U.S./World category, Page 819
China urges U.S. to lift trade restrictions, stop interference
BEIJING — China’s top diplomat called Monday for new U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to lift restrictions on trade and people-to-people contacts while ceasing what Beijing considers unwarranted interference in the areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s comments at a Foreign Ministry forum on...
Italian ambassador killed in Congo while in UN convoy
KINSHASA, Congo — The Italian ambassador to Congo and an Italian carabineri police officer were killed Monday during an attack on a U.N. convoy in an area that is home to myriad rebel groups, the Foreign Ministry and local people said. The ambush on the World Food Program convoy that...
Filing: Proud Boys member considering plea in Capitol breach
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Rochester man identified as a member of the Proud Boys who allegedly smashed a window at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to allow rioters inside is considering a guilty plea, according to a recent court filing. A recent filing by Dominic Pezzola’s attorney said Pezzola accepts...
Officer shot at Arkansas McDonald’s; Pennsylvania kidnapping suspect dies
LONOKE, Ark. — An Arkansas police officer was hospitalized in stable condition Sunday after being shot during a confrontation at a McDonald’s restaurant with a Pennsylvania man who was kidnapping a 14-year-old North Carolina girl, authorities said. The suspect died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after fleeing from authorities,...
Tens of thousands still without power across Kentucky, West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some residents in Kentucky and West Virginia could be spending several more days without power as crews work to fix broken utility poles and downed lines from an ice storm. Appalachian Power said about 39,000 customers in southern West Virginia were without electricity Sunday. Some homes have...
Oath Keeper claims she met with Secret Service before Capitol riots
A member of the far-right Oath Keepers charged with rioting at the U.S. Capitol met with Secret Service agents before the siege and received a VIP pass to the rally where then-President Donald Trump spoke, according to a court filing. A defense attorney for Jessica Watkins said in Saturday’s filing...
1 dead, 4 injured in shooting at American Legion in Missouri
KENNETT, Mo. — One person died and four others were wounded in an overnight shooting at an American Legion club in southeast Missouri, police said Sunday. KAIT-TV reported that officers found the five victims at the American Legion building in Kennett following the report of the shooting before 12:30 a.m....
Power failure: How a winter storm pushed Texas into crisis
HOUSTON — Two days before the storm began, Houston’s chief elected official warned her constituents to prepare as they would for a major hurricane. Many took heed: Texans who could stocked up on food and water, while nonprofits and government agencies set out to help those who couldn’t. But few...
Sheriff: 3 dead in gun store shooting in New Orleans suburb
METAIRIE, La. — A person went into a gun store and shooting range in a New Orleans suburb and fatally shot two people Saturday, causing customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, said a sheriff. The shooter also died. The shooting happened at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in...
Arturo Di Modica, sculptor of Wall Street bull, dies at 80
ROME — The artist who sculpted Charging Bull, the bronze statue in New York which became an iconic symbol of Wall Street, has died in his hometown in Sicily at age 80. Arturo Di Modica died at his home in Vittoria on Friday evening, the town said in a statement...
Moscow court rejects opposition leader Navalny’s appeal
MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Saturday rejected Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal of his prison sentence, even as the country faced an order from a top European rights court to free the Kremlin’s most prominent foe. A few hours later, a judge in a separate case ordered Navalny...
Spain: Peaceful protests for jailed rapper see more looting
BARCELONA, Spain — A fifth night of peaceful protests to denounce the imprisonment of a Spanish rap artist once more devolved into clashes between police and the members of fringe groups who set up street barricades and smashed storefront windows Saturday night in downtown Barcelona. Small groups made up mostly...
Warmer temps bring relief as cold-weary South starts cleanup
DALLAS — Warmer temperatures spread across the southern United States on Saturday, bringing some relief to a winter weary region that faces a challenging clean-up and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages. In hard-hit Texas, where millions were warned to boil tap water before drinking...
Debris falls from plane during emergency landing near Denver
Debris from a United Airlines plane fell onto Denver suburbs during an emergency landing Saturday after one of its engines suffered a catastrophic failure and rained pieces of the engine casing on a neighborhood where it narrowly missed a home. The plane landed safely, and nobody aboard or on the...
Weather experts: Lack of planning caused cold catastrophe
This week’s killer freeze in the U.S. was no surprise. Government and private meteorologists saw it coming, some nearly three weeks in advance. They started sounding warnings two weeks ahead of time. They talked to officials. They issued blunt warnings through social media. And yet catastrophe happened. At least 20...
G-7 vows ‘equitable’ world vaccine access, but details scant
LONDON — Leaders of the Group of Seven economic powers promised Friday to immunize the world’s neediest people against the coronavirus by giving money, and precious vaccine doses, to a U.N.-backed vaccine distribution effort. But the leaders, under pressure over their vaccination campaigns at home, were unwilling to say exactly...
NASA scientist discusses search for life on Mars: ‘Who knows what we’ll find?’Video
Humans have long wondered about the existence of life on Mars. Now that NASA has landed the technologically advanced Perseverance Rover on the Red Planet, the search for life on Mars is being renewed. On Thursday, NASA performed a direct entry of the Martian atmosphere, surviving what NASA scientists call...
Massive breach fuels calls for U.S. action on cybersecurity
WASHINGTON — Jolted by a sweeping hack that may have revealed government and corporate secrets to Russia, U.S. officials are scrambling to reinforce the nation’s cyber defenses and recognizing that an agency created two years ago to protect America’s networks and infrastructure lacks the money, tools and authority to counter...
Lights come back on in Texas as water woes rise in the South
AUSTIN, Texas — Many of the millions of Texans who lost power for days after a deadly winter blast overwhelmed the electric grid now have it back, but the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, with many people lacking safe drinking water. About 325,000 homes and...
It’s final: Harry and Meghan won’t return as working royals
LONDON — Buckingham Palace confirmed Friday that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will not be returning to royal duties, and Harry will give up his honorary military titles — a decision that makes formal, and final, the couple’s split from the royal family. When Harry and Meghan stepped away...
NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient life
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet Thursday, accomplishing the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
South Dakota’s AG charged with 3 misdemeanors in fatal crash
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota’s Republican attorney general has been charged with misdemeanor careless driving after he struck and killed a man with his car, authorities said Thursday. Jason Ravnsborg is also facing misdemeanor charges of operating a motor vehicle while using a mobile electronic device and veering out of...
Depleted uranium from tanks, ammo not tied to Gulf War syndrome, new study finds
WASHINGTON — Depleted uranium in tanks and ammunition used in the 1991 Gulf War “played no role” in the unexplained illnesses, known as Gulf War syndrome, that veterans faced in the years afterward, according to a new study. The findings by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the...
Bob Dole says he’s been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer
TOPEKA, Kan. — Bob Dole, a former longtime senator and the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, announced Thursday that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Dole, 97, said in a short statement that he was diagnosed recently and would begin treatment on Monday. “While I certainly have some...
Baby whale found dead on beach south of Israel’s Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli officials said Thursday that a dead whale has washed up on a beach south of Tel Aviv. David Halfon of the Nature and Parks Authority said the animal was a fin whale calf about half the size of an adult, which can grow to more...
