U.S./World category, Page 743
As Jan. 6 probe begins, Democrat Bennie Thompson vows: ‘We have to get it right’
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, didn’t realize the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection until his wife called him. He was inside the Capitol, sitting in the upper gallery of the House, hoping for what he called a “bird’s-eye view of the process”...
Family: Last victim ID’d in Florida condo building collapseVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The final victim of the condo building collapse in Florida has been identified, a relative said Monday, more than a month after the middle-of-the-night catastrophe that ultimately claimed 98 lives and became the largest non-hurricane related emergency response in state history. Estelle Hedaya, an outgoing 54-year-old...
Police: 5 dead, one hospitalized after crash on Long Island
QUOGUE, N.Y. — Five people were dead and another person was in critical condition after a head-on collision on Long Island, according to police. The accident occurred at about 11:15 p.m. Saturday on Montauk Highway in Quogue. A Nissan Maxima traveling west with one person aboard left its lane and...
Trump inaugural chair Tom Barrack: I’m ‘100% innocent’ in lobbying caseVideo
NEW YORK — The chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee pleaded not guilty Monday and said he was “100% innocent” of charges that he secretly lobbied the U.S. on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Tom Barrack, 74, wearing a black mask to protect against coronavirus, appeared...
Biden: U.S combat mission in Iraq to conclude in 2021Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. military’s combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year, setting out a more precise timeline for American forces to formally step back in their fight against the Islamic State organization in Iraq. The plan to shift the...
At least 8 killed in 22-car pileup in Utah during sandstorm
KANOSH, Utah — A sandstorm caused a huge 22-vehicle pileup on a Utah highway that left eight people dead, including four children, authorities said. The crashes Sunday afternoon on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh came at the end of a holiday weekend for the state that often leads...
1960s civil rights activist Robert Moses dies at 86
Robert Parris Moses, a civil rights activist who was shot at and endured beatings and jail while leading Black voter registration drives in the American South during the 1960s and later helped improve minority education in math, has died. He was 86. Moses, who was widely referred to as Bob,...
California’s largest fire burns homes as blazes scorch WestVideo
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters, as numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the U.S. West. The massive Dixie Fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen...
Sparked by pandemic fallout, homeschooling surges across U.S.
Although the pandemic disrupted family life across the U.S. since taking hold in spring 2020, some parents are grateful for one consequence: They’re now opting to homeschool their children, even as schools plan to resume in-person classes. The specific reasons vary widely. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press...
Groups urge Maine to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in U.S.
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list. Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers but now return from the sea to...
Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
AHRWEILER, Germany — Like other residents of his town in Germany, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming. What nobody told him, he says, was how bad it would be. The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller from Ahrweiler said the first serious warning to evacuate or move to higher floors of buildings...
To reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan president must go
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is also a...
Tom Barrack to be freed on $250 million bail ahead of criminal trial
Tom Barrack will be freed on $250 million bond as he awaits trial on charges he illegally lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack, the founder of Colony Capital Inc. and a Trump ally, has been in a San Bernardino jail since his arrest Tuesday...
Firefighters officially end search in Florida condo collapse
Firefighters officially ended their search for bodies in the debris of the collapsed Surfside condo building on Friday, even as police and forensic specialists continue working to identify human remains. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told The Associated Press that the fire department’s role in recovering remains at the...
Confederate bust moved from Tennessee Capitol building
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that had been displayed prominently inside of the Tennessee Capitol for decades was removed from its pedestal on Friday. The image of Nathan Bedford Forrest has sparked protests ever since its installation in 1978. Some...
Western wildfires: Crews make progress on huge Oregon blaze
BLY, Ore. — The nation’s largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California. The Bootleg Fire, which has destroyed an...
Crafty cockatoos master dumpster diving and teach each other
WASHINGTON — A few years ago, a Sydney scientist noticed a sulfur-crested cockatoo opening his trash bin. Not every resident would be thrilled, but ornithologist Richard Major was impressed by the ingenuity. It’s quite a feat for a bird to grasp a bin lid with its beak, pry it open,...
Dems renew questions about FBI background check of Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are raising new concerns about the thoroughness of the FBI’s background investigation into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI revealed that it had received thousands of tips and had provided “all relevant” ones to the White House counsel’s office. FBI Director Christopher Wray, responding...
Tennessee governor defends agency’s vaccine chief firing, outreach rollbackVideo
NASHVILLE — Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday came out in full defense of his administration’s firing of the state’s vaccination chief and rollback of outreach for childhood vaccines, both of which have sparked national scrutiny over Tennessee’s inoculation efforts against covid-19. “Government needs to provide information and education, provide...
Pelosi says Jan. 6 panel to move ahead without GOP’s choices
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection “will do the job it set out to do” despite Republicans’ vow to boycott the probe. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday that Republicans won’t participate after Pelosi rejected two of the Republicans he chose...
Police: Man defrauded Chinese pop singer in sex scandal
BEIJING — A man has confessed to defrauding a Chinese-Canadian pop singer, Kris Wu, over a teenager’s accusation he had sex with her when she was drunk, Beijing police said Thursday. The announcement added a bizarre twist to a scandal that cost Wu endorsement contracts with brands including Porsche and...
Death rates soar in Southeast Asia as virus wave spreads
Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from covid-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep...
Indictment: Ohio man who hates women planned shooting at sorority
CLEVELAND — A man who identifies with a group that despises women appeared in federal court Wednesday in Cincinnati on charges related to his plans to kill sorority members at an unidentified university in Ohio, authorities said. Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, Ohio, is charged with an attempted hated crime...
Cocaine disguised as cake seized from vehicle in Maine
A New York man and a Maine woman are facing charges over cocaine disguised as a cake that was seized from their vehicle, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said Wednesday. Acting on a tip, police stopped the car on Interstate 295 in Gardiner on Tuesday, and a drug-sniffing dog found...
Judge: $150M initially for victims in Florida condo collapse
Victims and families who suffered losses in the collapse of a 12-story oceanfront Florida condominium will get a minimum of $150 million in compensation initially, a judge said Wednesday. That sum includes about $50 million in insurance on the Champlain Towers South building and at least $100 million in proceeds...
