U.S./World category, Page 757
‘Super-hero’ in Spider-Man outfit meets pope at Vatican
VATICAN CITY — While Pope Francis is usually the star at Vatican gatherings, Spider-Man, or at least an Italian who dresses up like the character, was the attention-grabber among the public lined up in rows during the pontiff’s weekly Wednesday audience. Matteo Villardita, 28, dons the comic-book and movie super-hero...
Supreme Court limits when police can enter home without warrant
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday put limits on when police officers pursuing a fleeing suspect can enter a home without a warrant. The high court ruled that when officers are pursuing someone suspected of a misdemeanor, a less serious crime, they cannot always enter a home without a...
Russia says warning shots deter U.K. warship; London denies it
MOSCOW — The Russian military said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs Wednesday to force a British destroyer away from an area in the Black Sea near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters, but Britain denied that account and insisted its ship...
Warren Buffett resigns from Gates Foundation
NEW YORK — Warren Buffett resigned Wednesday as trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which says it will announce plans in July to answer questions raised about its leadership structure as it deals with the divorce of its two founders. The announcement from Buffett comes weeks after Bill...
U.S. gives more asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico another shot
SAN DIEGO — Thousands of asylum-seekers whose claims were dismissed or denied under a Trump administration policy that forced them to wait in Mexico for their court hearings will be allowed to return for another chance at humanitarian protection, the Homeland Security Department said Tuesday. Registration begins Wednesday for asylum-seekers...
St. Louis shooting kills 3 people, leaves 4 others wounded
ST. LOUIS — A shooting in St. Louis left three people dead and four others wounded, authorities said. Police were called about 7:30 p.m. Monday to the city’s Greater Ville neighborhood in north St. Louis. Two men were found dead outside a convenience store, police Chief John Hayden said. A...
Nearly 900 Secret Service employees were infected with covidVideo
WASHINGTON — Roughly 900 U.S. Secret Service employees tested positive for the coronavirus, according to government records obtained by a government watchdog group. Secret Service records show that 881 people on the agency payroll were diagnosed with covid-19 between March 1, 2020 and March 9, 2021, according to documents obtained...
Virginia hopes to remove time capsule along with Lee statue
RICHMOND, Va. — If a court clears the way, the state of Virginia expects to remove not just a soaring statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue but also a little-known piece of history tucked inside the massive sculpture’s base: a 134-year-old time capsule. Historical...
Background checks blocked a record high 300,000 gun sales
SALT LAKE CITY — The number of people stopped from buying guns through the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. The FBI numbers provided...
How Big Tech created a data ‘treasure trove’ for police
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When U.S. law enforcement officials need to cast a wide net for information, they’re increasingly turning to the vast digital ponds of personal data created by Big Tech companies via the devices and online services that have hooked billions of people around the world. Data compiled by...
Weather Service: Suburban Chicago tornado had 140 mph winds
CHICAGO — A tornado that swept through Chicago’s western suburbs, damaging more than 100 homes and injuring several people, was packing 140 mph winds when it hit the heavily populated area, the National Weather Service said. A weather service team that surveyed the aftermath of Sunday night’s tornado found that,...
As passengers return to air travel, bad behavior skyrockets
Air travel can be difficult in the best of times, with cramped planes, screaming babies, flight delays and short tempers. Throw in a pandemic, and the anxiety level can rise quickly. That has led to confrontations with flight attendants and other unruly behavior, including occasional fights that get captured and...
Taliban besiege key Afghan city with U.S. set to exit
Civilians in Afghanistan have taken up arms to push back against the Taliban as the militants fight for control of a crucial northern city and make deeper territorial inroads with the U.S. set to withdraw all troops by September. The insurgents are battling to take control of strategic cities in...
NASA sends squid from Hawaii into space for research
HONOLULU — Dozens of baby squid from Hawaii are in space for study. The baby Hawaiian bobtail squid were raised at the University of Hawaii’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory and were blasted into space earlier this month on a SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station. Researcher Jamie Foster, who...
U.S. appeals court blocks judge’s decision to overturn California’s assault weapons ban
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court decided Monday to put on hold a judge’s decision to overturn California’s 30-year ban on assault weapons. In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of Judge Roger T. Benitez’s decision on June...
Judge tosses most claims over clearing protesters in Lafayette Square
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has dismissed a majority of the claims filed by activists and civil liberties groups who accused the Trump administration of violating the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed by police using chemical agents from a park near the White House before then-President Donald...
Ohio man’s trial in 8 slayings set for April after brother’s plea
WAVERLY, Ohio — A trial has been scheduled next spring for a man who along with his brother and parents was charged in the slayings of eight people from another Ohio family. A judge announced the April 4 trial date for George Wagner IV during his brief court appearance Monday...
42,000 pounds of purloined pistachios found in central California
DELANO, Calif. — California detectives say they’ve solved the curious caper of the purloined pistachios. The heist was a nutty one, but nothing new to investigators in America’s most productive farmland. In a nutshell, an audit by the Touchstone Pistachio Company in the San Joaquin Valley discovered that 42,000 pounds...
3 killed in Denver-area shooting, including officer, suspectVideo
DENVER — A gunman is believed to have shot and killed an officer and another person in a shopping district in a Denver suburb Monday before being fatally shot by police, authorities said. An officer responded to a call at 1:15 p.m. about a suspicious incident near the library in...
West Virginia mail carrier gets probation in absentee ballot case
ELKINS, W.Va. — A West Virginia postal carrier who pleaded guilty to altering mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots was sentenced to five years’ probation Monday. Thomas Cooper was charged in May 2020 after eight mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots had their party affiliations altered. He pleaded guilty last...
After causing 14 deaths, Claudette heads out to seaVideo
CAMP HILL, Ala. — Claudette regained tropical storm status and headed out to sea from the North Carolina coast Monday, less than two days after the system killed 14 people in Alabama, including nine children who died in a highway crash. Eight of the children who died Saturday were in...
Iran president-elect takes hard line, refuses to meet Biden
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s president-elect staked out a hard-line position Monday in his first remarks since his landslide election victory, rejecting the possibility of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support of regional militias. The comments by Ebrahim Raisi offered a blunt...
Tornado sweeps through suburban Chicago, causing damageVideo
CHICAGO — A tornado swept through communities in heavily populated suburban Chicago, damaging more than 100 homes, toppling trees, knocking out power and causing multiple injuries, officials said. There was relief Monday, though, as authorities reported that it appeared no one had died. Less than a dozen people were hurt...
Suspect arraigned in killing of American student in Russia
MOSCOW — A court in central Russia on Sunday arraigned a suspect on murder charges in the death of an American woman who was studying at a local university. The body of 34-year-old Catherine Serou was found Saturday in a wooded area near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 250 miles...
Body of 4th tuber, age 7, found in North Carolina river
EDEN, N.C. — The body of a fourth tuber has been found in a North Carolina river following a deadly accident in which a family on a recreational float went over a dam, local officials said Sunday. The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a news release that Isiah Crawford,...
