U.S./World category, Page 839
Mega Millions $625M jackpot largest in nearly 2 years
DES MOINES, Iowa — Lottery players will have a shot Tuesday night at the eighth-largest jackpot in U.S. history due to months without a winner of the big prize. The Mega Millions $625 million jackpot is the largest lottery prize in nearly two years. The big prize for Powerball, the...
Judge halts 1st U.S. execution of female inmate in 67 years
MISSION, Kan. — A judge has halted the U.S. government’s first execution of a female inmate in nearly seven decades, saying a court must first determine whether the Kansas woman who killed an expectant mother, cut the baby from her womb and then tried to pass off the newborn as...
Trump takes no responsibility for riot as he heads to Texas
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday took no responsibility for his part in fomenting a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, despite his comments encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol and praise for them while they were still carrying out the assault. “People thought that what...
Russia’s prison service seeks to jail Kremlin critic Navalny
MOSCOW — Russia’s prison service has asked a Moscow court to put top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny behind bars for breaching the terms of his suspended sentence and probation. Navalny, who is convalescing in Germany from an August poisoning with a nerve agent that he has blamed on the Kremlin,...
French wine, vines headed home after year in space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The International Space Station bid adieu Tuesday to 12 bottles of French Bordeaux wine and hundreds of snippets of grapevines that spent a year orbiting the world in the name of science. SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule undocked with the wine and vines — and thousands of...
California turns stadiums into covid-19 vaccination centers
California is transforming baseball stadiums, fairgrounds and even a Disneyland Resort parking lot into mass vaccination sites as the coronavirus surge overwhelms hospitals and sets a deadly new record in the state. California’s covid-19 death toll reached 30,000 on Monday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. It took...
Officer with knee to George Floyd’s neck to be tried alone
MINNEAPOLIS — A former Minneapolis police officer who held his knee to the neck of George Floyd for several minutes will be tried separately from three other former officers accused in his death, according to scheduling orders filed Tuesday. Derek Chauvin will stand trial alone in March because of the...
Officials: Manatee in Florida had ‘Trump’ drawn on back
HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Fla. — State and federal wildlife officials are investigating reports of a manatee found with “Trump” drawn on its back in a Florida river. The aquatic mammal was spotted over the weekend in the Homosassa River in Citrus County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida...
Social media crackdown continues after siege of U.S. Capitol
LONDON — Social media platforms are continuing the crackdown on fringe groups and conspiracy theories following last week’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter suspended more than 70,000 accounts associated with the far right QAnon conspiracy and Facebook is removing posts and content fraudulently claiming that the U.S. election...
Turkey says it’s ready to repair frayed ties with Europe
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday his country is ready to put its frayed relationship with the European Union “back on track” and called on the 27-nation bloc to display the same determination. In an address to EU nations’ ambassadors in Ankara, Erdogan also expressed hope...
Enbridge rejects Michigan’s demand to shut down oil pipeline
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Enbridge said Tuesday it would defy Michigan’s demand to shut down an oil pipeline that runs through a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, contending that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision was based on bad information and political posturing. The Democratic governor in November moved to...
Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and GOP power broker, dies
LAS VEGAS — Sheldon Adelson, founder, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, has died at the age of 87 from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma , the casino company announced Tuesday. At one point the third richest man in the world, Adelson brought singing gondoliers to the...
Covid fears grow in Capitol as 3 lawmakers test positive
WASHINGTON — Within a span of about 24 hours, three House Democrats announced they tested positive for covid-19, prompting concern that last week’s insurrection at the Capitol has also turned into a super-spreader event threatening the health of lawmakers and their staffs. Those who tested positive were among dozens of...
Migrants in Bosnia camp have health checked after days in cold
BIHAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Many migrants and refugees staying at a camp in northwestern Bosnia have complained of respiratory and skin infections after spending days in makeshift tents and containers amid freezing weather and snowstorms, aid workers warned. Most of the hundreds of migrants stuck at the Lipa facility near Bosnia’s...
More than a dozen lawmakers joined crowds on day of Capitol riot
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A second Republican lawmaker from West Virginia who marched to the U.S. Capitol to support overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win said in a radio interview Monday that he hopes President Donald Trump “calls us back.” State Sen. Mike Azinger told the broadcast outlet that the crowds...
Florida man spotted with Pelosi lectern gets $25K bailVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida man spotted carrying a lectern belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in a widely circulated photo during the Capitol assault was released Monday on $25,000 bail. A federal magistrate judge in Tampa agreed to the release Monday at a brief hearing for Adam...
Arizona man charged in Capitol riot appears in court
PHOENIX — An Arizona man who took part in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns made his first court appearance Monday. A judge has scheduled a detention hearing Friday for Jake Chansley, who has been jailed on misdemeanor...
Trump puts Cuba back on ‘terrorism’ list with sanctionsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday re-designated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” in a move that hits the country with new sanctions shortly before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the step, citing in particular Cuba’s continued harboring of U.S. fugitives as...
U.S. imposes new Ukraine sanctions over election interference
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday sanctioned more than a half-dozen associates of a Ukrainian lawmaker accused by U.S. officials of interfering in the 2020 presidential election by releasing edited audio recordings of President-elect Joe Biden. The Treasury Department already had imposed sanctions on Andrii Derkach, whom U.S. officials...
FBI warns of plans for nationwide armed protests next week
WASHINGTON — The FBI is warning of plans for armed protests at all 50 state capitals and in Washington in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, stoking fears of more bloodshed after last week’s deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol. An internal FBI bulletin warned that, as...
Woman hedges apology in tense interview on hotel attackVideo
NEW YORK — A woman who wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her cellphone and tackled him at a New York City hotel appeared to back off her apology in a TV interview that aired Monday, suggesting without evidence that maybe he did try to steal her phone after...
Michigan bans open carry of guns inside state Capitol
LANSING, Mich. — A state panel on Monday banned the open carry of guns in Michigan’s Capitol, a week after an armed mob rioted in the U.S. Capitol and following a plot last year to storm the statehouse. Moves to ban weapons at the statehouse have been pushed since April,...
Mississippi governor signing law for flag without rebel sign
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is set to sign a bill Monday that gives the state a new flag with a magnolia and the phrase, “In God We Trust,” just over six months after legislators retired the last state flag in the U.S. that included the Confederate battle...
National Park Service shuts Washington Monument citing threats surrounding inauguration
The National Park Service is shutting down public access to the Washington Monument until Jan. 24, citing threats surrounding Joe Biden’s inauguration. The agency said Monday that it was implementing the temporary closure “in response to credible threats to visitors and park resources.” Park officials say that groups involved in...
4 Russian soldiers die, over 40 injured in road crash
MOSCOW — At least four Russian soldiers died and more than 40 others were injured Monday in a traffic crash near Moscow, officials said. The Defense Ministry said that a truck driver lost control of his vehicle and rammed into a convoy of military buses on a highway just northwest...
