U.S./World category, Page 723
Saudi Arabia, 20 years after 9/11: ‘A country in the making’
The Saudi Arabia of today is far different from the Saudi Arabia of Sept. 11, 2001. All but four of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens, and the Saudi kingdom was the birthplace of Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaida and mastermind of the attack 20 years...
California firefighters chase new fires ignited by lightning
Firefighters scrambled Friday to quash fires ignited by lightning as thunderstorms with mostly small but welcome amounts of rain rumbled across drought-stricken Northern California, where forests have been burning for weeks. Firefighters were diverted from the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe to fight multiple overnight lightning fires throughout...
Measles cases halt Afghan evacuee flights from 2 key bases
The U.S. has halted all U.S.-bound flights of Afghan evacuees from two main bases overseas after discovering a limited measles outbreak among Afghans arriving in the United States, a hitch that American officials warned will have a severe impact on an often-troubled U.S.-run evacuation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection made...
Post-Ida recovery in New Orleans: Beer and beignets are back
NEW ORLEANS — Supply trucks are once again delivering beer on Bourbon Street and the landmark Cafe Du Monde is serving beignets, fried pastries covered with white sugar, even though there aren’t many tourists or locals around to partake of either. With almost all the power back on in New...
Woman who admitted to Slender Man attack to be freed
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin woman who admitted to helping stab a classmate to please the horror character Slender Man will be freed Monday from a mental health institution, a judge ruled Friday. Anissa Weier, 19, will be released after spending almost four years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute....
Israeli police kill suspected Jerusalem Palestinian attacker
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian suspected attacker has died shortly after being wounded by Israeli police gunfire in Jerusalem where he had reportedly tried to stab officers Friday, medical sources said. A spokesperson for Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem confirmed the death. Palestinian media reports identified the dead man as Hazem...
Giuliani associate pleads guilty in campaign donation case
NEW YORK — A Florida businessman who made headlines for helping Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information on Joe Biden in Ukraine pleaded guilty Friday to a charge alleging he helped facilitate illegal foreign campaign contributions in an effort to build a marijuana business in the U.S. Igor Fruman, 56, entered...
20 years later, fallout from toxic WTC dust cloud grows
NEW YORK — The dust cloud caught Carl Sadler near the East River, turning his clothes and hair white as he looked for a way out of Manhattan after escaping from his office at the World Trade Center. Gray powder billowed through the open windows and terrace door of Mariama...
U.S. investigating airlines over slow refunds during pandemic
WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department is detailing efforts it says it is making to help airline customers who were wrongfully denied refunds after flights were canceled or changed during the pandemic. The department says in a new report that it investigated 20 airlines over failures to issue prompt refunds to...
Queen’s London representative says royals back BLM movement
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family back the Black Lives Matter movement, one of her senior representatives said in a television interview to be broadcast Friday. Philanthropist Kenneth Olisa, the first Black Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, told Channel 4 News that he had discussed the issue...
Report of gunshot triggered lockdown at Air Force base in Ohio
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base went into lockdown for several hours while security officials investigated reports of a shooter on the campus but eventually gave the all-clear early Friday morning. Two individuals reported hearing one gunshot at the base just east of Dayton just...
From 9/11’s ashes, a new world took shape. It did not last
In the ghastly rubble of ground zero’s fallen towers 20 years ago, Hour Zero arrived, a chance to start anew. World affairs reordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death. In Iran, chants of “death to America” quickly gave way to candlelight vigils to mourn...
$3M deal reached in rough arrest of Colorado woman with dementia
DENVER — A Colorado city announced Wednesday it has agreed to pay $3 million to a woman with dementia who was roughly arrested by police last year after being suspected of shoplifting, money which her family said will pay for the around-the-clock care she has needed after her condition deteriorated...
Girl who survived Florida massacre says gunman falsely believed parents were ‘sex traffickers’
ORLANDO, Fla. — The 11-year-old girl who survived her family’s massacre Sunday in Polk County said the former U.S. Marine gunman told her that he killed her parents because they were “sex traffickers,” which authorities said Thursday was “a figment of his imagination.” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said 33-year-old...
Hurricane Olaf heading toward Mexico’s Los Cabos resortsVideo
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Hurricane Olaf was heading toward a strike on the Los Cabos resort region at the tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula on Thursday. As the storm approached, authorities closed ports in the area, prepared temporary shelters and urged people to monitor public announcements. The U.S....
Florida’s GOP-backed ‘anti-riot’ law struck down by judge
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida’s new “anti-riot” law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as a way to quell violent protests is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The 90-page decision by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee found the recently-enacted law “vague and overbroad”...
Florida man wins $1 million the day he opened his auto shop
CALLAHAN, Fla. — A Florida man won $1 million in a lottery game the same day he and his wife opened an auto repair shop. Brian Woodle, 46, bought the $5 Gold Rush Supreme scratch-off ticket from a Circle K in Callahan. “I love working on vehicles and it has...
Fast hiring: UPS to hire 100,000, many in 30 minutes or less
NEW YORK — Besides packages, UPS is promising to deliver something else fast: job offers. The package delivery company said Thursday that it plans to hire more than 100,000 people for the busy holiday shipping season, many of whom will get job offers within 30 minutes of applying. UPS needs...
50 years after Attica uprising, families want apology
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Fifty years after the revolt at the Attica Correctional Facility, unanswered questions still bother those touched by what remains the nation’s deadliest prison uprising. What unknown details are buried inside hundreds of pages of records that remain sealed? And will New York state ever apologize for the...
About 200 foreigners, including Americans, fly out of KabulVideo
KABUL, Afghanistan — An estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on a commercial flight out of Kabul on Thursday with the cooperation of the Taliban — the first such large-scale departure since U.S. forces completed their frantic withdrawal over a week ago. The Qatar Airways flight to Doha marked...
Ground zero rebuilding still unfinished, 20 years later
NEW YORK — Two decades after its destruction in the Sept. 11 attacks, the work to rebuild the World Trade Center complex remains incomplete. Two planned skyscrapers, a performing arts center and a church are still unfinished at the site, which plays host Saturday to the annual ceremony honoring nearly...
South Carolina abortion law challenge backed by 20 states
Twenty Democratic attorneys general have voiced their support for a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s new abortion law, arguing that the restrictive measure could harm their states by taxing resources if women cross borders to seek care. “The effects of the law are not confined to limits on particular procedures in...
Work stalls in search for Confederate statue’s time capsule
Work crews searching for a time capsule they believed was buried inside the pedestal under a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that had towered over Richmond, Virginia, hit a snag Thursday. Crews were having difficulty finding the capsule’s precise location. Then late Thursday morning, a crane they were...
N. Korea, slimmed down Kim Jong Un, enjoy toned-down parade
SEOUL, South Korea — Military search dogs and goose-stepping trainers. Health workers wearing gas masks and red hazmat suits. And a slimmed down, beaming Kim Jong Un in a cream-colored business suit. The parade marking North Korea’s celebration of its 73rd anniversary was a marked departure from past militaristic displays,...
France to offer free birth control to all women up to 25
PARIS — France will offer free birth control to all women up to age 25 starting next year, the health minister announced Thursday. The measure will also include free medical visits about contraception, and will start Jan. 1, Health Minister Olivier Veran announced on France-2 television. All contraceptive methods were...
