U.S./World category, Page 845
In their own words: Families talk about their endless search for Mexico’s missing
BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico — They are called los desaparecidos — the disappeared. The term gained popularity among extralegal military and police forces in Argentina in the mid-1970s, describing people taken by government-backed armed forces. They vanished without a trace into a world void of human and legal rights. Today there...
Biden’s strategy for a predecessor who won’t go away: Ignore him
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden faces historic challenges when he enters the White House on Jan. 20: a raging pandemic, persistently high unemployment, simmering tensions with China and Russia — and a predecessor who won’t go away. Aware of the chaos and distraction Donald Trump has proved he can muster, the...
U.S. coronavirus death toll hits 350,000; surge feared
BALTIMORE — The covid-19 death toll in the United States has surpassed 350,000 as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.S. passed the threshold early Sunday morning. More than 20...
A Florida-bound boat with 20 aboard went missing. The Coast Guard’s search has ended
MIAMI — The first sign something was wrong came Tuesday when Bahamian authorities reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Southeast Division to alert them that 20 people aboard a blue and white 29-foot Mako Cuddy Cabin vessel had gone missing. The passengers were in the oft-cited Bermuda Triangle. The...
There’s good and bad news for immigrants waiting to take steps toward naturalization
MIAMI — More than a million immigrants in the United States who have applied for U.S. citizenship through naturalization, adjustment of status and other benefits have been waiting for their biometric services appointment at a local Application Support Center (ASC) to provide their fingerprints, photograph and/or signature. Due to the...
McConnell, Pelosi homes vandalized after $2,000 relief fails
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Vandals lashed out at the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate over the holiday weekend, blighting their homes with graffiti and in one case a pig’s head as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to individuals to help cope...
Fast rollout of virus vaccine trials reveals tribal distrust
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The news came during a hopeful time on the largest Native American reservation. Daily coronavirus cases were in the single digits, down from a springtime peak of 238 that made the Navajo Nation a U.S. hot spot. The tribe, wanting to ensure a covid-19 vaccine would be...
Massachusetts policeman pays for shoplifting suspects’ holiday dinner
SOMERSET, Mass. — A Massachusetts police officer declined to charge two women accused of trying to steal groceries for the children — and instead bought them Christmas dinner. Somerset Officer Matt Lima responded to a report of shoplifting Dec. 20 at Stop & Shop, where two women with two young...
Judge tosses out Gohmert suit against Pence over electoral votes
A federal judge in Texas threw out a Hail Mary lawsuit filed against Vice President Mike Pence by a Republican congressman who argued the vice president has the authority to unilaterally reverse Donald Trump’s election loss during a joint session of Congress Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle on Friday...
Bolsonaro’s tough 2021 balance between ideology, pragmatism
BRASILIA — Brazil’s pugnacious president, Jair Bolsonaro, survived 2020 in surprisingly good shape personally and politically, with buoyant popularity ratings despite his own bout of covid-19 and a broader pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 of his countrymen. But the new year — and a looming reelection campaign — bring...
Chicago ends 2020 with 769 homicides as gun violence surges
CHICAGO — The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed. After three years of falling homicide totals, 2020 ended with 769 homicides — 274...
Curfew-busting New Year party-goers attack French police
PARIS — Ravers at an underground, curfew-busting New Year’s Eve party that drew at least 2,500 people in western France attacked the police sent to shut them down, torching one police vehicle and injuring officers with volleys of bottles and stones, officials said Friday. Ravers aboard hundreds of vehicles started...
Mexico City ban on single-use plastics takes effect
MEXICO CITY — A broad ban on single-use containers, forks, straws and other ubiquitous items takes effect in Mexico’s capital, one of the world’s largest cities, after more than a year of preparation. On Friday, Mexico City’s environmental secretary said via Twitter that “from today on Mexico City without single-use...
Delay sought in ex-officers’ trial over George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors in the case against the four Minneapolis officers charged in the death of George Floyd requested that the trial be delayed by three months. The Star Tribune reports prosecutors cited the covid-19 pandemic and the amount of time needed before enough people are vaccinated and health risks...
Iran general warns U.S.: Military ready to respond to pressure
TEHRAN, Iran — The top commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Friday that his country was fully prepared to respond to any U.S. military pressure as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration. Gen. Hossein Salami spoke at a ceremony...
Reports: 8 dead in New Year’s Eve carbon monoxide poisoning in Bosnia
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Several people have been found dead in a cottage in southwestern Bosnia, police said Friday. Local media reported that eight young people died from carbon monoxide poisoning during a New Year’s Eve celebration. Local police spokeswoman Martina Medic told The Associated Press that police responded to a...
What turns 100 in 2021? Here are a few century-old items
Everything gets older. It’s just a fact of life. And this year — that would be 2021 — there are a few things that are turning 100. And we’re kind of blown away by how old they are. For instance: Cheez-It On March 31, 1921, the Dayton, Ohio-based...
Records show Casey Anthony is starting investigation firm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — State records show that Casey Anthony has filed documents to start a private investigation firm in South Florida. Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, nine years ago, filed the paperwork with the Florida Division of Corporations in mid-December. The limited liability...
No charges for Maryland police in death of ‘boogaloo’ movement martyr
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland prosecutors have ruled out criminal charges against any police officers in the shooting death of a man whose family says he was sleeping in his bed next to his girlfriend when police opened fire, an attorney for the family said Thursday. Howard County State’s Attorney...
Race to vaccinate millions in U.S. off to slow, messy start
Terry Beth Hadler was so eager to get a lifesaving covid-19 vaccination that the 69-year-old piano teacher stood in line overnight in a parking lot with hundreds of other senior citizens. She wouldn’t do it again. Hadler said that she waited 14 hours and that a brawl nearly erupted before...
Covid-19 dominates annual list of banished words, terms
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — Even as vaccines are being rolled out to battle coronavirus, wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula say they want to kick any trace of it from the English language. “Covid-19” and “social distancing” are thrown in with “we’re all in this...
Nashville bombing spotlights vulnerable voice, data networks
The Christmas Day bombing in downtown Nashville led to phone and data service outages and disruptions over hundreds of miles in the southern U.S., raising new concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. communications. The blast seriously damaged a key AT&T network facility, an important hub that provides local wireless, internet...
Security firms say suspicious object on oil tanker off Iraq
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sailors involved in transferring fuel oil from an Iraqi tanker in the Persian Gulf to another vessel owned by a shipping company traded in the U.S. discovered a “suspicious object” they fear could be a mine, authorities said Thursday. The discovery comes amid heightened tensions...
Man called most prolific serial killer in U.S. history dies
LOS ANGELES — The man authorities say was the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, with nearly 60 confirmed victims, died Wednesday in California. He was 80. Samuel Little, who had diabetes, heart trouble and other ailments, died at a California hospital, according to the state Department of Corrections...
Bodies pile up, patient care falters as covid-19 devastates LA County hospitals
Los Angeles County’s healthcare system was buckling Wednesday under the unprecedented surge of covid-19 patients, with bodies piling up at morgues and medical professionals resorting to increasingly desperate measures as they brace for conditions to worsen in the coming weeks. With hospitals overwhelmed by patients and no outlet valve available,...
