U.S./World category, Page 711
Georgia police officer gunned down during 1st shift
ALAMO, Ga. — A Georgia police officer was gunned down outside a police station during his first shift with the department early Saturday, authorities said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Officer Dylan Harrison, 26, was fatally shot outside the Alamo Police Department by Damien Anthony Ferguson. Ferguson, 43, remained...
UK eyes ‘walk me home’ phone-tracker to protect lone women
A top British government official is backing a phone company’s proposal for a new tracking service to help protect women walking alone, an idea pitched amid ongoing outrage over the slayings of two young women who were targeted near their homes in London. The chief executive of Britain’s biggest phone...
Taliban say they won’t work with U.S. to contain Islamic State
The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August. Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives...
McConnell seizes on debt standoff to undermine Biden agenda
In the frantic bid to avert a default on the nation’s debt, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell held a position of unusual power — as the one who orchestrated both the problem and the solution. McConnell is no longer the majority leader, but he is exerting his minority status in...
Chopin portrait bought at flea market is from 19th century
A peeling portrait of Frederic Chopin purchased at a flea market in Poland hung modestly in a private house for almost three decades before an expert dated the painting to the 19th century, when the Polish piano composer lived. Now restored and in a gilded frame, the small painting resides...
Biden won’t invoke executive privilege on Trump Jan. 6 docs
The White House said Friday that President Joe Biden will not block the handover of documents sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump, who wants to shield those White House records from investigators. The...
Boosters, employer mandates drive increase in U.S. vaccines
The number of Americans getting covid-19 vaccines has steadily increased to a three-month high as seniors and people with medical conditions seek boosters, and government and employer mandates push more workers to take their first doses. Demand is expected to spike in a few weeks if regulators authorize the Pfizer...
2 parents convicted in 1st trial of college bribery scandal
Two wealthy parents were convicted Friday of buying their kids’ way into school as athletic recruits in the first case to go to trial in the college admissions cheating scandal that embroiled prestigious universities across the country. Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, and John Wilson, a former Staples executive,...
Bannon won’t comply with subpoena from House Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Steve Bannon said Friday that Bannon won’t comply with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol because former President Donald Trump is asserting executive privilege to block demands for testimony and documents. “As such, until these issues are resolved, we are...
Biden restores Utah’s national monuments after Trump rescinded protections
President Joe Biden on Friday restored the protected Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments after former President Donald Trump dramatically slashed them in an effort to open more sensitive public lands to ranching, mining and oil drilling. The president also reestablished a marine conservation area off the New England...
Police detail cultish beliefs of mom charged in kids’ deaths
BOISE, Idaho — Newly released documents from the complex investigation of a woman accused of conspiring to kill her children and husband reveal sordid details of a cult-like belief system of “zombies” and “vibrations” plus a disintegrating marriage and an affair. Documents from the Chandler Police Department in Arizona offer...
Former Ga. state lawmaker, regent pleads guilty to racketeering
CONYERS, Ga. — A former Georgia state lawmaker and university regent was sentenced to eight years in prison for racketeering, the state attorney general’s office announced. Dean Alford was indicted in May in Rockdale County on charges of racketeering, fraud and forgery relating to allegations that he faked contracts while...
Americans agree misinformation is a problem, poll shows
WASHINGTON — Nearly all Americans agree that the rampant spread of misinformation is a problem. Most also think social media companies, and the people that use them, bear a good deal of blame for the situation. But few are very concerned that they themselves might be responsible, according to a...
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to journalists Ressa and Muratov
MANILA, Philippines — Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder. “Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against...
U.S., Pakistani officials in strained talks on Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD — U.S. and Pakistani officials are meeting Friday amid a worsening relationship between the two countries as each nation searches for a way forward in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Pakistan has been pressing for greater engagement with the all-male, all-Taliban Cabinet in Kabul even as it shies away from...
Taliban official: At least 100 dead, wounded in Afghan blast
KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion at a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday that targeted Shiite Muslim worshippers left at least 100 people killed or wounded, a Taliban police official said. The official, Dost Mohammad Obaida, the deputy police chief for Kunduz province, said that the “majority of them have...
Student arrested in Texas school shooting released from jail
ARLINGTON, Texas — An 18-year-old student accused in a shooting at a Texas high school was released from jail Thursday after posting bond. Police accuse Timothy George Simpkins of opening fire in a classroom Wednesday at Timberview High School in Arlington. Two people were shot and two others suffered unspecified...
Alabama swamped, 4 killed in floods from slow-moving front
PELHAM, Ala. — Terrified drivers climbed out of swamped cars and muddy floodwater flowed through neighborhoods after a stalled weather front drenched Alabama for hours, leaving entire communities under water Thursday and killing at least four people with still more drenching storms to come. Dozens of people had to be...
Africa welcomes new malaria vaccine as a ‘game-changer’
LAGOS, Nigeria — African health officials are optimistic that the world’s first malaria vaccine endorsed by the World Health Organization will “dramatically change” the way the continent of 1.3 billion people fights the disease. The new malaria vaccine is “a game-changer” in combating the disease which accounts for hundreds of...
Microsoft: Russia behind 58% of detected state-backed hacks
Russia accounted for most state-sponsored hacking detected by Microsoft over the past year, with a 58% share, mostly targeting government agencies and think tanks in the United States, followed by Ukraine, Britain and European NATO members, the company said. The devastating effectiveness of the long-undetected SolarWinds hack — it mainly...
Tanzanian Abdulrazak Gurnah awarded Nobel literature prize
STOCKHOLM — U.K.-based Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose experience of crossing continents and cultures has fed his novels about the impact of migration on individuals and societies, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday. The Swedish Academy said the award was in recognition of Gurnah’s “uncompromising and compassionate penetration...
State TV says Iranian speedboats intercepted U.S. Navy vessel
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s state TV reported Thursday that speedboats belonging to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard have intercepted a U.S. vessel in the Persian Gulf. A U.S. Navy spokesman said he was not aware of any such encounter at sea over the past days. The region remains on edge...
Pfizer’s request to OK shots for kids a relief for parentsVideo
Parents tired of worrying about classroom outbreaks and sick of telling their elementary school-age children no to sleepovers and family gatherings felt a wave of relief Thursday when Pfizer asked the U.S. government to authorize its covid-19 vaccine for youngsters ages 5 to 11. If regulators give the go-ahead, reduced-dose...
Strong earthquake in southwest Pakistan kills at least 23
QUETTA, Pakistan — A powerful earthquake collapsed at least one coal mine and dozens of mud houses in southwest Pakistan early Thursday, killing at least 23 people as the death toll continued to creep higher. At least another 200 people were injured, an official said. The death tally was expected...
Thai riverside restaurant finds silver lining in floods
NONTHABURI, Thailand (AP) — A flood-hit riverside restaurant in Thailand has become an unlikely dining hotspot after fun-loving foodies began flocking to its water-logged deck to eat amid the lapping tide. Now, instead of empty chairs and vacant tables, the Chaopraya Antique Café is as full as ever, offering an...
