U.S./World category, Page 698
Attorney: Texas A&M student injured at Astroworld dies
HOUSTON — A 22-year-old college senior who was critically injured at the Astroworld festival in Houston has died, the family’s lawyer said Thursday, making her the 9th person to die in a crowd surge after fans pushed toward the stage during a performance by headliner Travis Scott. Bharti Shahani died...
Slovakia rejects proposed law restricting access to abortion
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia’s parliament on Thursday narrowly rejected proposed legislation that would have tightened access to abortion in the European Union country. The bill was rejected by one vote, as 67 of the 134 lawmakers present in the 150-seat house voted in favor of it. A similar proposal to...
Palace: Queen Elizabeth II will attend remembrance service
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II, who has canceled recent public appearances on her doctors’ advice, will attend a national service of remembrance for Britain’s war dead this weekend, Buckingham Palace confirmed Thursday. The palace said the 95-year-old monarch will watch the somber ceremony at the Cenotaph memorial in central London...
Austrian leader says lockdown for the unvaccinated is likely
BERLIN — Austria’s chancellor on Thursday stepped up threats of lockdown measures for unvaccinated people, as new coronavirus cases in the Alpine nation are soaring. The country’s worst-affected province said it plans to take that step next week. Austria has taken a series of measures in recent weeks in an...
U.S. urges citizens to leave Haiti amid deepening turmoil
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The U.S. government is urging U.S. citizens to leave Haiti because of the country’s deepening insecurity and a severe lack of fuel that has affected hospitals, schools and banks. Gas stations remained closed on Thursday. The rare warning from the U.S. State Department comes as Haiti’s government...
France: Life sentence for killing of Holocaust survivor
PARIS — A French man has been sentenced to life in prison for stabbing an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor to death in an antisemitic attack, a case that triggered widespread outrage and called attention to resurgent anti-Jewish sentiment in France. After horror and grief, Mireille Knoll’s family feels justice after Wednesday’s...
UN chief says global warming goal on ‘life support’
GLASGOW, Scotland — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) is “on life support” as U.N. climate talks enter their final days, but he added that “until the last moment, hope should be maintained.” In an exclusive interview on...
Biden announces plan to ID, treat vets’ ills from toxic air
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, whose son Beau was an Iraq war veteran, is using his first Veterans Day in office to announce an effort to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments. The effort centers on lung problems suffered by troops who...
Police: Akita puppy stolen at gunpoint during walk
Maryland police said a 4-month-old American Akita puppy was stolen at gunpoint Monday while his owner was taking him for a walk in Brentwood, Md. Through the department’s social media accounts, Prince George’s County Police said as Queen was being walked, a “car pulled up, a masked suspect got out...
SpaceX crew launch marks 600 space travelers in 60 yearsVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX rocket carried four astronauts into orbit Wednesday night, including the 600th person to reach space in 60 years. The repeatedly delayed flight occurred just two days after SpaceX brought four other astronauts home from the International Space Station. They should have been up there...
Dixie State name change passed by GOP-controlled Utah House
SALT LAKE CITY — Southern Utah’s Dixie State University is one step closer to changing a name often associated with the Deep South and slavery after the Utah House approved a renaming plan Wednesday over local backlash. The bill that now moves to the state Senate would rename the school...
Crew member sues Alec Baldwin, others over ‘Rust’ shooting
LOS ANGELES — The head of lighting on the film “Rust” filed a lawsuit Wednesday over Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of the Western, alleging negligence that caused him “severe emotional distress” that will haunt him forever. Serge Svetnoy said in the...
Judge OKs $626 million settlement in Flint water litigation
DETROIT — A judge on Wednesday approved a $626 million deal to settle lawsuits filed by Flint residents who found their tap water contaminated by lead following disastrous decisions to switch the city’s water source and a failure to swiftly acknowledge the problem. Most of the money — $600 million...
Capitol rioter who hit officer gets over 3 years in prisonVideo
A New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison, a likely benchmark for dozens of other rioters who engaged in violence that day. Scott Fairlamb, 44, was the first person...
Rittenhouse murder case thrown into jeopardy by mistrial bidVideo
KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse testified Wednesday he was under attack when he killed two men and wounded a third with his rifle during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha, saying: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself.” In a high-stakes gamble, the 18-year-old took the stand at...
Police suspect Germans were killed for Stradivarius violins
Paraguayan police said Wednesday they have detained two Germans and a Chilean suspected of killing a German man and his daughter while trying to get documents proving the authenticity of valuable violins. Bernard Raymond von Bredow, a museum owner and luthier, was slain along with his 14-year-old daughter Lydia last...
Inmate who sued for gender surgery seeks $2.8M in legal fees
BOISE, Idaho — A former Idaho inmate who became the first person to receive court-ordered gender confirmation surgery after suing the state Department of Correction is asking a judge to order the state to pay more than $2.8 million in attorney fees and other costs associated with the case. The...
Pandemic adds stress to already strained rural fire departments
Over the past 30 years, fire departments in both urban and rural areas have struggled to recruit new firefighters into a profession that’s more than half volunteers. In rural America, the pandemic has brought the crisis to a new apex. Rural firefighters have been on the front lines of the...
U.S. presses Russia over troop buildup along Ukraine border
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is stepping up pressure on Russia over a buildup of troops along its frontier with Ukraine. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to meet his Ukrainian counterpart in Washington on Wednesday, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe said the administration is watching the border...
Taliban urge ex-Afghan military pilots to stay, serve nation
ISLAMABAD — A top Taliban official on Wednesday urged former Afghan military pilots to remain in the country, saying they were protected by a national amnesty and would not face arrest. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid’s assurances came after dozens of U.S.-trained Afghan pilots left Tajikistan in a U.S.-brokered evacuation Tuesday,...
Alabama boy named world’s most premature infant to survive
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama boy who weighed less than a pound at birth after his mother went into labor at only 21 weeks and one day of gestation has been certified as the world’s most premature baby to survive. Guinness World Records and UAB Hospital announced Wednesday that Curtis...
Father gets 28 years for leaving girl to die in burning car
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A South Carolina man who left his 19-month-old daughter to die in a burning car during a police chase was given 28 years in prison after pleading guilty. Imhotep O. Norman of Spartanburg was sentenced Tuesday, according to the office of 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette. News...
Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO of U.S. Capitol riot
LONDON — Britain’s Prince Harry has sharply attacked the failure of social media companies to challenge hate online, revealing that he warned the chief executive of Twitter ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that the site was being used to stage political unrest. Harry made the comments Tuesday in...
U.S. jobless claims drop to pandemic low of 267,000
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a new pandemic low 267,000 last week, another sign that the job market is recovering from last year’s sharp coronavirus downturn. Jobless claims fell by 4,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The four-week average of claims,...
Judge refuses Trump request to block Jan. 6 records
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to block the release of documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan declined to issue a preliminary injunction sought by Trump’s lawyers. Chutkan said President Joe Biden was...
