U.S./World category, Page 754
Prosecutors will ask grand jury to probe building collapse
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Prosecutors in Florida will pursue a grand jury investigation into the deadly collapse of an oceanfront condominium building, officials said Tuesday. Miami-Dade County Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference that she fully supports such an investigation. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she would bring...
Defense lawyer: Newspaper gunman ‘deranged’ and ‘delusional’
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The man who killed five people at a Maryland newspaper was delusional and believed the state’s judicial system was conspiring with the Capital Gazette to persecute him and ruin his life, his attorney told a jury Tuesday, trying to make the case that Jarrod Ramos is not...
Rolling blackouts for parts of U.S. Northwest amid heat wave
SPOKANE, Wash. — The unprecedented Northwest U.S. heat wave that slammed Seattle and Portland, Oregon, moved inland Tuesday — prompting a electrical utility in Spokane, Wash., to warn that people will face more rolling blackouts amid heavy power demand. The intense weather that gave Seattle and Portland consecutive days of...
Cosmic gulp: Astronomers see black hole swallow neutron star
Talk about a heavy snack. For the first time, astronomers have witnessed a black hole swallowing a neutron star, the most dense object in the universe — all in a split-second gulp. Ten days later they saw the same thing, on the other side of the universe. In both cases,...
Russia targets investigative journalists with raids
MOSCOW — Russian authorities on Tuesday morning raided the apartments of several investigative journalists and their family members, a move that comes amid mounting pressure on Russia’s independent media outlets. Police searched the apartments of Roman Badanin, chief editor of the Proekt investigative online outlet, and Maria Zholobova, one of...
South African court orders ex-president to jail for contempt
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before an inquiry probing wide-ranging allegations of corruption during his tenure from 2009 to 2018. Zuma was not in court...
Pope Francis: Thank you, Benedict, for praying for church
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Tuesday offered an affectionate, public thank-you to Benedict XVI, whose retirement from the papacy in 2103 shocked the Roman Catholic Church and the world. Addressing tourists and Romans in St. Peter’s Square, Francis triggered applause when he recalled that it was the 70th anniversary...
Officials: 2 killed in natural gas line explosion in Texas
FARMERSVILLE, Texas — Two people were killed and three injured in a natural gas pipeline explosion in Texas, officials said. The deadly blast happened around 4 p.m. Monday at an Atmos Energy facility in Collin County near Farmersville, about 35 miles northeast of Dallas. Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said...
Danny weakens to a tropical depression, heavy rain continuesVideo
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tropical Storm Danny weakened to a tropical depression hours after it made landfall Monday evening on South Carolina’s coast but the system continued to dump heavy rains on the state and portions of Georgia. At 11 p.m. Danny had top sustained wind of 35 mphand was about...
Mexico high court mandates permits for personal marijuana use
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered the government Monday to issue permits for the personal use of marijuana and for the growing of limited amounts of pot plants, after the country’s Congress took too long to approve a limited legalization law. In 2019, the court ruled that prohibiting marijuana...
U.S. troops in Syria attacked after airstrikes on militias
WASHINGTON — U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq. Iraq’s military...
Trump Organization lawyers make last pitch against prosecutionVideo
NEW YORK — Lawyers for the Trump Organization met again Monday with prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in a last bid to forestall a potential indictment stemming from a long-running investigation into the former president’s company. Trump Organization lawyer Ron Fischetti told The Associated Press the meeting came...
Driven by pandemic, Venezuelans uproot again to come to U.S.
DEL RIO, Texas — Marianela Rojas huddles in prayer with fellow migrants after trudging across a slow-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande and nearly collapsing when she stepped on American soil for the first time. “I won’t say it again,” interrupts a U.S. Border Patrol agent, giving orders in Spanish...
Icebergs as tall as Eiffel Tower once flowed past Outer Banks to Florida, study finds
A series of mysterious lines carved on the seafloor off North Carolina’s Outer Banks have been identified as “highly unexpected” proof that icebergs once filled the horizon along the East Coast. It is believed the massive chunks of ice drifted up to 5,000 miles from Canada, and could be seen...
Despite warning, town deemed condo building in ‘good shape’
Despite an engineer’s warning of major structural problems, a town building official told board members their Florida high-rise condominium was in “very good shape” almost three years before it collapsed, according to minutes of that meeting released Monday. The Surfside official, Rosendo “Ross” Prieto, was quoted as making those comments...
Plea agreement hearing set for West Virginia woman in Capitol riot
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A plea agreement hearing is set next month for a West Virginia woman accused of taking a “Members Only” sign near the Senate chambers as she accompanied supporters of former President Donald Trump in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The hearing for Gracyn Dawn Courtright...
Yabba dabba dispute resolved: Flintstones house can stay
HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. — Fred Flintstone fought the law — and he won. Technically, the owner of the fanciful Flintstones house in a posh San Francisco suburb settled a lawsuit with the town of Hillsborough. But the agreement will allow Fred and his friends to remain. In a yabba dabba dispute...
Moscow court rejects appeal from imprisoned American
MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Monday rejected an imprisoned American’s appeal against his nine-year sentence for assaulting police officers. The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence issued last year by a lower court, which convicted Trevor Reed for an altercation in August 2019 in Moscow, where he was studying...
Juul to pay $40 million in North Carolina teen vaping suit settlement
DURHAM N.C. — Electronic cigarette giant Juul Labs Inc. will pay $40 million to North Carolina and take more action to prevent underage use and sales, according to a landmark legal settlement announced on Monday after years of accusations that the company had fueled an explosion in teen vaping. A...
Study nixes life in clouds of Venus, but maybe in Jupiter’s?
A new study is throwing cold water on the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus. Scientists from Europe and the U.S. reported Monday there isn’t nearly enough water vapor in the scorching planet’s clouds to support life as we know it. The team looked into the matter following...
Police rescue spooked nude sunbathers from Australian forest
Police have fined two men who had to be rescued from an Australian forest after they were startled by a deer while nude sunbathing on a beach and became lost. The men called for help about 6 p.m. Sunday after they became lost in the Royal National Park south of...
Religion and free speech among cases justices could add
WASHINGTON — A closely watched voting rights dispute from Arizona is among five cases standing between the Supreme Court and its summer break. But even before the justices wrap up their work, likely later this week, they could say whether they’ll add more high-profile issues to what already promises to...
Polish church reports recent clergy abuse of 368 children
WARSAW, Poland — In its latest report on the sexual abuse of minors, Poland’s Catholic Church says 292 clergymen allegedly abused 368 boys and girls from 2018 though 2020. The report released Monday comes at a time when the Vatican is investigating reports of abuse and of a lack of...
Man wounded by stray bullet during gunfire in Times Square
NEW YORK — A man who was reportedly visiting New York City with his family was shot and wounded in Times Square by a stray bullet during gunfire from a possible dispute between vendors, authorities said. The 21-year-old victim was shot in the back about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, police said....
Crews spend 5th day atop shaky pile of collapsed concreteVideo
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Rescuers searching for a fifth day for survivors of a Florida condo building collapse used bucket brigades and heavy machinery Monday as they worked atop a precarious mound of pulverized concrete, twisted steel and the remnants of dozens of households. Authorities said their efforts were still a...
