U.S./World category, Page 485
Migrant boat breaks up off Italian coast, killing nearly 60
ROME — A wooden boat crowded with migrants smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart before dawn Sunday off the Italian coast, authorities said. Rescuers recovered nearly 60 bodies, and dozens more people were missing in the rough waters. Officials feared the death toll could top 100 since some survivors...
Cause sought in Arizona truck crash that killed 2 bicyclists
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — A suspect has been arrested in connection with a crash that killed two bicyclists and injured 11 others in a Phoenix suburb, authorities said Sunday. Goodyear police announced that 26-year-old Pedro Quintana-Lujan is jailed on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18...
Borsch without a ‘t’: Kyiv chef uses food to reclaim culture
KYIV, Ukraine — Don’t tell Ievgen Klopotenko that borsch is just food. For him, that bowl of beet-and-meat soup is the embodiment of everything Ukraine is fighting for. “Food is a powerful social instrument by which you can unite or divide a nation,” said Klopotenko, Ukraine’s most recognizable celebrity chef...
‘Powder keg’ for 9/11: 1993 trade center bombing remembered
NEW YORK — Lolita Jackson was at her 72nd-floor desk in the World Trade Center, feeling like she worked at the top of the world. Then came the boom, and smoke started curling in from an elevator shaft. Unsure what was happening, she joined thousands of other office workers on...
Media drop Dilbert after creator’s Black ‘hate group’ remark
The creator of the Dilbert comic strip faced a backlash of cancellations Saturday while defending remarks describing people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist,...
EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade
BRUSSELS — The European Union agreed Saturday to impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine targeting more officials and organizations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones, as well as restricting trade on products that could be used by the armed forces. The EU’s...
Inadequate investigation? Takeaways at Murdaugh murder trial
Investigators like to say the crime scene at a killing tells the story even if no one else does. In the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, his defense lawyers want jurors to believe the crime scene can’t tell them much about the deaths of his...
Bills would let transgender people seal name-change requests
SEATTLE — You can change your name, but in many states you can’t completely shed your old one — something that’s of particular concern to transgender people and that legislators in at least two states are trying to change. A bill in Washington would allow gender expression and identity as...
Appreciating Jimmy Carter, outspoken but ‘never irrelevant’
WASHINGTON — Ever the outsider, Jimmy Carter served a turbulent term in the White House. His presidency was beset by soaring interest and inflation rates, gasoline pump lines and the Iran hostage crisis that eventually led to his re-election defeat. But he rose to even greater heights with his post-presidential...
Ukraine: Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions, fighting grinds on
KYIV, Ukraine — Fighting is grinding on in Ukraine after the country marked the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with Ukrainian authorities on Saturday reporting dozens of new Russian strikes and attacks on cities in the east and south. After a somber and defiant day of commemorations on Friday and a...
Schools reopen as Syrians live with quake’s devastation
IDLIB, Syria — Schools resumed classes in Syria’s rebel-held northwest Saturday after closing for nearly three weeks following an earthquake that devastated the region, local officials said, even as many schoolchildren suffer from shock. Many schools were turned into temporary shelters following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and...
Justice Thomas wrote of ‘crushing weight’ of student loans
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court won’t have far to look if it wants a personal take on the “crushing weight” of student debt that underlies the Biden administration’s college loan forgiveness plan. Justice Clarence Thomas was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nation’s highest court when...
California faces more blizzards, floods in multistate storm
LOS ANGELES — A powerful winter storm lashing California threatened floods, blizzards and avalanches Saturday while adding frigid temperatures to the misery mix. Overnight lows could drop below freezing in some areas while downtown San Francisco could see record-breaking cold temperatures Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Projected...
West Virginians clash over religious freedom bill at hearing
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some people said West Virginia needs a law to codify the right of residents to challenge government regulations that interfere with their religious beliefs because of growing threats to their constitutional freedoms. Others who spoke during a public hearing at the state Capitol Friday said they are...
Panel: Military needs gun safety measures to limit suicides
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department should implement a series of gun safety measures to reduce suicides in the force, an independent committee recommended Friday, calling for waiting periods for the purchase of firearms and ammunition by service members on military property. The panel said the department should also raise the...
Biden unveils new Ukraine weapons package, Russia sanctions
WASHINGTON— The Biden administration declared its solidarity with Ukraine with fresh action as well as strong words on Friday, piling sweeping new sanctions on Moscow and approving a new $2 billion weapons package to re-arm Kyiv a year after Russia’s invasion. Despite the U.S. and allies’ continued ambitious efforts to...
Russia, Ukraine face off at UN with rival tributes to dead
UNITED NATIONS — Russia and Ukraine faced off at the U.N. Security Council on Friday on the first anniversary of their war, with their confrontation even extending to dueling moments of silence for the dead. The showdown began before the session formally started, with Russia’s ambassador demanding to know why...
Court strikes down charter boat tracking rule
NEW ORLEANS — An appeals court has struck down a federal fisheries management rule requiring operators of privately owned charter boats to equip their vessels with tracking devices, a victory for a group of Louisiana and Florida charter operators who challenged the rule in a 2020 lawsuit. Thursday’s ruling by...
Key U.S. inflation measure surges at fastest rate since June
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the U.S. economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed...
China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks
BEIJING — China, a firm Russian ally, has called for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Moscow and the opening of peace talks as part of a 12-point proposal to end the conflict. The plan issued Friday morning by the Foreign Ministry also urges the end of Western sanctions imposed on...
Lawsuit: Steve Bannon owes $480K for unpaid legal bills
NEW YORK — Steve Bannon’s latest legal trouble: a lawsuit alleging he stiffed his former lawyers out of more than $480,000. Bannon, a conservative strategist and longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was sued for breach of contract last week by a Manhattan law firm that defended him in...
United Nations approves resolution calling for Russia to leave UkraineVideo
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution Thursday that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and demands the withdrawal of its forces, sending a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion that Moscow’s aggression must end. The 141-7 vote...
White House urging higher fines for train safety violations
WASHINGTON — The White House is calling on congressional Republicans to increase the fines levied on rail companies for safety violations, as a fiery Feb. 3 train derailment in Ohio has become a political lightning rod. There are still safety and health concerns among residents of East Palestine after dozens...
Harvey Weinstein gets 16 years for rape, sexual assault
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles judge on Thursday sentenced Harvey Weinstein to 16 years in prison after a jury convicted him of the 2013 rape and sexual assault of an Italian actor and model. The sentence comes on top of the more than 20 years the 70-year-old Weinstein has...
Northern border immigrant death highlights crossing spike
The death of a Mexican man who had just entered the United States from Canada illegally is highlighting the spike in illegal crossings along the border between Quebec and parts of New England, officials say. The number of illegal border crossers is tiny compared with those entering the country illegally...
