U.S./World category, Page 846
China OKs 1st homegrown vaccine as covid-19 surges globally
China authorized its first homegrown covid-19 vaccine for general use Thursday, adding another shot that could see wide use in poorer countries as the virus surges back around the globe. The Sinopharm vaccine had already been given to groups such as health care professionals and essential workers under emergency-use guidelines...
Minneapolis to release bodycam video in fatal shootingVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Police in Minneapolis said they would release body camera video on Thursday from a traffic stop that ended with a man shot dead, the city’s first police-involved death since George Floyd died while being restrained by officers in May. Police said the man was a suspect in a...
Bomb-sniffing dogs? Check. Times Square crowd? Not this year
NEW YORK — New York City police turned to familiar tactics ahead of Thursday’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, deploying bomb-sniffing dogs and sand-filled sanitation trucks intended to guard against explosions. But the department’s playbook this year includes an unusual mandate: preventing crowds of any size from gathering in Times Square....
Back pain causes pope to skip Vatican New Year’s ceremonies
VATICAN CITY — A back condition has forced Pope Francis to skip New Year’s ceremonies at St. Peter’s Basilica, a Vatican spokesman said Thursday. Francis was suffering from “painful sciatica” and could not preside at an hour-long, year-end prayer service Thursday evening, spokesman Matteo Bruni said. The pope also won’t...
New Year brings final U.K.-EU Brexit split
LONDON — Like a separated couple still living together, Britain and the European Union spent 2020 wrangling and wondering whether they can still be friends. On Thursday, the U.K. is finally moving out. At 11 p.m. London time — midnight in Brussels — Britain will economically and practically leave the...
Heavy snow expected in Texas; storm could spawn tornadoesVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — A winter storm moving across southwestern Texas on Wednesday could dump more than a foot of snow before moving eastward and possibly spawning tornadoes in parts of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on New Year’s Eve, according to weather forecasters. Jeremy Grams, a forecaster with the National Weather...
Baltimore police detective charged with assaulting a shopper who refused to wear a mask
BALTIMORE — A Baltimore Police detective has been charged with misdemeanor assault and misconduct in office for allegedly slamming to the ground a man who refused to wear a face covering inside a West Baltimore grocery store last April. Detective Andre Pringle, 45, faces a maximum of 10 years in...
New York gets new train hub, in transformed postal buildingVideo
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo and transit officials cut the ribbon Wednesday on a gleaming new train hub that will give travelers an alternative to cramped, dingy Penn Station across the street. The Moynihan Train Hall takes up 255,000 square feet of what formerly served as a mail sorting...
New Hampshire governor cancels inaugural, citing mask protests at his home
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire’s Republican governor said Wednesday that he is canceling his outdoor inauguration ceremony next month because of public safety concerns — namely, armed protesters who have been gathering outside his home in the weeks since he issued a mask order. “My first responsibility is ensuring the...
Indiana AG: No charges recommended in fetal remains case
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s attorney general recommended no criminal charges or licensing actions Wednesday after concluding an investigation into more than 2,000 sets of fetal remains found last year at the suburban Chicago garage of a late prolific abortion doctor. Attorney General Curtis Hill said his office’s investigation determined the fetal...
Quake aftershocks keep people out of homes in CroatiaVideo
PETRINJA, Croatia — A series of aftershocks jolted central Croatia on Wednesday, a day after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake killed at least seven people, injured dozens and left several towns and villages in ruins. Authorities warned that the coronavirus could spread in crowded shelters. Many people are in tents, their cars...
After a year like this, expect a strange New Year’s Eve
NEW YORK — If ever a year’s end seemed like cause for celebration, 2020 might be it. Yet the coronavirus scourge that dominated the year is also looming over New Year’s festivities and forcing officials worldwide to tone them down. From New York’s Times Square to Sydney Harbor, big public...
Well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino found in Siberia
MOSCOW — A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia’s extreme north. Russian media reported Wednesday that the carcass was revealed by melting permafrost in Yakutia in August. Scientists are waiting for ice roads in the Arctic...
Canada to require negative test for people entering country
TORONTO — The Canadian government said Wednesday that travelers must have a negative covid-19 test taken within three days before they arrive in the country. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the measure will be implemented in the next few days. Canada already requires those entering the country to self-isolate...
GOP-led Senate rejects vote on Trump’s push for $2K checksVideo
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut the door Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s push for $2,000 covid-19 relief checks, declaring Congress has provided enough pandemic aid as he blocked another attempt by Democrats to force a vote. The GOP leader made clear he is unwilling to budge, despite...
U.S. bomber mission over Persian Gulf aimed at cautioning Iran
WASHINGTON — The U.S. flew strategic bombers over the Persian Gulf on Wednesday for the second time this month, a show of force meant to deter Iran from attacking American or allied targets in the Middle East. One senior U.S. military officer said the flight by two Air Force B-52...
U.S. sanctions Venezuelan judge for conviction of oil managers
MIAMI — The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan judge and prosecutor behind the conviction on corruption charges of six American oil executives. The six employees of Houston-based Citgo were lured to Caracas just before Thanksgiving in 2017 on the pretense of attending a business meeting. Once there,...
U.K. puts millions more under tight restrictions as cases soar
LONDON — The British government on Wednesday extended its toughest coronavirus restrictions to more than three-quarters of England’s population, saying a fast-spreading new variant of the virus has reached most of the country. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that at midnight the government’s top infection-warning level, Tier 4, would be...
Yemeni officials: Blast at Aden airport kills 25, wounds 110Video
SANAA, Yemen — A large explosion struck the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Wednesday, shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed cabinet landed there, security officials said. At least 25 people were killed and 110 wounded in the blast. Yemen’s internationally recognized government said Iran-backed...
British lawmakers approve post-Brexit trade deal with EU
Britain’s House of Commons voted resoundingly on Wednesday to approve a trade deal with the European Union, paving the way for an orderly break with the bloc that will finally complete the U.K.’s years-long Brexit journey. With just a day to spare, lawmakers voted 521-73 in favor of the agreement...
Principal Joe Clark who inspired film ‘Lean on Me’ has died
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Joe Louis Clark, the baseball bat and bullhorn-wielding principal whose unwavering commitment to his students and uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me,” died at his Florida home on Tuesday after a long battle with an unspecified illness, his family said. He was 82....
Joe and Jill Biden to appear on ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’
NEW YORK — Ryan Seacrest will have a special pair of guests alongside the music stars at this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration on ABC — the president-elect and the future first lady. President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden are scheduled to give “their last interview of the year”...
EU, China leaders meet to seal investment deal
BRUSSELS — Top European Union officials and Chinese President Xi Jinping will conclude a business investment deal Wednesday that will open big opportunities to European companies, but has the potential to irk the new American administration. Amid concerns about the human rights situation in China, the EU said the seven-year-long...
Nashville man’s girlfriend warned he was building bombs
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — More than a year before Anthony Warner detonated a bomb in downtown Nashville on Christmas, officers visited his home after his girlfriend told police that he was building bombs in an RV trailer at his residence, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. But they were...
Convicted U.S. spy Pollard arrives in Israel, welcomed by PM
JERUSALEM — Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in U.S. prison for spying for Israel, arrived in Israel early Wednesday with his wife, triumphantly kissing the ground as he disembarked from the aircraft in the culmination of a decades-long affair that had long strained relations between the two close allies....
