dismantles, relocates Confederate statue
LAKELAND, Fla. — A statue of a Confederate soldier is being removed from a Florida park. The statue had stood at the center of Lakeland’s Munn Park for 109 years. City officials began dismantling the monument Friday. City commissioners voted in December 2017 to start the process to move the...
‘Cancel Brexit’ petition surpasses 4 million signatures to become most popular ever
LONDON — Can Brexit be stopped? A force of exasperated Brits are trying. A petition calling for Prime Minister Theresa May to revoke Article 50 and remain in the European Union surpassed 4,151,000 signatures on Saturday, becoming the most popular petition ever hosted on the British Parliament website. The previous...
Dispute over refinery near national park heats up in court
BISMARCK, N.D. — Parties involved in a dispute over whether North Dakota regulators should be involved in the siting of an oil refinery near Theodore Roosevelt National Park are battling in state court. The dispute is over whether state regulators should have reviewed the site of the $800 million Davis...
U.S.-backed Syrian force says IS defeated in Syria
BAGHOUZ, Syria — A Kurdish commander has formally announced the “physical defeat” of the Islamic State group and appealed for continued assistance until the full eradication of the extremist group. General Mazloum Kobani, the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, says his forces have destroyed the group’s so-called caliphate...
Attorney general to release Mueller report’s ‘principal conclusions’ as early as today
Attorney General William Barr is expected to make public as early as today the principal conclusions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election, giving the public its first glimpse into the findings of the 22-month probe. Barr...
Pope replaces Santiago bishop accused of sex abuse cover-up
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Saturday replaced Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the embattled archbishop of Santiago, Chile, after he became embroiled in the country’s spiraling sex abuse and cover-up scandal. Francis accepted Ezzati’s resignation and named a temporary replacement to govern Chile’s most important archdiocese: the Spanish-born Capuchin friar and...
Georgia Senate OKs governor-backed ‘heartbeat’ abortion ban
ATLANTA — Amid protests and a heavy police presence, the Georgia Senate on Friday passed a bill banning almost all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The bill, backed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, passed on a 34-18 party-line vote and would be one of the nation’s strictest...
Museum is glad to finally hear: Yes, it’s really a Van Gogh
HARTFORD, Conn. — A painting at a Connecticut museum that has long been thought to be by Vincent Van Gogh has been authenticated as such by Dutch researchers. The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford announced Friday that the oil painting “Vase with Poppies” has been verified by researchers at the Van...
Couple brings 1,600-pound steer to a Texas Petco
Are all leashed animals really welcome at Petco? It was a question raised by a Texas couple and their pet, Oliver, a 1,600-pound Ankole-Watusi steer. So, they figured it was time to get an answer. “We decided to take a chance and call Petco’s bluff on the ‘ALL LEASHED PETS...
