U.S./World category, Page 353
NYC subway crews wrestle derailed train back on tracks, as crash disrupts service for 2nd day
NEW YORK — In the cramped confines of a New York City subway tunnel, work crews labored to lift hulking rail cars back onto the tracks after two passenger trains collided and derailed, causing service disruptions that stretched into a second day Friday. The low-speed crash left the trains blocking...
U.S. employers add a strong 216,000 jobs in a sign of continued economic strength
WASHINGTON — The nation’s employers added a robust 216,000 jobs last month, the latest sign that the American labor market remains resilient even in the face of sharply higher interest rates. Friday’s government report showed that December’s job gain exceeded the 173,000 that were added in November. The unemployment rate...
Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius freed after serving nearly 9 years in prison for killing girlfriend
PRETORIA, South Africa — Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee who became a global star competing at his sport’s highest level while running on carbon-fiber blades, was released from prison on Friday after serving nearly nine years for killing his girlfriend, the model Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, 37, quietly left the...
100 New Jersey firefighters battle blaze at former Singer sewing machine factory
ELIZABETH, N.J. — Over 100 firefighters battled a blaze Friday at a New Jersey industrial park that was home to the Singer Sewing Machine factory for more than a century. A passerby reported the fire around 5:30 a.m., Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said. No one was in the building and...
Los Angeles County has thousands of ‘unclaimed dead.’ These investigators retrace their lives
LOS ANGELES — Arusyak Martirosyan struggles to open the door of a stranger’s one-bedroom apartment overflowing with the belongings from a life lived but not claimed in death. Wedged against the door is a giant box of Gain laundry detergent and plastic tubs piled high. Blouses and T-shirts, suspended by...
Ukraine unleashes more drones and missiles at Russian areas as part of its new year strategy
Russian air defenses downed dozens of Ukrainian drones in occupied Crimea and southern Russia on Friday, officials said, as Kyiv pressed its strategy of targeting the Moscow-annexed peninsula and taking the 22-month war well beyond Ukraine’s borders. Air raid sirens wailed in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, and traffic...
Iran mourns those slain in Islamic State-claimed suicide blasts as death toll rises to 89
KERMAN, Iran — Iranian officials tried Friday to link Israel and the U.S. to an Islamic State group-claimed suicide bombing while speaking to a mass funeral for some of the 89 people killed in the attack, seeking to intertwine the assault with wider Middle East tensions from the Israel-Hamas war....
With more records, world sees how Jeffrey Epstein leveraged powerful to abuse vulnerable girls
NEW YORK — A new batch of unsealed documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls was released Thursday, adding several hundred pages to a trove of information detailing how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his...
New York City subway train derails in collision with another train, injuring more than 20 people
NEW YORK — A New York City subway train derailed Thursday after colliding with another train at low speed, leaving more than 20 people with minor injuries and causing major service disruptions across Manhattan during the afternoon rush hour, authorities said. At about 3 p.m. on the Upper West Side,...
Florida man charged with threatening to kill U.S. Rep Eric Swalwell and his children
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida man threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and his children in a series of voicemails left at the California Democrat’s Washington office last month, federal prosecutors said. Michael Shapiro, 72, of Greenacres, Florida, was arrested Wednesday morning on a charge of...
Oscar Pistorius is set to be released on parole. He will be strictly monitored until December 2029
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Oscar Pistorius is due to be released from prison Friday to live under strict conditions at a family home having served nearly nine years of a murder sentence for the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The double-amputee Olympic runner from South Africa is set...
Russia and Ukraine exchange long-range attacks as their front-line forces remain bogged down
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian air-launched missiles over Crimea, as both sides in the war pounded each other with long-range aerial strikes while fighting along the front line remained largely deadlocked. The White House, meanwhile, said U.S. intelligence officials have determined that...
Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology is attempting the first U.S. moon landing since the Apollo missions a half-century ago
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — China and India scored moon landings, while Russia, Japan and Israel ended up in the lunar trash heap. Now two private companies are hustling to get the U.S. back in the game, more than five decades after the Apollo program ended. It’s part of a NASA-supported...
Jeffrey Epstein documents: Here’s what we know so far
NEW YORK — The release of dozens of previously sealed court documents from a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein might disappoint online sleuths who anticipated explosive new information. The 40 documents released late Wednesday largely mention figures whose names were already known, including high-profile friends of Epstein’s and victims who have...
The key question about fiery crash at Tokyo airport: Did one or both planes have OK to use runway?
Passengers on Japan Airlines Flight 516 were buckled up and ready to land at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport as their pilot made a final approach. “Cleared to land,” the pilot repeated after receiving an instruction from air traffic control to put the jet down on a specific runway. About two minutes...
Police say 17-year-old killed a 6th grader and wounded 5 in Iowa school shootingVideo
PERRY, Iowa — A 17-year-old opened fire at a small-town Iowa high school on the first day of school after the winter break, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others as students barricaded in offices and fled in panic. The suspect, a student at the school in Perry, died of...
U.S. airstrike in Baghdad kills Iran-backed militia leader as regional tensions escalate
BAGHDAD — A U.S. airstrike on the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad on Thursday killed a high-ranking militia commander, militia officials said. Thursday’s strike comes amid mounting regional tensions fueled by the Israel-Hamas war and fears that it could spill over into surrounding countries. It also coincides...
Vatican says no heresy in allowing blessings for same-sex couples after pushback by some bishops
ROME — After pushback by some bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere, the Vatican on Thursday defended the recent move by Pope Francis to allow blessings for same-sex couples, insisting there is nothing “heretical” involved. In a five-page statement, the Holy See’s office to safeguard doctrinal orthodoxy expressed understanding that...
Teen gamer becomes 1st to beat the ‘unbeatable’ Tetris — by breaking it
SAN FRANCISCO — The falling-block video game Tetris has met its match in 13-year-old Willis Gibson, who has become the first player to officially “beat” the original Nintendo version of the game — by breaking it. Technically, Willis — aka “blue scuti” in the gaming world — made it to...
Speaker Johnson demands hard-line policies during a border visit as Ukraine aid hangs in the balance
EAGLE PASS, Texas — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson led about 60 fellow Republicans in Congress on a visit Wednesday to the Mexican border to demand hard-line immigration policies in exchange for backing President Joe Biden’s emergency wartime funding request for Ukraine. He expressed serious doubts about whether he would...
Nevada judge attacked by defendant during sentencing in Vegas courtroom scene captured on videoVideo
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada judge was attacked Wednesday by a defendant in a felony battery case who leaped over a defense table and the judge’s bench, landing atop her and sparking a bloody brawl involving court officials and attorneys, officials and witnesses said. In a violent scene captured by...
Justice Department sues Texas over law that would let police arrest migrants who enter U.S. illegally
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Texas over a new law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the United States illegally, taking Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to court again over his escalating response to border crossers arriving from Mexico. The lawsuit draws Texas into...
Trump asks Supreme Court to review Colorado ruling barring him from the ballot over Jan. 6 attack
DENVER — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling barring him from the Colorado ballot, setting up a high-stakes showdown over whether a constitutional provision prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” will end his political career. Trump appealed a 4-3 ruling in...
Imam killed in shooting outside Newark mosque, shooter at large, authorities say
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey imam was shot multiple times and killed outside his mosque Wednesday, and authorities continue to search for the shooter, officials said. Imam Hassan Sharif was in his car when he was shot more than once at about 6 a.m. near the Masjid-Muhammad Mosque in...
Unsealed court records offer new detail on old sex abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein
NEW YORK — Amid great hype, a court began to release a new batch of previously secret court documents late Wednesday related to Jeffrey Epstein, the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Social media has been rife in recent weeks with posts speculating...
