U.S./World category, Page 545
U.S. inflation pressures further intensified in September
WASHINGTON — Inflation in the United States accelerated in September, with the cost of housing and other necessities intensifying pressure on households, wiping out pay gains that many have received and ensuring that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates aggressively. Consumer prices rose 8.2% in September compared with...
Social Security recipients to receive historic hike next year
WASHINGTON — Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others — but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled by record high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living....
Explainer: What’s next in the Parkland school shooter trial?
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The jurors who will decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is sentenced to death or life without parole concluded their first day of deliberations Wednesday as the three-month trial nears its conclusion. Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to the murders of 14 students and...
UN demands Russia reverse ‘illegal’ annexations in Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory. The vote in the 193-member world body...
Trump angrily lashes out after his deposition is ordered
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump angrily lashed out Wednesday, calling the nation’s legal system a “broken disgrace” after a judge ruled he must answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s. He also called...
Amid rising seas, Atlantic City has no plans for retreat
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Some cities around the world are pulling back from shorelines, as rising seas from climate change increase flooding. But so far, retreat appears out of the question for Atlantic City, New Jersey. The breezy getaway town is on the water on a barrier, which was once...
Rough times ahead: Hurricane Ian batters SW Florida economy
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Hurricane Ian might have come and gone but it could deliver prolonged blows to the local economy, walloping small businesses heavily dependent on tourists and seasonal residents. The scenes of destruction in southwestern Florida will keep many winter tourists and snowbirds away as well as tasking...
ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide
PHOENIX — Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic. The class of 2022’s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36,...
FDA clears updated covid boosters for kids as young as 5
The U.S. on Wednesday authorized updated covid-19 boosters for children as young as 5, seeking to expand protection ahead of an expected winter wave. Tweaked boosters rolled out for Americans 12 and older last month, doses modified to target today’s most common and contagious omicron relative. While there wasn’t a...
Europe turns to Africa in bid to replace Russian natural gas
DAKAR, Senegal — A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa’s western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany. The initial field near Senegal and Mauritania’s coastlines is expected to contain about...
Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million for Sandy Hook lies
WATERBURY, Conn. — The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, a jury in Connecticut decided Wednesday. The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless...
Ex-Texas cop charged over shooting teen eating hamburgerVideo
SAN ANTONIO — A now-former San Antonio police officer was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated assault by a peace officer in the shooting last week of a teen who was eating a hamburger in his car in a McDonald’s parking lot. James Brennand, 25, was charged in the...
Justice Department asks court to deny Trump plea over FBI search
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to steer clear of a legal fight over classified documents seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate. The high court is weighing an emergency appeal from Trump asking it to overturn a lower court...
Trial begins for analyst who was source for Trump dossier
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Russian analyst who played a major role in the creation of a flawed dossier about former President Donald Trump fabricated one of his own sources and concealed the identity of another when interviewed by the FBI, prosecutors said Tuesday. The allegations were aired in opening statements...
Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test. The space agency attempted the test two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer...
Prosecutor makes final case for school shooter’s execution
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The lead prosecutor of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz made his final push Tuesday to persuade jurors to sentence him to death, telling them during his closing argument that the 2018 attack that killed 17 people was cold, calculated and meticulously planned and deserving of execution....
King Charles II to be crowned May 6 next year, palace says
LONDON — King Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6 in a ceremony that will embrace the past but look to the modern world after the 70-year reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Tuesday’s announcement from Buckingham Palace comes amid speculation that the coronation will...
Trump lawyer who vouched for documents meets with FBI
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for former President Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a “diligent search” for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI, according to a person familiar with the matter. Christina...
Ohio Supreme Court orders Democratic candidate onto ballot
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court ordered Tuesday a Democratic state legislative candidate to be listed on November ballots, after a tie had been broken against her by the state’s Republican elections chief. In its 4-3 ruling, the high court found Republican Secretary Frank LaRose and the two GOP...
Man in South Africa charged with murder after 6 bodies found
JOHANNESBURG — A 21-year-old male has appeared in a South African court in connection with the discovery of six bodies at a car repair workshop in Johannesburg. The victims are believed to have been sex workers and the suspect is so far facing one charge of murder. He was arrested...
U.N., G-7 decry Russian attack on Ukraine as possible war crimeVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the U.N. human rights office described as “particularly shocking” and amounting to potential war crimes. Air raid warnings sounded throughout Ukraine for a second straight...
Tourists flock to Japan after covid restrictions lifted
TOKYO — Eager to admire colorful foliage, eat sushi and go shopping, droves of tourists from abroad began arriving in Japan on Tuesday, with the end of pandemic-fighting border restrictions that had been in place for more than two years. “We got the news that we can finally come. We...
Families bid farewell as Thai massacre victims are cremated
UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Hundreds of mourners and victims’ families gathered Tuesday evening to watch flames burn from rows of makeshift furnaces at cremation ceremonies for the young children and others who died in last week’s mass killings at a day care center in Thailand’s rural northeast. The families bid...
3 fishermen rescued fighting off sharks in Gulf
NEW ORLEANS — Three men whose fishing boat sank in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast were rescued after surviving for more than a day despite being attacked by sharks that inflicted deep cuts on their hands and shredded one of their life jackets, according to their rescuers....
Prosecutors drop charges against Adnan Syed in ‘Serial’ case
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast “Serial.” Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore, said her office...
