U.S./World category, Page 554
New model to enlist regular Americans to resettle refugees
SAN DIEGO — When nearly 80,000 Afghans arrived in the United States, refugee resettlement agencies quickly became overwhelmed, still scrambling to rehire staff and reopen offices after being gutted as the Trump administration dropped refugee admissions to a record low. So the U.S. State Department, working with humanitarian organizations, turned...
Bargain hunter scores 700-year-old medieval times document
PORTLAND, Maine — A bargain hunter who went to an estate sale in Maine to find a KitchenAid mixer, a bookshelf or vintage clothing walked away with a 700-year-old treasure. Instead of a kitchen appliance, Will Sideri stumbled upon a framed document hanging on a wall. It had elaborate script...
Russian men join exodus, fearing call-up to fight in Ukraine
ISTANBUL — Military-aged men fled Russia in droves Friday, filling planes and causing traffic jams at border crossings to avoid being rounded up to fight in Ukraine following the Kremlin’s partial military mobilization. Queues stretching for 6 miles formed on a road leading to the southern border with Georgia, according...
Syrian official says 73 dead after migrant boat sinks
DAMASCUS, Syria — The death toll from a boat carrying migrants from Lebanon that sank in Syrian waters has risen to at least 73, state TV quoted Syria’s health minister as saying on Friday. Syrian authorities said some family members of the victims have started crossing into Syria from neighboring...
Moscow-held regions of Ukraine in ‘sham’ vote to join Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — Voting began in Russian-held regions of Ukraine on referendums to become part of Russia, Moscow-backed officials there said Friday as Ukrainian and United Nations officials reported evidence of war crimes during the nearly seven-month war in the country. The Kremlin-orchestrated referendums, which have been widely denounced by...
Hurricane Fiona roars by Bermuda, on route to Canada
CAGUAS, Puerto Rico — Fiona, a Category 3 hurricane, pounded Bermuda with heavy rains and winds early Friday as it swept by the island on a route forecast to have it approaching northeastern Canada late in the day as a still-powerful storm. Authorities in Bermuda opened shelters and closed schools...
Company hired to arrange Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant flights is tied to high-level state official
TALLAHASSEE — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration needed a company it could trust to carry out a controversial program to transport migrants to other states, it chose an unusual option. Although Destin-based Vertol Systems Company is in aviation, its primary business is training pilots for the military and providing...
Indiana abortion clinics reopening after judge blocks ban
INDIANAPOLIS — After an Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state’s abortion ban from being enforced, phones starting ringing across Indiana abortion clinics, which are preparing to resume the procedure a week after the ban had gone into effect. “People are getting the word that abortion is now legal again,...
Jared Kushner slams ‘very troubling’ flights of migrants launched by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisVideo
Jared Kushner on Thursday blasted as “very troubling” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policy of flying asylum-seekers from Texas to liberal enclaves like Martha’s Vineyard. The son-in-law of former President Donald Trump said the flights amount to using the people fleeing Venezuela’s dictatorship as “political pawns” in the culture war over...
Lawyer: Teen ‘highly troubled’ months before Michigan school shooting
DETROIT — Some teachers and a counselor at a Michigan high school were aware of a teen’s troubling interest in guns and violence months before he was accused of fatally shooting four students and wounding others, a lawyer representing victims’ families said Thursday. “From literally the beginning of school, Ethan...
Passenger arrested after seen punching a flight attendantVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A man who was apparently caught on video slugging a flight attendant in the back of the head during an American Airlines flight was arrested after the plane landed in Los Angeles. Authorities charged Alexander Tung Cuu Le on Thursday with interfering with a flight crew....
Canada to drop vaccine mandate at border Sept. 30
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has signed off on Canada dropping the vaccine requirement for people entering the country at the end of September, an official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday. Canada, like the United States, requires foreign nationals to be vaccinated when entering...
Atlantic City smoking ban talk nixed, but workers get loud outside casinoVideo
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Irate that a session to discuss a proposed smoking ban during a major casino industry conference was snuffed out, casino workers and patrons opposed to smoking in the gambling halls held a noisy protest outside the meeting Thursday. About 100 people rallied in the rain underneath...
Mississippi agency ex-leader pleads guilty in welfare fraud
JACKSON, Miss. — A former director of Mississippi’s welfare agency pleaded guilty Thursday to federal and state charges in a conspiracy to misspend tens of millions of dollars that were intended to help needy families in one of the poorest states in the U.S. — part of the largest public...
Explainer: Why a NASA spacecraft will crash into an asteroid
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In the first-of-its kind, save-the-world experiment, NASA is about to clobber a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away. A spacecraft named Dart will zero in on the asteroid Monday, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph. The impact should be just enough to nudge...
Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.— Neptune and its rings haven’t looked this good in decades. NASA released new glamour shots of our solar system’s outermost planet Wednesday taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The pictures taken in July show not only Neptune’s thin rings, but its faint dust bands, never before...
Judge blocks Indiana abortion ban week after it took effect
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state’s abortion ban from being enforced, putting the new law on hold as abortion clinic operators argue that it violates the state constitution. Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction against the ban that took effect one week ago....
Hamas threatens violence over contested Jerusalem holy site
JERUSALEM — The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday threatened hostile actions against Israel over what it called “violations against Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” ahead of the upcoming Jewish High Holidays. Hamas’s threats came just ahead of Sunday’s Jewish new year, and a day after a group of Jewish...
No let-up in hostilities in Ukraine despite prisoner swap
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged missile and artillery barrages that killed at least six people Thursday as both sides refused to concede any ground despite recent military setbacks for Moscow and the toll on the invaded country after almost seven months of war. Russian missile strikes in...
Puerto Rico struggles to reach areas cut off by Fiona
CAGUAS, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Fiona left hundreds of people stranded across Puerto Rico after smashing roads and bridges, with authorities still struggling to reach them four days after the storm smacked the U.S. territory, causing historic flooding. Government officials have been working with religious groups, nonprofits and others braving...
Walmart, Target begin holiday early to ease inflation sting
NEW YORK — Walmart and Target plan to begin offering deals and price matching offers earlier this year to keep up with Americans pressed by soaring inflation and looking for ways to ease the potential sting of holiday shopping. For two years now, shoppers have started preparing for the holidays...
Thieves key on hack that leaves Hyundai, Kia cars vulnerable
DETROIT — Some Hyundai and Kia cars and SUVs are missing a “key” anti-theft device, and thieves know. An insurance industry group says these cars are stolen at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the auto industry because their keys lack computer chips for theft “immobilizer” systems. The...
Powell’s stark message: Inflation fight may cause recession
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve delivered its bluntest reckoning Wednesday of what it will take to finally tame painfully high inflation: Slower growth, higher unemployment and potentially a recession. Speaking at a news conference, Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged what many economists have been saying for months: That the Fed’s goal...
Heckler who slapped Rudy Giuliani on back can have charge droppedVideo
NEW YORK — A man charged with assault after he was seen on a video slapping the back of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani accepted a deal Wednesday to have the charges dismissed. According to the Richmond County district attorney’s office, the case has been adjourned in contemplation of...
Florida highway covered in Coors Light beer after semi crashVideo
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Florida highway had to temporarily close Wednesday after a semitrailer carrying cases of Coors Light crashed and turned the roadway into a silver sea of beer cans. The multi-vehicle crash occurred shortly after 6 a.m. in the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 about 30 miles north...
