U.S./World category, Page 516
U.S. officials: Covid, bomb cyclone won’t slow Santa’s travelsVideo
The U.S. military agency known for tracking Santa Claus as he delivers presents on Christmas Eve doesn’t expect covid-19 or the “bomb cyclone” hitting North America to affect Saint Nick’s global travels. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is responsible for monitoring and defending the skies above North America....
Bloody property disputes a dark side of Mexico real estate
MEXICO CITY — A grisly pre-Christmas killing of two young men and their uncle at an early 1900s house in Mexico City cast attention on the dark side of the capital’s booming real estate market, fed by a lack of legal documents and gangs that illegally seize properties. Actor Andrés...
Ukraine president back in Kyiv; Russia keeps up attacks
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sounded another defiant note on his return to his nation’s capital Friday following his wartime visit to the United States, saying his forces are “working toward victory” even as Russia warned that there would be no end to the war until it achieved...
Sports reporter’s snarky winter storm coverage goes viralVideo
What do you do when your TV news team is short-staffed around the holidays and you have a major winter storm blowing in? Well, send your sports reporter into the field, of course. But you’d better be prepared for some blowback. Because they were low on reporters and most of...
Jan. 6 panel releases report, describes Trump ‘conspiracy’
WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report asserts that Donald Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol, concluding an extraordinary 18-month investigation into the former president...
White House: Russia’s Wagner received arms from North Korea
WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, has taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces as it fights side-by-side with Russian troops in Ukraine. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said U.S....
Have a safe trip: Oregon trains magic mushroom facilitators
DAMASCUS, Ore. — At a woodsy retreat center in Oregon, some 30 men and women are seated or lying down, masks covering their eyes and listening to serene music. They are among the first crop of students being trained how to accompany patients tripping on psilocybin, as Oregon prepares to...
Florida high court OKs grand jury probe of covid-19 vaccines
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court will convene a grand jury at Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request to investigate any wrongdoing with respect to the covid-19 vaccines, the court announced Thursday. The Republican governor, who is often mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2024, earlier this month called for...
Senate passes $1.7 trillion bill to fund goverment, aid UkraineVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a massive $1.7 trillion spending bill Thursday that finances federal agencies through September and provides another significant round of military and economic aid to Ukraine one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic address to a joint meeting of Congress. The bill, which runs for...
Scientists reveal secrets of frog transparency
WASHINGTON — Now you see them, now you don’t. Some frogs found in South and Central America have the rare ability to turn on and off their nearly transparent appearance, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science. During the day, these nocturnal frogs sleep by hanging underneath tree leaves. Their...
Key Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson says lawyer sought to influence testimony
WASHINGTON — Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson described to the House Jan. 6 committee a wide-ranging pressure campaign from Donald Trump’s allies aimed at influencing her cooperation with Congress and stifling potentially damaging testimony about him. In extraordinary closed-door testimony made public Thursday, Hutchinson recounted how those in the...
Pope warns Vatican staff an ‘elegant demon’ lurks among them
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned Vatican bureaucrats on Thursday to beware the devil that lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith. Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to...
Holiday travel upended as forecasters warn of ‘bomb cyclone’
MISSION, Kan. — Thousands of flights were canceled and homeless shelters were overflowing Thursday amid one of the most treacherous holiday travel seasons the U.S. has seen in decades, with temperatures plummeting 50 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas and forecasters warning of an impending “bomb cyclone” that could make conditions...
Arizona to remove shipping container wall from Mexico border
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey will take down a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Mexico border, settling a lawsuit and political tussle with the U.S. government over trespassing on federal lands. The Biden administration and the Republican governor entered into an agreement that Arizona will cease...
U.S. economy grew 3.2% in third quarter, an upgrade from earlier estimateVideo
WASHINGTON — Shrugging off rampant inflation and rising interest rates, the U.S. economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 3.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Thursday in a healthy upgrade from its earlier estimate of third-quarter growth. The rise in gross domestic product — the economy’s output...
IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight
WASHINGTON — An IRS policy governing the audits of tax returns filed by U.S. presidents is under new scrutiny after a report published by a congressional panel found the agency failed to perform the mandatory inspection of Donald Trump’s returns until Congress pressed for information about the process. The three-point...
Sweden still has requirements to meet to join NATO
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey appreciates Sweden’s steps so far to get approval to join NATO but is not even “halfway” through fulfilling a list of commitments it made to secure Ankara’s support, the Turkish foreign minister said Thursday. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said a Swedish court’s decision not to extradite...
Turkey, Saudi Arabia decry Taliban university ban for women
KABUL, Afghanistan — The minister of higher education in the Taliban government on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities — a decree that had triggered a global backlash. Discussing the matter for the first time in public, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week...
Newspaper: Georgia congressman may have illegally voted
ATLANTA — A Georgia congressman voted three times this year in a county where he no longer lives, possibly violating state law, state records show. Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson’s congressional website shows he lives with his wife in The Rock, 63 miles away from his former home in West...
Storm adds uncertainty to strong holiday travel demandVideo
Concerns about illness or inflation aren’t stopping Americans from hitting the roads and airports this holiday season. But a massive winter storm might. Forecasters predict an onslaught of heavy snow, ice, flooding and powerful winds from Thursday to Saturday in a broad swath of the country, from the Plains and...
Lawyer: Man charged in NYC subway shooting plans guilty plea
NEW YORK — A man charged with wounding 10 people when he fired a gun into a crowded Brooklyn subway car earlier this year has told his lawyers he’d like to plead guilty next month. Frank James, 63, wants to plead guilty in the first week of January, the attorneys...
Women sexually abused by ICU nurse sue Colorado hospital
DENVER — Two women who say a nurse sexually assaulted them while they were unconscious in intensive care filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Colorado hospital where they were being treated, alleging the hospital’s management didn’t do enough to prevent the abuse. The lawsuit — which is proposed as a...
Jan. 6 panel prepares to release final report on insurrectionVideo
WASHINGTON — An 800-page report set to be released by House investigators will conclude that then-President Donald Trump criminally plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat and “provoked his supporters to violence” at the Capitol with false claims of widespread voter fraud. The resulting Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection of Trump’s...
Explainer: Arctic blast sweeps U.S., bomb cyclone possible
NEW YORK — An arctic blast is bringing extreme cold, heavy snow and intense wind across much of the U.S. this week — just in time for the holidays. The weather system, which may build into a “bomb cyclone,” is expected to move east in the days leading up to...
Migrants at U.S.-Mexico border await ruling on asylum limits
EL PASO, Texas — Thousands of migrants gathered along the Mexican side of the southern border Wednesday, camping outside or packing into shelters as they waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that have prevented many from seeking asylum. The limits on...
