U.S./World category, Page 121

TAMPA, Fla. — Revelers clad in pirate finery packed Tampa’s waterfront Saturday as a flotilla of boats arrived for the city’s annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest. Led by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, the invading pirates docked to make a final demand for the key to the city. Once ashore, the...

A bald eagle was found dead in Missouri, officials said. Now, the state’s Department of Conservation is searching for its killer. The bald eagle had a gunshot wound from a rifle when it was discovered south of Salem, Mo., on Jan. 18, officials said. Missouri Department of Conservation officials said...

NEW YORK — For years, Donald Trump hurled insults at E. Jean Carroll, saying the advice columnist fabricated a sexual assault allegation against him to sell a book. Will Trump keep that up now that he’s been hit with a $83.3 million defamation judgment? A jury on Friday awarded her...

BEIJING — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan that Washington should stand by a commitment not to support independence for Taiwan, during their high-level talks in the Thai capital, the Chinese foreign ministry said Saturday. Wang said that Taiwan’s recent election didn’t change the...

CARACAS, Venezuela — The U.S. government on Saturday condemned the decision of Venezuela’s highest court to block the presidential candidacy of opposition leader María Corina Machado. The Biden administration, however, remained noncommittal about reimposing economic sanctions on Venezuela, which it has threatened to do if the government of President Nicolás...

LONDON — Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined a march in southern England on Saturday to protest the use of private jets and the expansion of an airport. Hundreds of local residents and activists holding banners and placards that read “Ban Private Jets” marched to Farnborough Airport, which mostly serves private...

Alaska Airlines has begun flying Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners again for the first time since they were grounded after a panel blew out of the side of one of the airline’s planes. The airline said in a statement that it has completed its final inspection of their group of...

PETALUMA, Calif. — Last month, Mike Weber got the news every poultry farmer fears: His chickens tested positive for avian flu. Following government rules, Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in...

STAMFORD, Conn. — Wrestling icon Vince McMahon resigned Friday from WWE’s parent company t he day after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and another former executive of serious sexual misconduct, including offering her to a star wrestler for sex. McMahon stepped down from his position as...

NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. — Authorities seized about a hundred animals from a Long Island home packed with exotic species — including a giant African snail, a sulcata tortoise and a South American ostrich, advocates said Friday. The animals, some of which are endangered species, were discovered by state and local...

ATMORE, Ala. — Alabama’s first-ever use of nitrogen gas for execution could gain traction among other states and change how the death penalty is carried out in the United States, much like lethal injection did more than 40 years ago, according to experts on capital punishment. Alabama Attorney General Steve...

WAUKESHA, Wis. — One of two Wisconsin women accused of stabbing a classmate nearly to death almost a decade ago to please internet horror character Slender Man is again asking a judge to release her from a mental institution. Morgan Geyser, 21, petitioned Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren on...

NEW YORK — Longtime National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre took the stand in his New York civil trial Friday, defending himself against allegations that he violated the trust of the group’s 5 million members by spending tens of millions of dollars to enrich himself and close associates. Under questioning...

ALBANY, N.Y. — The U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement with the state of New York on Friday to resolve a sexual harassment investigation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, confirming allegations from the damaging misconduct probe that led to the Democrat’s resignation. The agreement details a series of reforms made...

RIFLE, Colo. — Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, has been charged with assault and other counts in connection with two domestic altercations, including an argument with the congresswoman in a restaurant that spiraled out of control and a fight with the former couple’s son, authorities said. The...

NEW YORK — A jury has awarded an additional $83.3 million to former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who says former President Donald Trump damaged her reputation by calling her a liar after she accused him of sexual assault. Friday’s verdict was the second time in nine months a jury...

ATMORE, Ala. — A man put to death using nitrogen gas shook and convulsed for minutes on the gurney as Alabama carried out the first-of-its-kind execution that has ignited debate over the humaneness of the method. Breathing through a nitrogen-filled mask that deprived him of oxygen, 58-year-old convicted killer Kenneth...

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump abruptly walked out on closing arguments at his defamation trial Friday as a lawyer for writer E. Jean Carroll urged a jury to award her client at least $12 million damages, saying Trump had shattered her reputation and her world by unleashing a...

KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia and Ukraine trade accusations over this week’s crash of a Russian military transport plane, one thing is clear: families fears that future prisoner exchanges may be in danger and loved ones could stay imprisoned. Even the basic facts are being debated. Russian officials accused Kyiv...

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 15 people, including a 5-month-old baby, as health authorities in the besieged territory said the death toll since the start of the war has surpassed 26,000. In southern...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations’ top court stopped short Friday of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza in a case accusing Israel of genocide in the tiny coastal enclave, but demanded that Israel try to limit deaths and damage caused by its military offensive there. South Africa brought the...

PONTIAC, Mich. — A school shooting that killed four students in Michigan could have been prevented if the mother of the armed teen had removed him after seeing his violent drawings that same day, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday in an uncommon trial about parental responsibility. Jennifer Crumbley is charged...

DALLAS — Texas has had an estimated 26,000 rape-related pregnancies since the state enacted its abortion bans, according to new research published this week. Doctors performed fewer than 10 abortions per month in Texas in the first eight months of 2023, meaning that survivors of rape may have crossed state...

ATLANTA — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump said the district attorney in the Georgia election interference prosecution should be removed from the case, claiming she “inappropriately injected race into the case and stoked racial animus” in response to allegations of misconduct against her. Defense attorneys Steve Sadow and Jennifer...