U.S./World category, Page 661
Biden frees frozen Afghan billions for relief, 9/11 victims
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed an order Friday to free $7 billion in Afghan assets now frozen in the U.S., splitting the money between humanitarian aid for poverty-stricken Afghanistan and a fund for Sept. 11 victims still seeking relief for the terror attacks that killed thousands and shocked the...
U.S. ramps up Ukraine warning, says Russia may invade any day
The Biden administration on Friday escalated dire warnings of a possibly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could happen at any moment, even as emergency diplomatic efforts continued. Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland to reassure allies. As diplomatic...
Landlords finding ways to evict after getting rental aid
A day before she was due to be evicted in November from her Atlanta home, Shanelle King heard that she had been awarded about $15,000 in rental assistance. She could breathe again. But then the 43-year-old hairdresser got a letter last month from her landlord saying the company was canceling...
Argentina’s Puerta 8: the barrio and the deadly cocaine
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A dozen children stare as if hypnotized at the fire heating a large pot of meat and vegetable stew. Martín Benítez tosses spices into the pot and stirs its contents with a long wooden spoon. Women with containers to be filled appear from a dimly lit...
Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know about the fears of war
The chill of a Cold War hung over Eastern Europe again Friday, with Russian military maneuvers and drills close to Ukraine and the U.S. escalating its dire warnings about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could take place within days. Diplomats and government leaders, meanwhile, struggled ever more...
Ontario declares an emergency over truck blockades in Canada
TORONTO — Ontario’s premier declared a state of emergency Friday in reaction to the truck blockades in Ottawa and at the U.S. border and said he will urgently enact laws to crack down on those who interfere with the free flow of goods and people. Since Monday, scores of drivers...
Senators: CIA has secret program that collects American data
WASHINGTON — The CIA has a secret, undisclosed data repository that includes information collected about Americans, two Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday. While neither the agency nor lawmakers would disclose specifics about the data, the senators alleged the CIA had long hidden details about the program from...
U.S. urges Canada to use federal powers to end bridge blockadeVideo
TORONTO — The Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government Thursday to use its federal powers to end the truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country’s covid-19 restrictions, as the bumper-to-bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production. For...
Jan. 6 investigators reportedly uncover gaps in White House call log made by Trump during Capitol attack
The congressional committee investigating the attack on the Capitol has uncovered unexplained gaps in former President Donald Trump’s official White House phone logs from Jan. 6. Official records that were turned over to the panel only reveal a few calls that Trump made and received on the day of the...
New York flight to Florida diverted over ‘disruptive passenger’Video
MORRISVILLE, N.C. — A disruptive passenger prompted a flight from New York to Florida to divert to a North Carolina airport Wednesday night, officials said. Frontier Airlines flight 1335 left LaGuardia Airport and was headed to Orlando International Airport when it was diverted to Raleigh-Durham International Airport around 8:15 p.m....
Judge restores protections for gray wolves across much of U.S.
BILLINGS, Mont — A judge restored federal protections for gray wolves across much of the U.S. on Thursday after they were removed in the waning days of the Trump administration. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, Calif., said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to show wolf...
Ohio mayor concerned ice shanties could lead to prostitutionVideo
HUDSON, Ohio — The mayor of an upscale city outside Cleveland is making headlines again for a remark at a recent City Council meeting that allowing ice fishing shanties on a city lake could lead to prostitution. Hudson Mayor Craig Shubert during the meeting on Tuesday said he wanted to...
Biden puts focus on drug prices in fight against inflation
CULPEPER, Virginia — Unable to tame inflation that has worsened sharply under his watch, President Joe Biden stressed Thursday that his administration’s policies would cut prescription drug prices and make life more affordable for families. He traveled to Culpeper, Va., on the heels of a dire inflation report on Thursday...
Historic Coretta Scott home where she wed MLK now forgotten
MARION, Ala. — Bullet holes pock a rusted mailbox outside the vacant home where Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott were married in 1953. Part of the old wooden structure has collapsed, as have nearby utility buildings. Most anyplace connected to the best-known voice of the civil rights movement...
CDC proposes softer guidance on opioid prescriptions
NEW YORK — The nation’s top public health agency on Thursday proposed changing — and in some instances, softening — guidelines for U.S. doctors prescribing oxycodone and other opioid painkillers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s previous guidance, issued six years ago, helped slow the kind of prescribing that...
Fatal fires in St. Louis, Baltimore expose vacant home risks
ST. LOUIS — Thick smoke billowed from the vacant, crumbling St. Louis house, but Benjamin Polson knew homeless people might be inside taking refuge from the January chill. So the 33-year-old firefighter went in. It cost him his life. Eleven days later, three Baltimore firefighters died when an abandoned row...
Report: Archives asks Justice Department to probe Trump record handling
WASHINGTON — The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the National Archives and Records Administration has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether former President Donald Trump violated federal law in the handling of documents. The Associated Press was unable to independently confirm the report. The referral followed several Post stories...
Report: Rudy Giuliani demanded Michigan prosecutor hand over voting machines
Rudy Giuliani reportedly called a Michigan prosecutor in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election to demand he seize voting machines from a county that became the unlikely focus of former President Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn his election loss. The presidential lawyer sought to get Antrim County Prosecuting Attorney...
Colorado mom gets 16 years in prison for abusing daughter, 7, to death
DENVER — A Colorado mother who fatally abused her 7-year-old daughter and lied about her health to get handouts from charities worth at least $100,000 was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison. Judge Patricia Herron issued the sentence after Kelly Turner pled guilty in an agreement with prosecutors last...
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection subpoenaed former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Wednesday, seeking to question an ally of former President Donald Trump who promoted false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. The committee is demanding information and testimony from Navarro,...
Jewish student reprimanded for revealing Nazi salute in Alabama schoolVideo
MOUNTAIN BROOK, Ala. — A Jewish high school student said he couldn’t believe what was going on when a history teacher in a wealthy Alabama school system had classmates stand and give a stiff-armed Nazi salute during a lesson on the way symbols change. Once he shared a video and...
Feds say no taxpayer money for safer drug-smoking pipes
WASHINGTON — Following outrage on the political right, the Biden administration said Wednesday that a grant program to help prevent additional harm to people who use illicit drugs will not pay for safer pipes to smoke crack or meth. “No federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement...
Capitol rioter draped in Confederate flag pleads guilty
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A Maryland man who was draped in a Confederate flag when he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to joining the attack as a mob disrupted Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election as president. Matthew Ryan Miller, 23, sprayed a...
Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know about the fears of war
BRUSSELS — High-stakes diplomacy and military maneuvering continued Wednesday as Britain launched its own diplomatic effort to help avert a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. No breakthrough in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia is in sight so far, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions remain as opaque as ever....
Canadian provinces lift covid restrictions, protests remain
TORONTO — A rapidly growing list of Canadian provinces moved to lift their covid-19 restrictions as protesters decrying virus precautions kept up the pressure with truck blockades Wednesday in the capital and at key U.S. border crossings, including the economically vital bridge to Detroit. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward...
