U.S./World category, Page 849
Israeli jets strike Gaza after militants fire rockets
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck several sites in the Gaza Strip early Saturday after Palestinian militants fired two rockets toward southern Israel. The airstrike targets included rocket manufacturing facility and training and military posts belonging to Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, according to the military. Palestinian...
Despite smooth election, GOP leaders seek vote restrictions
ATLANTA — Changes to the way millions of Americans voted this year contributed to record turnout, but that’s no guarantee the measures making it easier to cast ballots will stick around for future elections. Republicans in key states that voted for President-elect Joe Biden already are pushing for new restrictions,...
Downtown Nashville explosion knocks communications offline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded holiday travel at the city’s airport. Police were responding to a report of shots fired Friday when they encountered the...
2 children die in Detroit fire; mom, 3 kids leap to safety
A Christmas morning fire killed a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old at a home on Detroit’s east side and forced others to jump from a second-floor window to escape, fire department officials said. The Detroit Fire Department said the two children were found dead in a front living room of the...
A pandemic Christmas: Services move online, people stay home
Families that usually reunite on Christmas over a hearty, lingering meal stayed home Friday, services were held online, and gift exchanges were low-key in one of the most unusual holiday seasons in decades. The coronavirus left almost no one unaffected. Patricia Hager, 60, delivered homemade caramel rolls for breakfast to...
Police: N.Y. man steals mini-snow plow, crashes into Target store
BAY SHORE, N.Y. — A Long Island man has been arrested after a Christmas morning crime spree that gave new meaning to the term doorbuster. It happened shortly before 2 a.m., Suffolk County police said, when Justin Shuffle stole a 2010 Bobcat skid loader, which is used to push snow,...
British army helps clear backlog of virus-stranded drivers
Around 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stuck in southeast England after France briefly closed its border to the U.K., then demanded coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious, virus variant. Even though an estimated...
Police: Suspicious blast wounds 3 in Nashville on Christmas
An explosion shook the largely deserted streets of downtown Nashville early Christmas morning, shattering windows, damaging buildings and wounding three people. Authorities said they believed the blast was intentional. Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered a recreational...
Judge delays execution of only woman on U.S. death row
A federal judge said the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row, potentially setting up the Trump administration to schedule the execution after president-elect Joe Biden takes office. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss also vacated an order from the director of the...
Pope on Christmas: Vaccines for all; needy, vulnerable first
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis made a Christmas Day plea for authorities to make covid-19 vaccines available to all, insisting that the first in line should be the most vulnerable and needy, regardless of who holds the patents for the shots. “Vaccines for everybody, especially for the most vulnerable and...
Trump golfs in Florida as covid relief hangs in the balance
PALM BEACH — After tossing a grenade that threatens to blow up a massive covid relief and government funding bill and force a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic, President Donald Trump spent his Christmas Eve golfing in Florida. Failure to agree on the bill could deny checks...
Warrant: Co-worker confessed to fatally stabbing UPS driver
WATERTOWN, Conn. — A UPS employee accused of fatally assaulting a co-worker he was helping deliver packages told police he stabbed the man before fleeing into the woods, according to an arrest warrant released Thursday. When he was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon by state troopers at a gas station...
Ohio police chief urges officer who shot Black man be fired
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The police chief of Columbus, Ohio, recommended on Thursday that the officer who shot and killed Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, earlier this week be fired. Police Chief Thomas Quinlan said in a statement that he filed two departmental charges alleging critical misconduct against officer Adam...
Reward offered in cases of slashed California pelicans
LOS ANGELES — A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of whoever is slashing the pouches and necks of brown pelicans on the Southern California coast. International Bird Rescue posted the reward after four pelicans with identical, severe injuries were brought in for care at...
Michigan canvasser still afraid after threat, suspect arrest
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — The Republican chair of a county canvassing board in Michigan who initially refused to certify local election results that favored Vice President Job Biden over President Donald Trump said Thursday that she doesn’t know a woman charged with sending her threatening text messages. Wayne County Canvasser...
Florida governor’s spokesman deletes his Twitter account after posting about covid-19 victims
ORLANDO, Fla. — Fred Piccolo, spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, deactivated his Twitter account Wednesday after he tweeted in the middle of night that photos of each dead COVID-19 victim should be balanced with 99 photos of people who survive the disease. In response to a Reuters photo gallery on...
Online store stops selling Rittenhouse family’s merchandise
KENOSHA, Wis. — An online sales company has stopped selling merchandise supporting an Illinois teen who killed two people and wounded a third during a protest in Wisconsin this summer. The Kenosha News reported Thursday that Kyle Rittenhouse’s family began selling “Free Kyle” merchandise through Printify last week. Printify creates...
U.S. military confirms pandemic won’t sideline Santa Claus
DENVER — The U.S. military is tracking an elderly man with a white beard and a large belly who goes by the name of Saint Nicholas. There’s no reason for alarm though, Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck said. In fact, this is a Christmas tradition going on its 65th...
Protesters call for justice in police killing of Andre Hill
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Demonstrators gathered in a cold Christmas Eve drizzle Thursday to call for justice in the death of Andre Hill, a Black man who was shot and killed by a Columbus police officer this week. Chants of “Whose street? Our street!” rang out from the crowd, which gathered...
Italy enters Christmas lockdown amid signs of coronavirus resurgence
ROME — Police in Italy enforced new covid-19 travel restrictions aimed at limiting Christmas get-togethers involving far-flung family members as public health officials appealed Thursday for a “drastic reduction” in social contacts to prevent new infections over the holidays. A modified nationwide lockdown went into effect on Christmas Eve with...
Truckers finally leave U.K. after days of virus gridlock
DOVER, England — Truckers and travelers stuck in a days-long gridlock at the English port of Dover started heading to France on Thursday after the country partially reopened its borders with Britain following international concern over a rapidly spreading new coronavirus variant. However, thousands of stranded truck drivers still awaited...
Dark days: Experts fear the holidays will fuel the U.S. crisis
LOS ANGELES — Hard-hit California eclipsed 2 million coronavirus cases on Christmas Eve as the U.S. headed into a holiday season of travel and family gatherings that threaten to fuel the deadly outbreak across the nation. Despite warnings from public health experts to stay home, over 1.19 million travelers passed...
Police: Couple steals $300 albino python from Massachusetts pet store
PEABODY, Mass. — Police in Peabody, Massachusetts, are looking for a couple who slithered away with a snake worth $300 from a city pet store. The couple entered the Petco store around 4:30 p.m. Monday, police told The Salem News on Wednesday. The man asked an employee if he could...
Pair of Nazi headstones removed from Houston Cemetery
SAN ANTONIO — Two German WWII graves bearing Nazi swastikas have been removed from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery and replaced with new headstones. The pair of headstones had become a long controversy over whether they were historical artifacts worth preserving or emblems of hate that should be destroyed, according...
Nurses fear what’s to come: ‘Walk down our unit for a day’
LOS ANGELES — The nurses of California are afraid. It’s Christmas Eve, and they aren’t home with their families. They are working, always working, completely gowned up — and worn down. They’re frightened by what people are doing, or not doing, during a coronavirus pandemic that has already killed more...
