U.S./World category, Page 420
Elton John lends celebrity support to Kevin Spacey at the actor’s sexual assault trial
LONDON — Kevin Spacey ‘s lawyers enlisted the help of an A-list star Monday in his sexual assault trial, calling on Elton John and his husband to cast doubt on one of the Oscar winner’s accusers at the end of the defense case. John appeared briefly in the London court...
Pope’s Ukraine peace envoy heads to Washington with plight of children atop his agenda
ROME — Pope Francis’ peace envoy was traveling to Washington on Monday as part of the Holy See’s peace initiatives for Ukraine, hoping to support humanitarian operations especially concerning children, the Vatican said Monday. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s visit, which lasts through Wednesday, follows his recent mission to Moscow and an...
5-story apartment building collapses in Cairo killing at least 9
CAIRO — A five-story apartment building collapsed Monday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, leaving at least nine people dead, authorities said, as rescuers searched through the rubble. Building collapses are common in Egypt, where shoddy construction and a lack of maintenance are widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighborhoods and...
Russia halts wartime deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain in a blow to global food security
LONDON — Russia halted a breakthrough wartime deal on Monday that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would suspend...
Georgia suspect in 4 killings shot and killed, 2 officers hurt during encounter, official says
HAMPTON, Ga. — Officers shot and killed a man wanted in four weekend killings near Atlanta during an exchange of gunfire, and a sheriff’s deputy and a police officer were injured trying to take the suspect into custody, authorities said. Henry County Sheriff’s spokesperson Syntonnia Moore said Andre Longmore was...
Diversify or die: San Francisco’s downtown is a wake-up call for other cities
SAN FRANCISCO — Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam’s Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air. He’s had to drastically curtail...
Arrest of suspect in Long Island serial killings brings both pain and relief to victims’ families
NEW YORK — The trail had gone cold as clues suddenly dwindled. For a time, doubts swirled about whether a killer who dumped the remains of his female victims along remote stretches of coastline on New York’s Long Island would ever be caught. Then finally, after more than a dozen...
Powerball prize grows to $900 million after no jackpot winner drawn
Another Powerball drawing ended with no winner Saturday night, sending the jackpot soaring to an estimated $900 million. No ticket for Saturday’s drawing matched the winning combination: white balls 2, 9, 43, 55, 57 and red Powerball 18. The jackpot was estimated at $875 million. Ticket buyers for Monday’s drawing...
U.S. Southwest swelters under dangerous heat wave, with new records on track
PHOENIX — A dangerous heat wave threatened a wide swath of the Southwest with potentially deadly temperatures in the triple digits on Saturday as some cooling centers extended their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with heat-related illnesses. “Near record temperatures are expected this weekend!” the National...
NASA’s 1st new wind tunnel in 40 years will turn science fiction to fact
NORFOLK, Va. — Flying cars. Space tourism. Safe reentry for astronauts coming back from Mars. These technologies are still science fiction, but some won’t be for much longer, according to Charles “Mike” Fremaux, NASA Langley Research Center’s chief engineer for intelligent flight systems. To test these concepts, particularly in regard...
Alaska volcano spews ash cloud high enough to draw weather service warning for pilots
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An erupting volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands sent a towering cloud of ash into the air Friday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue an inflight warning to pilots. The Shishaldin Volcano began erupting July 11, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. A U.S. Coast Guard overflight...
In quiet Georgia subdivision, neighbor says he saw man accused of killing 4 shoot man in street
HAMPTON, Ga. — A neighborhood south of Atlanta crawled with police on Sunday as Georgia authorities hunted for a man suspected of gunning down three men and a woman in the subdivision before fleeing. Andre Longmore, 40, is accused of fatally shooting the victims Saturday morning before driving away from...
1 North Dakota officer killed, 2 injured in shooting that left suspect dead
FARGO, N.D. — One police officer was killed and two others were critically injured in a shooting that also left the suspect dead on a busy street in Fargo, North Dakota, police said. A civilian also was seriously wounded in the shooting that happened just before 3 p.m. Friday, police...
Mexico files border boundaries complaint over Texas’ floating barrier plan on Rio Grande
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s top diplomat said Friday her country has sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government expressing concern that Texas’ deployment of floating barriers on the Rio Grande may violate 1944 and 1970 treaties on boundaries and water. Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Mexico will send...
U.S. sending F-16 fighter jets to protect ships from Iranian seizures in Gulf region
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is beefing up its use of fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz to protect ships from Iranian seizures, a senior defense official said Friday, adding that the U.S. is increasingly concerned about the growing ties between Iran, Russia and Syria across the Middle East....
How DOJ made different death penalty decisions in the Pittsburgh synagogue and Texas mall massacres
CHICAGO — Two separate shootings 2,000 miles apart. One killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The other killed 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Both were motivated by hate. Both involved gunmen who later claimed mental illness. But earlier this year, the Justice Department authorized the death penalty...
Jesse Jackson to step down as head of civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to step down from leading the Chicago civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition he founded in 1971, his son’s congressional office said Friday. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson confirmed the long-time civil rights leader would be retiring from the organization. The...
Disney asks judge to toss a lawsuit from board of DeSantis appointees
ORLANDO, Fla. — Disney asked a Florida judge on Friday to toss out a lawsuit against the company’s efforts to neutralize a takeover of Disney World’s governing district by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees. The case in state court in Orlando is one of two stemming from the takeover,...
Kevin Spacey denies that crotch-grabbing was his ‘trademark’ pickup move
LONDON — Kevin Spacey denied that grabbing men by the crotch was his “trademark” pickup move as he got increasingly testy under questioning Friday by the prosecutor who accused him of sexually assaulting four men. In a heated exchange that required the intervention of the judge, Spacey was asked about...
Long Island architect charged in 3 of the Gilgo Beach serial killings
NEW YORK — A Long Island architect was charged Friday with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders after detectives pursuing a new lead say they matched DNA from a pizza he ate to genetic...
Crowds cheer as India launches a lander and rover to explore the moon’s south pole
SRIHARIKOTA, India — An Indian spacecraft blazed its way to the far side of the moon Friday in a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface, the country’s space agency said. Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in...
One-third of Americans under heat alerts as blistering weather spreads from Southwest to CaliforniaVideo
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — More than a third of Americans were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings Thursday as a blistering heat wave that’s been baking the nation spread further into California, forcing residents to seek out air conditioning or find other ways to stay cool in triple-digit temperatures....
Rioter who hurled bow like a spear at police during Jan. 6 attack gets more than 7 years in prison
WASHINGTON — A professional butcher whose bloody, wild-eyed face became one of the most memorable images of the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison for hurling a bow like a spear at police and attacking several other officers. Kyle Fitzsimons, 39, of Maine,...
Soda sweetener aspartame now listed as possible cancer cause. But it’s still considered safe
The World Health Organization’s cancer agency has deemed the sweetener aspartame — found in diet soda and countless other foods — as a “possible” cause of cancer, while a separate expert group looking at the same evidence said it still considers the sugar substitute safe in limited quantities. The differing...
Secret Service: No fingerprints, DNA sample or leads from cocaine found at the White House
WASHINGTON — No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained...
