U.S./World category, Page 674
U.S. hits North Korean officials with sanctions after missile test
The Biden administration on Wednesday slapped sanctions on five North Korean officials in its first response to Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile test. The Treasury Department announced it was imposing penalties on the officials over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North’s missile programs. In addition, the State...
Giuffre’s Prince Andrew suit goes ahead despite Epstein deal
A judge gave the green light Wednesday to a lawsuit against Prince Andrew by an American woman who says he sexually abused her when she was 17. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in an opinion that Andrew’s lawyers failed to successfully challenge the constitutionality of the lawsuit Virginia...
Biden is sending more covid tests to schools to keep them open
The Biden administration is increasing federal support for covid-19 testing for schools in a bid to keep them open amid the omicron surge. The White House announced Wednesday that a dedicated stream of 5 million rapid tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests will be made available to schools starting...
Car bomb hits outside Mogadishu airport in Somalia; 8 killed
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A car bomb exploded Wednesday outside the international airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, killing at least eight people and wounding nine others, a local doctor said. The al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeting “white officials” passing by. Dr. Abdulkadir Adam with...
NATO, Russia in high-level talks as Ukraine tensions simmer
BRUSSELS — Senior NATO and Russian officials were meeting Wednesday to try to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences over the future of Ukraine, amid deep skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security proposals for easing tensions are genuine. The talks come during a week of high-stakes diplomacy and a U.S.-led effort...
Edmunds: Shopping for a car this year will not be the same
2021 was an unusual year for the automotive industry. While customer demand for new cars rebounded from the economic uncertainty of 2020, automakers found themselves unable to meet that demand because of semiconductor chip shortages and supply chain problems. So what should car shoppers expect for 2022? Much of the...
Man arrested for damaging American jet in Honduras released
A passenger arrested in Honduras for damaging the cockpit of an American Airlines jet during boarding was released by authorities hours later. The flight scheduled to depart for Miami on Tuesday afternoon was delayed for hours until a replacement plane could be arranged. The flight arrived in Florida early Wednesday,...
Medicare limits coverage of $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug
WASHINGTON — Medicare said Tuesday it will limit coverage of a $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug whose benefits have been widely questioned, a major development in the nation’s tug-of-war over the fair value of new medicines that offer tantalizing possibilities but come with prohibitive prices. The initial determination from the Centers for...
Planners of Jan. 6 Trump rally subpoenaed by House panel
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection issued subpoenas on Tuesday to two Republican strategists and a Trump administration official regarding their involvement in the planning and preparation of one of the rallies that preceded the attack. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, issued...
North Carolina deputy made frantic 911 call after shooting
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — An off-duty sheriff’s deputy had a frantic conversation with a 911 operator after fatally shooting a Black man last weekend in North Carolina, saying the pedestrian did “jump on my vehicle and broke my windshield,” according to an audio recording released Tuesday. Deputy Jeffrey Hash can then...
Oklahoma death row inmates offer firing squad as alternative
OKLAHOMA CITY — Two men on Oklahoma’s death row — at the prodding of a federal judge — agreed to choose execution by firing squad as a way to delay their upcoming lethal injections, one of their attorneys told the judge. The two inmates, Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle, want...
Justice Department creating unit focused on domestic terrorism
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism, the department’s top national security official told lawmakers Tuesday as he described an “elevated” threat from violent extremists in the United States. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, testifying just days after the nation observed the one-year...
How fleeting choices, circumstances doomed 17 in Bronx fire
NEW YORK — It started as just another January morning, the damp chill prompting a family on the third floor of a drafty Bronx apartment tower to run a space heater for extra warmth, as residents had done countless times before. In the moment, that decision hardly deserved a second...
A record 1,101 Florida manatees died in 2021. When will it end?
TAMPA, Fla. — It’s been clear for months that 2021 would be the deadliest year on record for Florida’s manatees. When the death count surpassed 1,000 in November, experts sounded the alarm, fearing the toll the winter months ahead would continue to inflict. The final death count is in —...
Tarnished Gold: Aircraft, fuel key to illegal Amazon mining
BOA VISTA, Brazil — The scorching Amazon sun beats down as a group of agents inspect the body of a black helicopter. Nearby, in the backyard of the federal police headquarters in the city of Boa Vista, sit more than twenty aircraft — all seized. Some bear signs of violent...
Some escapees pay bribes, cross rivers, risk lives to return to Kim Jong Un’s North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — Not long after nightfall on New Year’s Day, a short, slight man picked a spot along one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world, a quarter-mile from the nearest platoon of soldiers, and scaled a 10-foot-tall wire fence. Warning lights flashed and an alarm...
U.S. announces $308 million in aid for Afghans as crisis grows
WASHINGTON — The White House has announced $308 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, offering new aid to the country as it edges toward a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban takeover nearly five months ago. White House spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement Tuesday that the new aid...
Biden on voting rights passage: ‘I’m tired of being quiet!’Video
WASHINGTON — Pounding his fist for emphasis, President Joe Biden challenged senators on Tuesday to “stand against voter suppression,” urging them to change Senate rules in order to pass voting rights legislation that Republicans are blocking from debate and votes. Biden told a crowd in Atlanta that he’d been having...
Trump attorneys cite immunity, want Jan. 6 lawsuits tossedVideo
WASHINGTON — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump and his associates argued Monday that incendiary statements by Trump and others last Jan. 6 prior to the Capitol riot were protected speech and in line with their official duties. In response to civil suits running parallel to Congress’ own Jan. 6...
North Carolina agency asked to look into shooting by deputy
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said Monday that its agents have been asked to look into a fatal shooting involving an off-duty sheriff’s deputy that sparked a local protest. A news release said Fayetteville police Chief Gina Hawkins and the Cumberland County district attorney asked the NCSBI to...
In 1st, U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patientVideo
A Maryland man is doing well after surgeons and clinicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center performed the first successful transplant of a genetically modified pig’s heart Friday to save his life, officials from the health system said Monday. After being...
Pilot rescued from wreckage in L.A. moments before train hitsVideo
The pilot of a small plane averted death twice in a span of minutes on Sunday, first when he crash-landed onto railroad tracks, then when Los Angeles police rescued him just before a commuter train smashed into the aircraft. Bodycam video showed the officers working furiously to disentangle the bloodied...
Rare snowy owl soars over Washington, thrills crowds
A snowy owl apparently touring iconic buildings of the nation’s capital is captivating birdwatchers who manage to get a glimpse of the rare, resplendent visitor from the Arctic. Far from its summer breeding grounds in Canada, the snowy owl was first seen on January 3, the day a winter storm...
Tax season begins 2 weeks early due to virus, IRS funding
WASHINGTON — This year’s tax filing season will begin on Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last year, the Internal Revenue Service announced Monday. The IRS is warning that a resurgence of covid-19 infections on top of less funding authorization from Congress than the Biden administration had requested could make...
Robert Durst, real estate heir convicted of murder, dies
LOS ANGELES — Robert Durst, the wealthy New York real estate heir and failed fugitive who was dogged for decades with suspicion in the disappearance and deaths of those around him before he was convicted of killing his best friend and sentenced to life in prison, has died. He was...
