U.S./World category, Page 157

NEW YORK — Citigroup intentionally discriminated against Armenian Americans when they applied for credit cards, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday, as the bank argued internally that Armenians were more likely to commit fraud and referred to applicants as “bad guys” or affiliated with organized crime. The CFPB found...

ZAGREB, Croatia — Authorities in Croatia recommended Wednesday that people drink only tap water as they investigated reports of several people sickened or suffering throat injuries allegedly after consuming bottled beverages. Health authorities ordered the “suspected” products pulled from shops and restaurants, without specifying which products. However, photos on social...

NEW YORK — Alarmed by yet another jump in syphilis cases in newborns, U.S. health officials are calling for stepped-up prevention measures, including encouraging millions of women of childbearing age and their partners to get tested for the sexually transmitted disease. More than 3,700 babies were born with congenital syphilis...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A lawsuit filed by inmates who described conditions at a southern West Virginia jail as inhumane has been settled, a federal judge said Tuesday, a week after a magistrate judge said some records in the suit had been intentionally destroyed. U.S. District Judge Frank Volk said in...

More than three-and-a-half years after covid struck, the U.S. still has around 2 million more retirees than predicted, in one of the most striking and enduring changes to the nation’s labor force. The so-called Great Retirement induced by covid-19 is evident in the divergence between the actual number of retirees...

WASHINGTON — A man with a gun was arrested near the U.S. Capitol Tuesday afternoon, police said. The man was in a park outside Senate office buildings and across from Washington’s Union Station when he was arrested, the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement posted to X, formerly known...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to preserve a federal law that prohibits people under domestic violence restraining orders from having guns. In their first guns case since last year’s expansion of gun rights, the justices suggested that they will reverse a ruling from an appeals court in...

TALLINN, Estonia — Nobel Peace Prize laureate and activist Ales Bialiatski has been transferred to solitary confinement at his prison in Belarus, his wife said Tuesday. Natalia Pinchuk told The Associated Press that prison authorities have toughened conditions for the 61-year-old Bialiatski, who is serving a 10-year sentence, despite his...

ISLAMABAD — A minibus exploded in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, killing at least seven civilians and wounding 20 others, authorities said Tuesday. This is the second blast to have struck the area in as many weeks. Police spokesman, Khalid Zadran, said the explosion took place...

WASHINGTON — The prosecutor overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation testified Tuesday that he had the ultimate authority in the yearslong case as he made an unprecedented appearance before Congress to rebut Republicans’ explosive claims that the probe has been plagued with interference. David Weiss’ interview with the House Judiciary Committee...

The European Union’s executive arm will meet later Tuesday to finalize a decision on whether to recommend formally opening Ukraine’s membership talks, with expectations of a positive outcome for Kyiv but with conditions attached. The European Commission will likely recommend that member states open formal negotiations upon the completion of...

BRUSSELS — NATO member countries that signed a key Cold War-era security treaty froze their participation in the pact on Tuesday just hours after Russia pulled out, raising fresh questions about the future of arms control agreements in Europe. Many of NATO’s 31 allies are parties to the Treaty of...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are preparing a temporary spending bill to avert a Nov. 18 government shutdown and could vote on it this week, lawmakers said after leaving a meeting with newly installed Speaker Mike Johnson. One option would create two new “funding cliff” dates of Dec. 7 and Jan....

NEW YORK — Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is being sued by his publisher for contradicting his book’s claim about the 2020 election. All Seasons Press alleges that sworn testimony by Meadows undermined “The Chief’s Chief,” in which he wrote that the election was stolen from former...

BRIGHTON, Colo. — A second Denver-area police officer was acquitted Monday in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who was put in a neck hold and injected with ketamine after being stopped by police as he walked home from a convenience store. The jury found Aurora officer Nathan Woodyard not...

NEW YORK — The Pulitzer Prizes, considered the premier award for print journalists, are opening eligibility to broadcast and audio companies that also offer digital news sites. But the work these companies can submit for prize consideration must primarily be written journalism, the Columbia University-based Pulitzer Prize Board said on...

RMEISH, Lebanon — The military wing of Palestinian group Hamas said Monday it fired rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel, triggering Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese side of the border. The Qassam Brigades said in a statement its militants fired 16 rockets on the town of Nahariya and the southern...

NEW YORK — U.S. regulators are warning drivers to steer clear of aftermarket decals used to embellish a car’s logo on the center of its steering wheel. Such metal or plastic emblems — which are typically adorned with rhinestones or other decorations and attached to the steering wheel with an...

WASHINGTON — The most-watched races in Tuesday’s off-year general election have all been dominated by the ongoing debate over abortion rights. From a reelection bid for governor in Kentucky to a statewide ballot measure in Ohio to state legislative elections in Virginia, access to abortion has been a frequent topic...

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors Monday in a case that centered on how his son obtained a gun license. Robert Crimo Jr. entered the plea as his trial was about...

ANKARA, Turkey — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a grueling Middle East diplomatic tour on Monday in Turkey after only limited success in efforts to forge a regional consensus on how best to ease civilian suffering in Gaza as Israel intensifies its war against Hamas. In the...

LEWISTON, Maine — Two senators from Maine asked the U.S. Army inspector general on Monday to provide a full accounting of interactions with a reservist before he killed 18 people and injured 13 others in the deadliest shooting in the state’s history. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus...

WASHINGTON — Ruth Glenn knows from harrowing personal experience the danger of putting a gun in the hands of a violent spouse or partner, the issue at the heart of a case before the Supreme Court. On a beautiful June evening in 1992, Glenn was shot three times, twice in...

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump vigorously defended his wealth and business on Monday, tangling from the witness stand with the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial and denouncing as a “political witch hunt” a lawsuit accusing him of dramatically inflating his net worth. Trump’s long-awaited testimony about property...