U.S./World category, Page 647
Ex-student protest leader becomes Chile’s youngest president
SANTIAGO, Chile — Left-leaning former student leader Gabriel Boric vowed to improve the lives of all Chileans and attack deep inequality that has sparked massive protests, hours after being inaugurated Friday as the youngest president in the country’s history. At 36, Boric was only 4 years old when democracy returned...
Russia widens social media crackdown by blocking Instagram
Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national...
Russia’s bioweapon conspiracy theory finds support in U.S.
Russia’s baseless claims about secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine are taking root in the U.S. too, uniting covid-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of ex-President Donald Trump. Despite rebuttals from independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon, the online popularity of...
U.S. slashes Russia trade status, bans alcohol and seafood
President Joe Biden announced Friday the U.S. will dramatically downgrade its trade status with Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine and also ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The broad trade shift, which revokes the “most favored nation” status for Russia, is being taken in coordination...
Russian warplanes, artillery widen attack, hit industry hub
LVIV, Ukraine — Russia’s airplanes and artillery widened their assault on Ukraine on Friday, striking airfields in the west and a major industrial hub in the east, as Moscow’s forces tried to regroup from recent losses and their onslaught fast reduced crowded cities to rubble. American intelligence officials offered an...
EU foreign policy chief says ‘pause’ needed in Iran talks
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Friday that “a pause” was needed in ongoing talks over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers, blaming “external factors” for the delay. The comments by Josep Borrell come as a roadmap appeared imminent for the U.S. to...
N. Korea may fire big missile to put spy satellite in space
North Korea has tested parts of its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile in two recent launches, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, a suggestion it is likely to fire that weapon soon to put a spy satellite into orbit in what would be its most significant provocation in years. Separately,...
EPA plan would limit downwind pollution from power plants
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a federal plan that would restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can’t control. The plan announced Friday is intended to help more than two dozen states meet “good neighbor” obligations under the...
Senate gives final approval to Ukraine aid, huge budget bill
WASHINGTON — A $13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for besieged Ukraine and its European allies easily won final congressional approval Thursday, hitching a ride on a government-wide spending bill that’s five months late but loaded with political prizes for both parties. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s...
IRS plans to hire 10,000 workers to relieve massive backlog
WASHINGTON — The IRS said Thursday it plans to hire 10,000 new workers to help reduce a massive backlog that the government says will make this tax season the most challenging in history. The agency released a plan to work down the tens of millions of filings that includes speeding...
AP photos: Ukrainians fleeing war ‘can’t leave’ pets behind
Mounds of abandoned clothes and other personal items lie strewn along corridors leading out of Ukraine. The farther people carry their things, the harder it is, so they leave them behind, said Ludmila Sokol, a gym teacher fleeing Zaporizhzhia in the south. But their pets, they keep alongside them. Everywhere...
EU united on Ukraine, but won’t offer fast-track membership
European Union leaders meeting in France Thursday ruled out fulfilling Ukraine’s demand for a fast-track integration with the bloc, as they discussed ways to help the eastern country that’s been invaded by neighboring Russia. EU nations have been fully united in backing Ukraine’s resistance, adopting unprecedented economic sanctions against Russia,...
U.S. misjudged Ukraine’s will to fight Russia, officials admit
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. intelligence officials admitted Thursday that they underestimated Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, a mistake for intelligence agencies that have otherwise been lauded for accurately predicting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention to launch a war. “My view was that, based on a variety of...
GOP lawmakers in Kentucky advance 15-week abortion ban
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Republican lawmakers advanced a proposal Thursday to ban abortions after 15 weeks in Kentucky, part of a new push by abortion opponents to place restrictions on the procedure. The measure is modeled after a Mississippi law under review by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that...
Scathing reports find U.S. military failures in 2020 Kenya attack
Military investigations have found poor leadership, inadequate training and a “culture of complacency” among U.S. forces undermined efforts to fend off a 2020 attack by militants in Kenya that killed three Americans, U.S. officials familiar with the probes told The Associated Press ahead of the release of the findings, expected...
‘Scum of the earth’: Drug victims face Purdue Pharma owners
NEW YORK — Angry, defiant and sometimes tearful, more than two dozen Americans whose lives were upended by the opioid crisis finally had their long-awaited chance Thursday to confront in court some members of the family they blame for fueling it. They were unsparing as they unleashed decades of frustration...
At 91, siege of Leningrad survivor is besieged by war again
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Alevtina Shernina was a young girl when she survived the brutal siege of Leningrad during World War II. Eight decades later, so frail she can barely talk, or move unassisted, she is besieged again. The 91-year-old lives in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city and one of the...
Border authorities find 52 reptiles hidden in man’s clothing
A man who tried to slither past U.S. border agents in California had 52 lizards and snakes hidden in his clothing, authorities said Tuesday. The man was driving a truck when he arrived at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico on Feb. 25 and was pulled out for additional...
VP Harris embraces call for war crimes probe of Russia
WARSAW, Poland — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday embraced calls for an international war crimes investigation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and the bombing of civilians, including a maternity hospital. Speaking in Warsaw, where she is demonstrating U.S. support for NATO’s eastern flank allies, Harris expressed...
Gas price hikes fueling electric vehicle conspiracy theories
WASHINGTON — Some social media users suggest that soaring fuel prices in the U.S. aren’t the result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, increased consumption or supply chain issues as daily life resumes after two years of stagnation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the flurry of Facebook and Twitter...
Russia built an economy like a fortress but the pain is real
Western sanctions are dealing a severe blow to Russia’s economy. The ruble is plunging, foreign businesses are fleeing and sharply higher prices are in the offing. Familiar products may disappear from stores, and middle-class achievements like foreign vacations are in doubt. Beyond the short-term pain, Russia’s economy will likely see...
Ukrainian embassy draws U.S. citizens seeking to fight in war
WASHINGTON — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the smaller nation’s embassy in Washington an unexpected role: recruitment center for Americans who want to join the fight. Diplomats working out of the embassy, in a townhouse in the Georgetown section of the city, are fielding thousands of offers from volunteers...
Russians keep pressure on Mariupol; massive convoy breaks up
MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Civilians trapped inside Mariupol desperately scrounged for food and fuel as Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the port city Thursday, while satellite photos showed that a massive Kremlin convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital split up and fanned out into towns and...
Iran offers mixed signals as nuclear talks deadline looms
Iran offered mixed signals Thursday as a deadline loomed in talks over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. The Iranian president defended the negotiations while the country’s top diplomat and a security official blamed America for the deadlock. The monthslong, indirect talks in Vienna have sought to both get...
United House OKs $13.6B for Ukraine in huge spending bill
WASHINGTON — The House approved a massive spending bill Wednesday night that would rush $13.6 billion in U.S. aid to battered Ukraine and its European allies, after top Democrats were forced to abruptly drop their plan to include fresh funds to battle covid-19. Passage of the Ukraine aid and the...
