U.S./World category, Page 1231
U.S. announces pullout from key arms treaty with Russia
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Friday it is withdrawing from a treaty that has been a centerpiece of superpower arms control since the Cold War. Some analysts worry the move could fuel a new arms race. President Donald Trump said in a statement that Russia, “for far too long,”...
Teen held after apparent school shooting joke involving Siri
VALPARAISO, Ind. — Authorities say a 13-year-old Indiana boy is charged with intimidation after he told Apple’s digital assistant Siri that he planned a school shooting and posted an iPhone screenshot of the response on social media as an apparent joke. The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports the middle school student...
Missing Maryland man found dead in West Virginia
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Police in Hagerstown, Md., say a missing man has been found dead in Berkeley County, W.Va. News outlets report Hagerstown police say the body 27-year-old Christopher Turner was found Wednesday. Police say the manner and condition of the body indicated that Turner was killed. Police say Turner’s...
3 students killed in South Africa school walkway collapse
JOHANNESBURG — At least three students are dead after a walkway collapsed at a school outside Johannesburg, a South African official said Friday, and 23 were injured. Panyaza Lesufi, the head of education for Gauteng province, posted the toll on Twitter shortly after the collapse at the Hoerskool Driehoek high...
Hong Kong court denies male status to 3 transgender men
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s High Court has refused to allow three transgender men to be recognized as males on their official identity cards because they have not undergone full sex-change operations. Friday’s ruling was seen as a blow to the fledgling LGBT movement in the semiautonomous Chinese city of...
Human toll of cold: more than 2 dozen dead, hundreds hurt
CHICAGO — The dangerous cold and heavy snow that hobbled the northern U.S. this week has retreated, but not before exacting a human toll: more than two dozen weather-related deaths in eight states and hundreds of injuries, including frostbite, broken bones, heart attacks and carbon monoxide poisoning. In Illinois alone,...
20 charged in Chinese birth tourism crackdown
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Dongyuan Li’s business was called “You Win USA,” and authorities say she coached pregnant Chinese women on how to get into the United States to deliver babies who would automatically enjoy all the benefits of American citizenship. Over two years, the now-41-year-old raked in millions through...
Freeze adds layer of complication for farmers, livestock
RIPON, Wis. — On the coldest day in two decades on his fifth-generation dairy farm, Chris Pollack grabbed a thick, black hose from the barn and ventured into the subzero cold, where his beef cattle were chomping cud and waiting for water. The power had briefly gone out the previous...
St. Louis police chief angered over prosecutor allegations
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis prosecutor’s criticism of how police investigated a male officer’s alleged Russian roulette-style fatal shooting of a female colleague drew an angry response Thursday from Police Chief John Hayden. Hayden, speaking at a news conference, raised his voice and pounded his fist in responding to...
Border agency announces largest-ever fentanyl bust
PHOENIX — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced Thursday their biggest fentanyl bust ever, saying they captured nearly 254 pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid from a secret compartment inside a load of Mexican produce heading into Arizona. The drug was found hidden Saturday morning in a compartment under...
Catholic leaders in Texas name 286 accused of abusing minors
DALLAS — Catholic leaders in Texas on Thursday identified 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children, a number that represents one of the largest collections of names to be released since an explosive grand jury report last year in Pennsylvania. Fourteen dioceses in Texas named those credibly accused...
Wisconsin high court candidate’s blog posts called ‘extreme’
MADISON, Wis. — The only conservative running for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat kept a personal blog more than a decade ago in which he opined on hot-button issues of the day, including that he thought a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas anti-sodomy law could lead to...
Man found with wife’s dismembered body convicted of felonies
OLATHE, Kan. — A man arrested at a Kansas storage unit with two of his children and his dismembered wife’s remains has been convicted of three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child. Jurors Thursday found 36-year-old Justin Rey guilty of the felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of...
Who’s the daddy? Surprise in Swiss orangutan paternity test
BERLIN — A paternity test on a baby orangutan has come back with a surprising result. Basel Zoo in northwestern Switzerland said Thursday the test showed 5-month-old Padma wasn’t fathered by the male in her enclosure. Keepers routinely take DNA samples from newborn orangutans because the endangered great apes are...
Trump ‘disappointed’ FBI can’t find motive in Vegas shooting
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is “disappointed” the FBI couldn’t figure out what specifically motivated a gunman to carry out the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Trump’s comments Wednesday to The Daily Caller came a day after the FBI released its final report on the 2017 Las Vegas shooting...
Newark Airport parking garage fire damages numerous vehiclesVideo
NEWARK, N.J. — Authorities say a parking garage fire at an airport right outside New York City has severely damaged more than a dozen vehicles. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the fire at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey started on the rooftop of...
Deep freeze expected to ease, but disruptions persist
CHICAGO — The painfully cold weather system that put much of the Midwest into a historic deep freeze was expected to ease Thursday, though temperatures still tumbled to record lows in some places. Disruptions caused by the cold will persist, too, including power outages and canceled flights and trains. Crews...
Trump appears to sour on congressional border security talks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to ratchet up his demands on his long-stalled border wall, appearing to sour on congressional talks aimed at striking a deal with Democrats that he could sign. In a barrage of morning tweets, Trump sent mixed messages in which he...
Man accused of livestreamed sex assault is arrested, charged
ATLANTA — A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman who captured the apparent attack on Facebook Live has been arrested and charged with forcible sodomy. News outlets report Atlanta police say 34-year-old Dominique Williams surrendered to police Tuesday. Williams is accused of assaulting the woman this month at the...
Woman accused of pouring water on sleeping baby as ‘payback’
SUMTER, S.C. — Authorities say a South Carolina woman has been arrested after a video she posted on social media showed her pouring water on her sleeping 9-month-old daughter as “payback.” News outlets report the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office says 33-year-old Caitlyn Alyse Hardy was charged with cruelty to children....
Conservatives head to Texas to try to build their own wall
HOUSTON — What started as an online fundraiser to provide President Donald Trump with donations for his southern border wall has morphed into a foundation whose members vow to build a wall themselves. The “We The People Will Build the Wall” campaign has surpassed $20 million since it was created...
Malaysia crowns Sultan Abdullah as 16th king
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of central Pahang state was crowned Thursday as Malaysia’s 16th king under a unique rotating monarchy system, nearly a month after the sudden abdication of Sultan Muhammad V. Garbed in aqua blue regalia, Sultan Abdullah, 59, took his oath of office...
Alaska governor proposes constitutional changes to give voters say on taxes
JUNEAU, Alaska — Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday proposed constitutional changes that would limit legislative authority and give voters a say on taxes and any changes to the annual check residents receive from the state’s oil-wealth fund. One of the proposed amendments is aimed at ensuring the Alaska Permanent Fund...
Federal government secretly shipped plutonium from South Carolina to Nevada
RENO, Nev. — The U.S. Department of Energy revealed on Wednesday that it secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium from South Carolina to a nuclear security site in Nevada months ago despite the state’s protests. The Justice Department notified a federal judge in Reno that the government trucked in the radioactive material...
Elephant seals take over California beach during shutdown
SAN FRANCISCO — A colony of elephant seals took over a beach in Northern California during the government shutdown when there was no staff to discourage the animals from congregating in the popular tourist area, an official said. Now they’re not going anywhere. About 60 adult seals that gave birth...
