U.S./World category, Page 526
Key allegations, witnesses as Trump Organization trial winds down
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s inaugural address clocked in at just 16 minutes. Closing arguments that are slated for Thursday in his company’s criminal tax fraud case? Prosecutors and defense lawyers say those could take seven hours or more. Those projections speak to the complexity of the case,...
North Korea’s Kim calls for meeting to review state affairs
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a major political conference before year’s end at which he is expected to address his increasingly tense relations with Washington and Seoul over the expansion of his nuclear and missile programs. North Korea’s state media said Thursday that...
Obama heads to Georgia as Warnock seeks big early vote advantage
ATLANTA — Georgia voters have cast more than 1 million ballots ahead of the Dec. 6 U.S. Senate runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, with Warnock looking to juice an apparent Democratic head start in early voting with a visit Thursday from Barack Obama. The...
China eases virus controls amid effort to head off protests
BEIJING — More Chinese cities eased anti-virus restrictions and police patrolled their streets Thursday as the government tried to defuse public anger over some of the world’s most stringent covid measures and head off more protests. Following weekend demonstrations at which some crowds made the politically explosive demand that leader...
Russian FM: U.S., NATO directly involved in Ukraine conflict
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday accused the West of becoming directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by supplying it with weapons and training its soldiers. Sergey Lavrov also said that Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure that have left millions without power, heating...
Deep South tornado outbreak: 2 dead from twister in the darkVideo
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A twister roaring out of the darkness smashed through a small Alabama community early Wednesday during an outbreak of tornadoes across the Deep South, killing a 39-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son on a street where generations of one family lived. One of dozens of tornadoes kicked...
Treasury making Trump taxes available to House committee
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Wednesday it has complied with a court order to make former President Donald Trump’s tax returns available to a congressional committee. The Supreme Court last week rejected Trump’s request for an order that would have prevented the Treasury Department from giving six years of...
Jury convicts man in killings of 8 from another Ohio family
WAVERLY, Ohio — Jurors convicted a man Wednesday in the killings of eight people from another Ohio family after weighing his denials and other testimony against the word of witnesses, including his brother and mother, who previously pleaded guilty for their roles. George Wagner IV, 31, was found guilty of...
Indiana AG: Penalize doctor who spoke of Ohio 10-year-old’s abortion
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked the state medical licensing board to discipline an Indianapolis doctor who has spoken publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled from Ohio after its more-restrictive abortion law took effect. The complaint alleges Dr. Caitlin Bernard violated...
Judge: GOP chairman can’t share lawyers with other fake electors
ATLANTA — The chairman of the Georgia Republican Party cannot share lawyers with 10 other fake electors in matters related to a special grand jury investigation into possible illegal meddling in the 2020 election in the state, a judge ruled Wednesday. A special grand jury was seated earlier this year...
Mayor Eric Adams says NYC will treat mentally ill, even if they refuseVideo
NEW YORK — New York City’s mayor said he was directing police and city medics to be more aggressive about getting severely mentally ill people off the streets and subways and into treatment, even if it means involuntarily hospitalizing some people who refuse care. “These New Yorkers and hundreds of...
Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter, dies at 79
NEW YORK — Christine McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere” and “Don’t Stop,” died Wednesday at age 79. Her death was announced on the band’s social media accounts. No cause of death...
House votes to avert rail strike, impose deal on unionsVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House moved urgently to head off the looming nationwide rail strike on Wednesday, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved. The measure passed by a vote...
U.K. royals in Boston for a 3-day visit
BOSTON — The first overseas trip by the Prince and Princess of Wales since the death of Queen Elizabeth II began Wednesday, an occasion to show the world as much about who they are not as who they are. With their three-day visit to Boston, focused on Prince William’s initiative...
Puerto Rico extends power contract amid outages, objections
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A heavily criticized private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico secured a last-minute extension on its contract Wednesday despite widespread objections. Luma Energy obtained the extension following a 4-1 vote by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s board, with...
No longer the fringe: Small-town voters fear for America
HUDSON, Wis. — A word — “Hope” — is stitched onto a throw pillow in the little hilltop farmhouse. Photographs of children and grandchildren speckle the walls. In the kitchen, an envelope is decorated with a hand-drawn heart. “Happy Birthday, My Love,” it reads. Out front, past a pair of...
Higher food prices worsen hunger crisis this holiday season
WASHINGTON — Staffers at Bread for the City, a venerable charity in the nation’s capital, thought they were prepared for this year’s annual pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Helpers food giveaway. The pandemic had faded, but inflation was high, so they budgeted to give out 12,000 meals, 20% higher than normal pre-pandemic levels....
Jiang Zemin, former president of China, dies at 96
Jiang Zemin, the unlikely former leader who stewarded China through groundbreaking economic reforms and served as a bridge between the country’s strongman era and a more consensus-driven government, has died. He was 96. Chinese state television reported Jiang’s death Wednesday, saying the former leader had died in Shanghai, a city...
Election certification delays few, but a ‘test run’ for 2024
Before November, election officials prepared for the possibility that Republicans who embraced former President Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud would challenge the verdict of voters by refusing to certify the results. Three weeks after the end of voting, such challenges are playing out in just two states, Arizona and...
Taliban: 10 killed in bombing of Afghan religious school
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A bomb blast hit a religious school in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least 10 students, a Taliban official said. The explosion went off at around the time of afternoon prayers at the Al Jihad Madrassa in Aybak, capital of Samangan province, a resident of the...
Hawaii volcano eruption has some on alert, draws onlookers
HILO, Hawaii — The first eruption in 38 years of the world’s largest active volcano is attracting onlookers to a national park for “spectacular” views of the event, and it’s also dredging up bad memories among some Hawaii residents who have been through harrowing volcanic experiences in the past. It...
China vows crackdown on ‘hostile forces’ as public tests Xi
BEIJING — China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,” following the largest street demonstrations in decades staged by citizens fed up with strict anti-virus restrictions. The statement from the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission released late Tuesday comes...
EU Commission proposes blocking billions in funds to Hungary
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s executive branch recommended Wednesday that billions of euros of EU funds allocated to Hungary remain frozen over its failure to implement solid rule-of-law reforms, a move highlighting the growing rift between the EU’s traditional Western democratic values and its partner’s democratic backsliding. The EU’s 27...
Defense: Ohio man had no reason to help family in killings of 8Video
WAVERLY, Ohio — An Ohio man accused of helping his family kill eight members of another family had no reason to take part and wasn’t even there, his attorney told trial jurors Tuesday during closing arguments. George Wagner IV, his brother and parents were charged in the 2016 shooting deaths...
Texas woman pleads guilty to role in Vanessa Guillen’s death
AUSTIN, Texas — The only suspect arrested in connection with the killing of Vanessa Guillén at a Texas military base in 2020 pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that included helping dispose of the soldier’s body near Fort Hood. Cecily Aguilar, 24, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Waco, Texas,...
