U.S./World category, Page 360
Judge orders release of over 150 names of people mentioned in Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit documents
NEW YORK — A federal judge has ordered the public disclosure of the identities of more than 150 people mentioned in a mountain of court documents related to the late-financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying that most of the names were already public and that many had not objected to the release....
U.S. released ally of Venezuela’s president in swap for jailed Americans
MIAMI — The Biden administration has released a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a swap for jailed Americans, the Associated Press has learned. Alex Saab, who was arrested on a U.S. warrant for money laundering in 2020, was released from custody Wednesday. In exchange, Maduro will free...
U.S. flies bombers for joint drills with South Korea, Japan after North’s long-range missile launch
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States flew long-range bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, days after the North performed its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five months. The trilateral training off South Korea’s southern island...
Study shows AI image-generators being trained on explicit photos of children
Hidden inside the foundation of popular artificial intelligence image-generators are thousands of images of child sexual abuse, according to a new report that urges companies to take action to address a harmful flaw in the technology they built. Those same images have made it easier for AI systems to produce...
Judge reverses earlier decision, allows removal of Confederate memorial at Arlington Cemetery
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge on Tuesday allowed the Arlington National Cemetery to remove a century-old Confederate memorial one day after blocking the removal over a report that gravesites were disturbed. At a hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston said he issued the...
Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 131 people and is the deadliest in 9 years
BEIJING — A strong overnight earthquake rattled a mountainous region of northwestern China, authorities said Tuesday, reducing homes to rubble, leaving residents outside in a below-freezing winter night and killing 131 people in the nation’s deadliest quake in nine years. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday,...
Sandra Day O’Connor called a pioneer and ‘iconic jurist’ as she is memorialized by Biden, Roberts
WASHINGTON — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Arizona rancher’s daughter who became a voice of moderate conservatism as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, was memorialized by President Joe Biden on Tuesday as a pioneer in the legal world who inspired generations of women. Biden and Chief Justice...
She bought a colorful vase at Goodwill for $3.99. The rare piece sold at auction for $107,000
Jessica Vincent had just started surveying the shelves of a Virginia thrift store when a vase caught her eye. It was shaped like a bottle and had ribbons of color, aqua green and amethyst purple, that spiraled up its glass surface like stripes of paint. The piece looked old amongst...
New York will set up a commission to consider reparations for slavery
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state will create a commission tasked with considering reparations to address the persistent, harmful effects of slavery in the state, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday. The bill signing comes at a time when many states and towns throughout...
Lawsuit against former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice dismissed after she turns over records
MADISON, Wis. — An open records lawsuit against former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack was dismissed Tuesday after Roggensack turned over all records she had related to her work investigating possible impeachment of a sitting justice. None of the records Roggensack produced earlier this month shed any light...
Putin hails Russia’s military performance in Ukraine, vows to achieve Moscow’s goals
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that the military has seized the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine after repelling Kyiv’s counteroffensive and is well positioned to achieve Moscow’s goals. Putin’s speech at a meeting with top military brass came a day after he presented documents to Russia’s...
Google to pay $700 million to U.S. states, consumers in app store settlement
Google has agreed to pay $700 million and make several other concessions to settle allegations that it had been stifling competition against its Android app store — the same issue that went to trial in another case that could result in even biggthe er changes. Although Google struck the deal...
Illegal crossings surge in remote areas as Congress, White House weigh major asylum limits
LUKEVILLE, Ariz. — Hundreds of dates are written on concrete-filled steel columns erected along the U.S. border with Mexico to memorialize when the Border Patrol has repaired illicit openings in the would-be barriers. Yet no sooner are fixes made than another column is sawed, torched and chiseled for large groups...
Many kids are still skipping kindergarten. Since the pandemic, some parents don’t see the point
CONCORD, Calif. — Aylah Levy had some catching up to do this fall when she started first grade. After spending her kindergarten year at an alternative program that met exclusively outdoors, Aylah, 6, had to adjust to being inside a classroom. She knew only a handful of numbers and was...
Israel strikes south Gaza and raids a hospital in the north as war grinds on with renewed U.S. support
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces raided one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza’s north and bombarded the south with airstrikes that killed at least 28 Palestinians, pressing ahead with their offensive Tuesday with renewed backing from the United States, despite rising international alarm. The air and ground war,...
Iceland volcano erupts weeks after thousands were evacuated from a town on Reykjanes PeninsulaVideo
STOCKHOLM — A volcanic eruption started Monday night on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the country’s civil defense to be on high alert. The eruption appears to have occurred about 2.5 miles from the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. Grainy webcam video showed...
Judge criticizes Trump’s expert witness as he again refuses to toss fraud lawsuit
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has lost his latest bid to end the business fraud lawsuit he faces in New York as he campaigns to reclaim the White House. Judge Arthur Engoron issued a written ruling Monday denying the Republican’s latest request for a verdict in his favor...
Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 111 people in Gansu, Qinghai provinces
BEIJING — At least 111 people were killed in a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in a cold and mountainous region in northwestern China, the country’s state media reported on Tuesday. Search and rescue operations were underway in Gansu province and neighboring Qinghai province. The earthquake left more than 230 people injured,...
Major cleanup underway after storm batters Northeastern U.S., knocks out power and floods roads
PORTLAND, Maine — Utility crews worked Tuesday to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Maine and some rivers continued to rise in New England following a powerful storm that hit the northeastern U.S., drenching communities and bringing windspeeds over 60 mph in some areas. At least four...
Appeals court says Mark Meadows can’t move Georgia election case charges to federal courtVideo
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows cannot move charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia to federal court. Meadows was indicted in August along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others on...
Trump’s lawyers ask full appeals court to review gag order restricting his speech in election case
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked the full federal appeals court in Washington to review a gag order restricting the former president’s speech in the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The request Monday follows a decision by a three-judge panel of the appeals court...
Texas governor signs bill that lets police arrest migrants who enter the U.S. illegally
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday approved sweeping new powers that allow police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the U.S. border and give local judges authority to order them to leave the country, testing the limits of how far a state can go to enforce...
EU hits Russia’s diamond industry with new round of sanctions over Ukraine war
BRUSSELS — The European Union said Monday that it has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over its war against of Ukraine, targeting the lucrative diamonds industry, more than 140 officials and organizations, and closing loopholes that Moscow has used to bypass previous punitive measures. It’s the 12th round of sanctions...
European Union investigating Musk’s X over possible breaches of social media law
LONDON — The European Union on Monday made Elon Musk’s online platform X the first tech company to face an investigation under Europe’s tough new regulations designed to clean up social media and protect people from toxic online content. “Today we open formal infringement proceedings against X” under the Digital...
Pope approves blessings for same-sex couples that must not resemble marriage
ROME — Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples, the Vatican announced Monday, a radical shift in policy that aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage. But while the Vatican statement was heralded by some as a step toward...
