U.S./World category, Page 359
Vatican to publish never-before-seen homilies by Pope Benedict XVI during his 10-year retirement
ROME — The Vatican next year will publish a collection of never-before-seen homilies delivered by the late Pope Benedict XVI during his private Sunday Masses, most of them penned during his 10-year retirement, officials said Saturday. The consecrated women who tended to Benedict during his pontificate and retirement recorded the...
Czech Republic marks a day of mourning for the victims of its worst mass killing
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic came to a standstill at noon Saturday as people across the country observed a minute of silence for the victims of its worst mass killing that left 14 dead and questions about the shooter’s motive. National flags on public buildings flew at half-staff and bells...
Paramedics were convicted in Elijah McClain’s death. That could make other first responders pause
BRIGHTON, Colo. — Two Denver-area paramedics were convicted Friday for giving a fatal overdose of the sedative ketamine to Elijah McClain in 2019 — a jury verdict that experts said could have a chilling effect on first responders around the country. The case involving the 23-year-old Black man’s death was...
Dreaming of a white Christmas? Alaska may be your best bet, as U.S. ski resorts see rain, not snow
GILFORD, N.H. — For most Americans dreaming of a white Christmas, this year’s prospects aren’t good. Although parts of the Rockies and Midwest already have snow or could get a fresh dusting by Monday, other parts of the country that normally are coated in white this time of year still...
Supreme Court says no, for now, to plea to rule quickly on whether Trump can be prosecuted
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Friday that it will not immediately take up a plea by special counsel Jack Smith to rule on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for his actions to overturn the 2020 election results. The issue will now be decided by the U.S....
FDA says fake Ozempic shots are being sold through some legitimate sources
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has seized “thousands of units” of counterfeit Ozempic, the diabetes drug widely used for weight loss, that had been distributed through legitimate drug supply sources. The FDA and the drug’s maker, Novo Nordisk, are testing the shots. They do not yet have...
Czechs mourn 14 dead and dozens wounded in the worst mass shooting in the country’s history
PRAGUE — People in the Czech capital were trying to come to grips Friday with the worst mass shooting in the country’s history that left 14 dead and dozens wounded inside a university building. The shooter is also believed to have killed his father earlier in the day and a...
Biden is pardoning thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is making thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia eligible for pardons, the White House said Friday, in his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in...
Hydrogen tax credit plan unveiled as Biden administration tries to jump start industry
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration released its highly anticipated proposal for doling out billions of dollars in tax credits to hydrogen producers Friday, in a massive effort to build out an industry that some hope can be a cleaner alternative to fossil fueled power. The U.S. credit is the most...
1 injured in shooting at a Virginia hospital; suspect in custody
RICHMOND, Va. — Police said one person was injured at a Richmond hospital when a man who had come into the hospital for a mental health evaluation began shooting. Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told reporters that a 911 call came in at 4:11 a.m. of shots fired at Chippenham...
Biden signs executive order aimed at financial facilitators of the Russian defense industry
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday giving the U.S. Treasury Department the authority to target financial institutions that facilitate Russia’s efforts to bolster its defense industry. The new sanctions authority is meant to gum up the Kremlin’s push to restock the Russian military’s depleted arsenal after...
Israel strikes 2 homes, killing more than 90 Palestinians while hundreds have been detained
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned again that nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel’s offensive is creating “massive obstacles”...
Russian official says U.S. is hampering a prisoner exchange with unequal demands
MOSCOW — A Russian deputy foreign minister said that talks with the United States on a potential prisoner exchange that would free Americans held in Russia are hampered by publicity and an alleged disparity in the U.S. negotiating stance. The U.S. State Department said last week that Russia rejected several...
Biden believes U.S. Steel sale to Nippon Steel warrants ‘serious scrutiny,’ White House says
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden believes “serious scrutiny” is warranted for the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, the White House said Thursday after days of silence on a transaction that has drawn alarm from the steelworkers union. Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council,...
Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy days after being ordered to pay $148 million in defamation case
NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy, days after being ordered to pay $148 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by two former election workers in Georgia who said his targeting of them led to death threats that made them fear for their lives. In his filing Thursday,...
UN report says more than 570,000 people in Gaza now ‘starving’ due to fallout from war
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving due to “woefully insufficient” quantities of food entering the territory ever since Israel’s military responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, according to a report released Thursday by the U.N....
A lone gunman opens fire in a Prague university, killing 14 people and injuring 25
PRAGUE — A lone gunman opened fire Thursday in a university building in downtown Prague, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 20 in the Czech Republic’s worst mass shooting, police and the city’s rescue service said. The bloodshed took place in the philosophy department building of Charles...
Taliban official says Afghan girls of all ages permitted to study in religious schools
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan girls of all ages are permitted to study in religious schools, which are traditionally boys-only, a Taliban official said Thursday. A day earlier, U.N. special envoy Roza Otunbayeva told the Security Council and reporters that the United Nations was receiving “more and more anecdotal evidence” that...
U.S. unemployment claims rise slightly, remain at low levels despite higher interest rates
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week but still remained at historically low levels despite high interest rates intended to slow hiring and cool the economy. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims were up by 2,000 to 205,000 the week that...
Ready, set, travel: The holiday rush to the airports and highways is underway
It’s beginning to look a lot like a hectic holiday travel season, but it might go relatively smoothly if the weather cooperates. Travel over Christmas and New Year’s tends to spread out over many days, so the peaks in the U.S. are likely to be lower than they were during...
Parents of children sickened by lead linked to tainted fruit pouches fear for kids’ future
When Cora Dibert went for a routine blood test in October, the toddler brought along her favorite new snack: a squeeze pouch of WanaBana cinnamon-flavored apple puree. “She sucked them dry,” recalls her 26-year-old mother, Morgan Shurtleff, of Elgin, Oklahoma. Within a week, the family got an alarming call. The...
Health officials push to get schoolchildren vaccinated as more U.S. parents opt out
When Idaho had a rare measles outbreak a few months ago, health officials scrambled to keep it from spreading. In the end, 10 people, all in one family, were infected, all unvaccinated. This time, the state was lucky, said the region’s medical director Dr. Perry Jansen. The family quickly quarantined...
Federal judge blocks California law that would have banned carrying firearms in most public places
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a California law that would have banned carrying firearms in most public places, ruling that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and deprives people of their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones. The law signed...
Christmas is in jeopardy for some New Englanders after storms and flooding knocked out power
PORTLAND, Maine — Megan Michaud and her family of five lost power for three days after a powerful storm throttled her home state of Maine, and a new challenge is creeping up on her: It’s almost time for Christmas. “This morning, my second grader told me, ‘It’s five days until...
U.S., Venezuela swap prisoners: Maduro ally for 10 Americans, plus fugitive contractor ‘Fat Leonard’
MIAMI — The United States freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the center of a massive Pentagon bribery...
