U.S./World category, Page 766
Even after Bernie Madoff’s death, work to unwind epic fraud goes on
NEW YORK — Epic Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff is dead. But the effort to untangle his web of deceit lives on. More than 12 years after Madoff confessed to running one of the biggest financial fraud in Wall Street history, a team of lawyers is still at work on...
Beer is latest vaccine incentive for Biden ‘month of action’
WASHINGTON — Free beer is the latest White House-backed incentive for Americans to get vaccinated for covid-19, as President Joe Biden is announcing a “month of action” Wednesday to get more shots into arms before the July 4 holiday. Speaking from the White House, Biden is set to update the...
EU eyes revamp of ID check-free zone to improve travel flow
BRUSSELS — The European Union unveiled plans Wednesday to revamp Europe’s ID check-free travel area after national coronavirus restrictions placed new strains on tourism, travel and business throughout the bloc over the last year. The travel zone, known as the “Schengen area,” is made up of 26 countries: 22 EU...
Russian opposition activists set for court amid crackdown
MOSCOW — A Russian court on Wednesday sent a prominent opposition activist to jail pending a probe, as authorities continue to crack down on dissent ahead of September’s parliamentary election. In the southern city of Krasnodar, a court ordered Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia movement that has...
Hacking outfit linked to Russia is behind JBS cyberattack, sources sayVideo
A notorious Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS SA, according to four people familiar with the assault who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The cyber gang goes by the name REvil or Sodinokibi. While it’s unclear if all of REvil’s hackers operate in...
Netanyahu: Israel would risk ‘friction’ with U.S. over Iran
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he’s prepared to risk tension with the United States if that is what it takes to neutralize Iran’s nuclear capabilities. The embattled premier, whose political future is in question just 11 days out from a bruising war, said Israel’s...
Report tells of sexual assault, racism at Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute has tolerated and failed to address institutional racism and sexism and must be held accountable for making changes, according to a state-sanctioned report released Tuesday. The 145-page report, put together by an independent law firm at the request of the State Council of Higher Education for...
Outlets: L.A. County fire station shooting kills 1 firefighter, wounds anotherVideo
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A shooting at a small Los Angeles County Fire Department station Tuesday killed one firefighter and wounded another, a county official and multiple media outlets reported. Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of multiple gunshot victims shortly before 11 a.m. at Fire Station 81, about 45 miles...
FBI agent charged in off-duty shooting of man on Metro train
ROCKVILLE, Md. — An FBI agent has been charged with attempted murder in the off-duty shooting of another man on a Metro subway train last year in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., according to court records unsealed Tuesday. During a hearing, Montgomery County prosecutors outlined their account of how...
China reports human case of H10N3 bird flu, a possible first
BEIJING — A man in eastern China has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but the risk of large-scale spread is low, the government said Tuesday. The 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai, was hospitalized April 28 and...
Florida governor bans transgender women from school sports
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Republican governor signed a bill Tuesday barring transgender females from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls, plunging the state into the national culture war over transgender rights. “In Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going...
Justices reject Johnson & Johnson appeal of $2B talc verdict
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using Johnson & Johnson talc products. The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting Johnson & Johnson’s appeal. The company argued that it was not treated...
Officer who tackled Boston Marathon bomber retires
WATERTOWN, Mass. — A suburban Boston police officer who became a national hero in 2013 when he tackled one of the Boston Marathon bombers retired from the only job he says he ever wanted. Watertown police Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese retired on Monday after more than 41 years on the force....
Russian authorities increase pressure on opposition
MOSCOW — Russian authorities have ramped up their pressure on dissent ahead of a parliamentary election, arresting one opposition activist and raiding several others’ homes. Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia movement that dissolved itself last week, was pulled off a Warsaw-bound plane at St. Petersburg’s airport just...
Biden marks Tulsa race massacre in emotional, graphic speechVideo
WASHINGTON — An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had “come to fill the silence” about one of the nation’s darkest — and long suppressed — moments of racial violence. “Some injustices are...
Vatican law criminalizes abuse of adults by priests, laity
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has changed church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority and to say that laypeople who hold church office can be sanctioned for similar sex crimes. The new provisions, released Tuesday after 14 years of study, were...
Kentucky man who received controversial pardon from Gov. Bevin rearrested
LONDON, Ky. — A Kentucky man who received a controversial pardon from then-Gov. Matt Bevin was rearrested Sunday, The Courier-Journal reported. Patrick Baker was convicted of killing Donald Mills. Mills’ sister told the paper an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives contacted her Monday to...
West Virginia urban deer hunt is lifeline for food programs
A bowhunt for deer in one West Virginia city that began several years ago has become a lifeline for local food pantries and community kitchens. When hunters first proposed an urban deer hunt in Morgantown about a decade ago, the idea was to control the population. Collisions with cars were...
Meat is latest cyber victim as hackers hit top supplier JBS
JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat supplier, has been targeted in a cybersecurity attack that shut down its North American and Australian computer networks in the latest threat to pandemic-rattled global food supply chains. JBS USA said it was the target of an organized cybersecurity attack on Sunday, affecting some...
Milkweed planted in California to help monarch butterflies
SAN FRANCISCO — A conservation group is planting more than 30,000 milkweed plants in California in the hope of giving Western monarch butterflies new places to breed. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that the River Partners group has joined with others and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife...
Man accused of plotting Walmart attack arrested in Texas
KERRVILLE, Texas — Authorities in Texas arrested a man accused of plotting to carry out a mass shooting at a Walmart, and a search of the suspect’s home turned up firearms, ammunition and materials officials described as “radical ideology paraphernalia.” Coleman Thomas Blevins, 28, was arrested Friday in Kerrville and...
Iran enriched record uranium stockpile amid Vienna talks
Iran produced a record volume of highly enriched uranium that could quickly be turned into fuel for a nuclear weapon, underscoring the urgency with which diplomats are moving to restore an agreement that would reign in the Persian Gulf nation’s program. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors circulated a confidential assessment...
Johnson & Johnson asks high court to void $2B talc verdict
WASHINGTON — Johnson & Johnson is asking for Supreme Court review of a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using the company’s talc products. The case features an array of high-profile attorneys, some in unusual alliances, including former independent counsel Kenneth Starr,...
Study blames climate change for 37% of global heat deaths
More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change. But scientists say that’s only a sliver of climate’s overall toll — even more people die from other extreme weather amplified...
Biden commemorates fallen veterans at Arlington Cemetery
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Joe Biden honored America’s war dead at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the hallowed burial ground and extolling the sacrifices of the fallen for the pursuit of democracy. The president was joined on Monday by first lady Jill Biden, Vice...
