U.S./World category, Page 553
British pound stabilizes, but turmoil still roils U.K. economy
LONDON — The British pound stabilized Tuesday as U.K. authorities tried to ease investor concerns after the biggest tax cuts in 50 years sent the currency tumbling to a record low the previous day. The turmoil is already having real-world effects, with several British mortgage lenders pulling offers from the...
Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba, Florida braces for Cat 4 damage
HAVANA — Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba on Tuesday as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 storm before it hits Florida, where officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate before it crashes ashore Wednesday. Ian made landfall at 4:30 a.m....
Meta disables Russian propaganda network targeting Europe
A sprawling disinformation network originating in Russia sought to use hundreds of fake social media accounts and dozens of sham news websites to spread Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine, Meta revealed Tuesday. The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it identified and disabled the operation before...
Soldier who went missing during Korean War accounted for
BOSTON — A soldier from Massachusetts who went missing during the Korean War and was later reported to have died in a prisoner of war camp has been accounted for using modern scientific techniques, military officials said. Army Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo, 19, of East Boston, was accounted for in...
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas new evidence ahead of public hearingVideo
WASHINGTON — The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election is seeking new evidence, just days before the next public hearing and as lawmakers push to complete an interim report next month. A lawsuit filed...
Bam! NASA spacecraft crashes into asteroid in defense testVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft rammed an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth. The galactic grand slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the small space...
Russia gives citizenship to ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden
MOSCOW — Russia on Monday granted citizenship to former American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who fled prosecution after he revealed highly classified U.S. surveillance programs to capture communications and data from around the world. A decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin listed Snowden as one of 75 foreign citizens...
How a party with neo-fascist roots won big in Italy
ROME — The Brothers of Italy party, which won the most votes in Italy’s national election, has its roots in the post-World War II neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. Keeping the movement’s most potent symbol, the tricolor flame, Giorgia Meloni has taken Brothers of Italy from a fringe far-right group to...
Canada won’t require masks on planes, drops vaccine mandate
TORONTO — The Canadian government announced Monday it will no longer require people to wear masks on planes to guard against covid-19. Transport Canada said the existing rules for masks will come off Oct. 1 “We are able to do this because tens of millions of Canadians rolled up their...
Building collapse near Kenyan capital kills 3; more missing
NAIROBI, Kenya — A multi-story building collapsed outside Kenya’s capital Monday, killing a woman and two children, and rescuers picked through the debris in search of a family reported missing. Four people were rescued, including a child, after the collapse in Kirigiti, said Kiambu county Gov. Kimani Wamatangi. But “we...
Russian military recruiter shot amid fear of Ukraine call-up
KYIV, Ukraine — A young man shot a Russian military officer at close range at an enlistment office Monday, in an unusually bold attack reflecting resistance to the Russian leadership’s efforts to mobilize hundreds of thousands of men to wage war on Ukraine. The shooting comes after scattered arson attacks...
U.S. case against American Airlines, JetBlue heads to court
DALLAS — The government’s antitrust lawsuit against American Airlines and JetBlue begins Tuesday and the outcome could determine how closely the Biden administration examines other airline deals, including JetBlue’s pending attempt to buy Spirit Airlines. The Justice Department and six states are suing American and JetBlue to break up their...
Bills would curtail objections at future Jan. 6 vote counts
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have officially objected to the results in four of the past six presidential elections, a partisan practice that has been legal for over a century but became much more fraught after a violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol last year....
15 dead, 24 wounded by gunman in ‘Nazi’ T-shirt at school in Russia
MOSCOW — A gunman opened fire in a school in central Russia on Monday, killing 15 people and wounding 24 others before shooting himself dead, authorities said. The shooting took place in School No. 88 in Izhevsk, a city 960 kilometers east of Moscow in the Udmurtia region. Russia’s Investigative...
Italy shifts to the right as voters reward Meloni’s party
ROME — A party with neo-fascist roots, the Brothers of Italy, won the most votes in Italy’s national elections, looking set to deliver the country’s first far-right-led government since World War II and make its leader, Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first woman premier, near-final results showed Monday. Italy’s lurch to the...
Official: 2 killed amid crashes during pop-up New Jersey car rally
WILDWOOD, N.J. — A pop-up car rally over the weekend in southern New Jersey led to multiple crashes and the deaths of at least two people riding in a golf cart, officials say. Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron told NJ Advance Media on Sunday that there were a series of car...
Exit poll: Italian far-right leader’s alliance leading vote
ROME —Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s electoral alliance appeared to hold a wide lead in Italy’s national vote, an exit poll on state television suggested Sunday evening following a record-low turnout. Rai state broadcaster said Meloni’s Brothers of Italy in alliance with two right-wing parties appeared headed to take 45% of...
Puerto Ricans await aid, fret about post-hurricane recovery
TOA BAJA, Puerto Rico — City worker Carmen Medina walked purposefully through the working-class community of Tranquility Village under a brutal sun, with clipboard, survey forms and pen in hand — part of a small army of officials trying to gauge the scope of disaster caused by Hurricane Fiona’s strike...
Ian strengthens into a hurricane, heads toward Cuba, FloridaVideo
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Forecasters say Tropical Storm Ian has strengthened into a hurricane as it moves closer to Cuba on a track expected to take it to Florida in the coming days. Ian was forecast to intensify rapidly and become a major hurricane as soon as late Monday. Authorities in...
Texas vow to ‘eliminate all rapists’ rings hollow at clinics
AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas’ new abortion law made no exceptions in cases of rape, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott defended it with an assurance: Texas would get to work eliminating rapes. One year later, Lindsey LeBlanc is busy as ever helping rape victims in a college town outside Houston. “The...
Chinese survivors had no food, water on sinking boat
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — The list of survivors from a boat that sank near a Cambodian island increased Saturday to 30 of the 41 passengers from China, who described embarking on what they believed would be a short-term fishing job and ended up without food and water aboard the vessel and...
Russia shells Ukrainian cities amid Kremlin-staged votes
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kremlin-orchestrated votes took place in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation by Moscow. Ukraine’s presidential office said the latest Russian shelling killed at least three people and wounded 19. Oleksandr Starukh, the Ukrainian...
Arizona judge: State can enforce near-total abortion ban
PHOENIX — Arizona can enforce a near-total ban on abortions that has been blocked for nearly 50 years, a judge ruled Friday, meaning clinics statewide will have to stop providing the procedures to avoid the filing of criminal charges against doctors and other medical workers. The judge lifted a decades-old...
QAnon follower who chased officer convicted in Jan. 6 trial
WASHINGTON — An Iowa man was convicted Friday of charges that he led a crowd of rioters in chasing a U.S. Capitol police officer up a staircase and accosting other officers guarding the Senate, one of the most harrowing scenes of the mob’s attack that day. A federal jury deliberated...
Execs: U.S. internet casino gambling is poised for expansion
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — As sports betting has swept across the country with states, casinos and consumers eagerly embracing a new gambling market, internet casino games have grown much more slowly. But the online casino market has tremendous potential for growth and expansion, participants in a major casino conference said...
