U.S./World category, Page 641
Dollywood closes free-fall ride after Florida death
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Dollywood amusement park in Tennessee said Sunday it has temporarily closed a ride developed by the same maker of a free-fall ride from which a teen dropped to his death at a Florida attraction. Dollywood told The Associated Press it was saddened to hear about the...
Gunmen kill 2 in central Israel attack, Israeli police say
JERUSALEM — A pair of Arab gunmen on Sunday killed two people and wounded four others in a shooting spree in central Israel before they were killed by police, according to police and medical officials. It was the second deadly nationalist attack carried out by Arab assailants in an Israeli...
Nevada casino to pay $8M for serving chemicals, not beer
LAS VEGAS — A jury in Las Vegas has awarded $8 million to a middle school special education teacher who sued after being permanently injured when he was served cleaning solvents instead of tap beer at a casino bar. Lon Enwright, 38, used to also work as a wine steward...
Biscuits or bratwurst: GOP weighs its convention choices
In Milwaukee, one of two cities vying to host the Republican presidential convention in 2024, Democrats were pilloried by the potential visitors after predawn election results delivered Wisconsin for Joe Biden in the 2020 White House race. Rival Nashville, Tennessee, is run by a mayor whose Democratic brother was effectively...
Ukraine pleads for help, says Russia wants to split nation
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the West of cowardice Sunday while another top official said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea. Zelenskyy made an exasperated plea for fighter jets and tanks to help defend his country from Russia’s invading...
Biden on Russia’s Putin: ‘This man cannot remain in power’
WARSAW, Poland — President Joe Biden said Saturday that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” dramatically escalating the rhetoric against the Russian leader after his brutal invasion of Ukraine. Even as Biden’s words rocketed around the world, the White House attempted to clarify soon after Biden finished speaking in Poland...
Did teen’s big size factor in Florida amusement ride death?
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A rising middle school football player in Missouri, only 14 but already 6 feet, 5 inches tall and well over 300 pounds, Tyre Sampson fell to his death from a towering Florida amusement ride. Lawyers for his family want to know if negligence about his size,...
Japan PM, U.S. envoy pray in Hiroshima amid Russia nuke fears
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escorted the U.S. ambassador to his hometown of Hiroshima on Saturday to pay respects to atomic bombing victims and warned that the world is again facing threats of nuclear attacks stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “As we face a possibility of Russia’s...
China says no survivors in plane crash with 132 on board
BEIJING — Chinese authorities officially confirmed Saturday that there were no survivors in the crash of a China Eastern 737-800 earlier this week with 132 people on board. The announcement by an official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China at a late-night news conference was followed by a brief...
A really cool planetary event is happening on Monday, then not again until 2040
A planetary event that will not happen again until 2040 will occur Monday morning when Venus, Mars and Saturn appear very close together near the horizon just before sunrise. And to make the show more fun, a crescent moon will appear nearby. They aren’t really close together, of course. Venus...
Shelled city in north Ukraine fears becoming ‘next Mariupol’
LVIV, Ukraine — Nights are spent huddling underground from Russian strikes pounding their encircled city into rubble. Daylight hours are devoted to hunting down drinkable water and braving the risk of standing in line for the little food available as shells and bombs rain down. In the second month of...
China crash mystery grows as evidence signals midair breakup
At least one piece of the Boeing Co. 737-800 that crashed in China appears to have broken loose well before impact, a finding that adds mystery to the plane’s fatal dive. The piece suspected to have come from the China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. jet was found about 6 miles...
How would those accused of Ukraine war crimes be prosecuted?
LVIV, Ukraine — Each day searing stories pour out of Ukraine: A maternity hospital bombed in Mariupol. A mother and her children killed as they fled Irpin in a humanitarian corridor. Burning apartment blocks. Mass graves. A child dead of dehydration in a city under siege, denied humanitarian aid. Such...
Ice shelf collapses in previously stable East Antarctica
An ice shelf the size of New York City has collapsed in East Antarctica, an area long thought to be stable and not hit much by climate change, concerned scientists said Friday. The collapse, captured by satellite images, marked the first time in human history that the frigid region had...
New Orleans school board reverses little known ban on jazz
NEW ORLEANS — With its president saying it had racist origins, the New Orleans school board has unanimously reversed a little known but century-old ban on jazz in schools in a city that had a huge role in developing jazz and where it is still played nightly at various venues....
Scientists figure out how vampire bats got a taste for blood
WASHINGTON — Scientists have figured out why vampire bats are the only mammals that can survive on a diet of just blood. They compared the genome of common vampire bats to 26 other bat species and identified 13 genes that are missing or no longer work in vampire bats. Over...
Kentucky lawmakers vote to put limits on death penalty
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky would make the death penalty off-limits for some defendants diagnosed with severe mental illnesses under a bill that won final legislative approval on Friday. The Republican-led Senate voted 25-9 to send the measure to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, capping a long effort led by death penalty...
Yemen rebels strike oil depot in Saudi city hosting F1 race
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked an oil depot on Friday in the Saudi city of Jiddah ahead of a Formula One race in the kingdom — their highest-profile assault yet that threatened to disrupt the upcoming grand prix. The attack targeted the same fuel depot that...
Rudy Giuliani associate pleads guilty in fraud scheme
NEW YORK — An associate of Rudy Giuliani pleaded guilty Friday to a conspiracy charge alleging that he defrauded investors in a company supposedly created to prevent people from being defrauded. Lev Parnas, 50, entered the plea to conspiring to commit wire fraud during a remotely held electronic proceeding in...
Supreme Court Justice Thomas released from hospital
WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas was discharged from the hospital Friday after a stay of nearly a week, the Supreme Court said. Thomas, 73, had entered the hospital last Friday evening after experiencing “flu-like symptoms.” He was treated for an infection with intravenous antibiotics, the court said Sunday in announcing...
Michigan’s top court rejects latest redistricting challenge
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday turned down a challenge by Democratic-aligned groups to a new map for state House seats. The groups claim the map unfairly favors Republicans and conflicts with the state Constitution, which says no party shall have a disproportionate advantage in redistricting. But...
Kosovo Serbs protest to get votes in Serbia’s April election
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Hundreds of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo protested Friday to pressure the government into allowing them to vote in neighboring Serbia’s April 3 general election. Demonstrators gathered in Mitrovica, 28 miles north of Pristina, with banners reading “We want our human rights” and “Kurti won’t drive us away...
Biden in Poland to see U.S. troops, Ukraine refugees
RZESZOW, Poland — President Joe Biden will hear directly from U.S. troops stationed near Poland’s border with Ukraine on Friday and learn about the growing humanitarian response to the millions of Ukrainians who are fleeing to Poland to escape Russia’s assault on their homeland. Biden planned to meet with members...
Female ministers urge Taliban to rethink decision on girls
BERLIN — Female foreign ministers from 16 countries around the world said Friday they are “deeply disappointed” that Afghan girls are being denied access to secondary schools and called on the Taliban to reverse their decision. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unexpectedly decided against reopening schools on Wednesday to girls above the...
Ukraine reports 300 died in Russian strike on theater
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities said Friday that about 300 people died when a Russian airstrike last week blew up a theater in Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering — a catastrophic loss of civilian life that, if confirmed, is likely to further crank up pressure on Western nations...
