U.S./World category, Page 448
AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters
WASHINGTON — Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election. The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing...
Pope Francis meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican
ROME — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday, saying it was a great honor to meet with the pontiff, who has previously offered to do what he can to try to end the war launched by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year...
‘All we want is to be safe’: Migrants push north after end of Title 42
MEXICO CITY — For weeks, Solangel Contreras raced. The Venezuelan migrant and her family of 22 trudged through the dense jungles of the Darien Gap and hopped borders across Central America. They joined thousands of other migrants from across the Hemisphere in a scramble to reach the United States-Mexico border...
Census rejecting some big-city complaints of 2020 undercounts
Some of the largest U.S. cities challenging their 2020 census numbers aren’t getting the results they hoped for from the U.S. Census Bureau — an effort by Memphis to increase its official population resulted in three people being subtracted from its count during an initial appeal. Some successes have come...
‘He wanted to live the American Dream’: Honduran teen dies in U.S. immigration custody
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The mother of a 17-year-old boy who died this week in U.S. immigration custody demanded answers from American officials Friday, saying her son had no known illnesses and had not shown any signs of being sick before his death. The teenager was identified as Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga...
Police: A Texas woman was fatally shot by a boyfriend angry she had an abortion
DALLAS — A man angry that his girlfriend had an abortion in another state fatally shot the 26-year-old woman, Dallas police said. He was jailed on a murder charge as of Friday. Texas banned abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy in September 2021. But nearly all abortions have been...
West Virginia officer will not face charges for striking, killing 13-year-old with cruiser off-duty
CHARLESTON W.Va. — An off-duty deputy sheriff in West Virginia who struck and killed a 13-year-old girl with his police cruiser last year will not face criminal charges in her death, according to the county prosecutor investigating the case. Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia determined the “tragic loss” of 13-year-old...
Reports: Myanmar soldiers kill and burn bodies of 19 villagers, including 4 children
BANGKOK — Soldiers from Myanmar’s military government raided a village in the country’s central region, killing 19 villagers including four children and burning their bodies, independent media and a resident said Friday. The killings on Wednesday in Nyaung Pin Thar village in Bago region’s Htantabin township may have been in...
Biden taps Jefferson as Fed’s vice chair; Kugler as first Hispanic on board
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has nominated Philip Jefferson, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, to serve as vice chair of the board, the White House announced Friday. Biden has also chosen Adriana Kugler, a Georgetown University economist, to join the Fed’s board. If confirmed by the...
Trump’s sexual assault verdict marks a rare moment of accountability
PHILADELPHIA — Cassandra Nuñez and her grandmother cast their first ballots in a U.S. presidential election in 2016. She was a first-year college student; her grandmother, a newly minted citizen. They both hoped to elect the first woman president over a man who bragged about grabbing and kissing women at...
Amid US-Mexico border confusion, El Paso pastors provide migrants with shelter
EL PASO, Texas — As changing policies, rampant misinformation and exasperated, fearful crowds converge in this desert city, faith leaders are striving to provide shelter and uplift. Along with prayers, they are counseling migrants about the daunting challenges that await them on U.S. soil, with enormous backlogs in asylum hearings...
Wave of anti-transgender bills in Republican-led states divides U.S. faith leaders
As Republican-governed states across the nation advance myriad bills targeting transgender young people, America’s faith leaders are starkly divided in their assessment. Some view the legislation as reflecting God’s will; others voice outrage that Christianity is being invoked to justify laws they view as cruel and hateful. In one camp...
Idaho jury convicts Lori Vallow Daybell in murders of 2 children, romantic rival
BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho jury on Friday convicted Lori Vallow Daybell in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs. Vallow Daybell, who wore...
EPA: New pollution limits proposed for coal, gas power plants reflect ‘urgency’ of climate crisisVideo
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. A rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency could force power plants to...
Virginia judge says law banning sales of handguns to young adults is unconstitutional
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional. The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow...
House Republicans pass new asylum restrictions as Title 42 ends; Biden promises vetoVideo
WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden’s policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions. The bill has virtually...
Prosecutors: Man who choked NYC subway passenger to death will face manslaughter charge
NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday that they will bring criminal charges against a man who used a fatal chokehold on an unruly passenger aboard a New York City subway train, a death that stirred outrage and debates about the response to mental illness in the nation’s largest transit...
McDonald’s found liable for girl’s burns from chicken nuggets. Next up: Jury to determine how much company will pay
McDonald’s is to blame for not warning customers about the dangers of its overheated Chicken McNuggets, one of which fell on a little girl’s lap and left her with second-degree burns on her upper thigh in 2019, a Broward jury ruled Thursday. A second jury will be empaneled to decide...
Metallic object that crashed into NJ home was a meteorite
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A metallic object that punched a hole in the roof of a central New Jersey home this week, smashing into a hardwood floor and bouncing around a bedroom, was a meteorite, experts announced Thursday. Scientists with The College of New Jersey determined the 6-by-4-inch object, which...
What is Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Gaza militant group now fighting Israel?
JERUSALEM — The cycle has become grimly familiar. Over three days, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed at least 28 people, including senior Palestinian militants, as well as children as young as 4 years old. Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired over 600 rockets toward Israel, killing one person, setting...
What is Title 42 and what happens at the border when the immigration policy goes away?
Title 42, a decades-old public health statute used during the covid-19 pandemic to keep asylum seekers out of the U.S., will lift at 8:59 p.m. Thursday, ushering in a new era for U.S. border control. Orders under Title 42 were first implemented by the Trump administration in March 2020 and...
Supreme Court rejects challenge to California pork law mandating more space for pigs
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to a California animal cruelty law that affects the pork industry, ruling that the case was properly dismissed by lower courts. Pork producers had said that the law could force industry-wide changes and raise the cost of bacon and other...
Buddhist monks accused of embezzling millions donated to Thailand temple
BANGKOK — Seven Buddhist monks are among nine suspects who are being held in pre-trial detention after being arrested for allegedly embezzling assets worth about $8.9 million from donations received by a temple in Thailand’s northeast, authorities said Thursday. The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases said the actions...
Ukraine says its counteroffensive now delayed; Britain says it’s sent cruise missiles to Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv is delaying its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia’s occupying forces because Ukraine lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties. His remarks, in an interview with European broadcasters, were aired shortly before Britain said it...
U.S. jobless claims filings highest since 2021, job market remains healthy
The number of Americans filing for jobless claims last week rose to its highest level in a year-and-a-half, though the labor market remains healthy by historical standards. Applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 6 rose by 22,000 to 264,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s up from...
