U.S./World category, Page 854
China indicts 10 Hong Kong residents over attempt to flee
HONG KONG — Chinese prosecutors on Wednesday announced the indictment of 10 people from Hong Kong over an attempt to flee the city amid a crackdown on opposition political activity. The Yantian district prosecutor’s office in the city of Shenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong said on its...
Iran leaders: Biden arrival won’t guarantee better relations
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader and the country’s president both warned America on Wednesday that the departure of President Donald Trump does not immediately mean better relations between the two nations. The remarks come as Iran approaches the first anniversary of the U.S. drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard...
Investigation opened after women’s symbol put on Polish flag
WARSAW, Poland — Prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether the Polish flag was publicly insulted after a family in Warsaw hung a flag from their balcony combined with a lightning bolt, a symbol for women’s rights in Poland. It’s the latest incident to raise questions about freedom of expression...
Cyberattack may have exposed deep U.S. secrets; damage yet unknownVideo
BOSTON — Some of America’s most deeply held secrets may have been stolen in a disciplined, monthslong operation being blamed on elite Russian government hackers. The possibilities of what might have been purloined are mind-boggling. Could hackers have obtained nuclear secrets? Covid-19 vaccine data? Blueprints for next-generation weapons systems? It...
Ex-Houston officer accused of assault in bogus voter fraud claim
HOUSTON — A former Houston police captain was charged with assault on Tuesday after running a man off the road and holding him at gunpoint in an effort to prove what authorities have called a bogus voter fraud scheme. Mark Aguirre claimed that an air conditioner repairman was the mastermind...
Fashion mogul Peter Nygard arrested in Canada on sex charges
NEW YORK — Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was arrested on charges alleging he sexually abused women and girls after luring them into his orbit with opportunities in fashion and modeling over the last 25 years. Nygard, 79, was detained after a Winnipeg, Canada, court appearance Tuesday after his Monday...
Talks escalate on new covid-19 relief, top lawmakers to meetVideo
WASHINGTON — Talks on a long-delayed covid-19 aid package intensified Tuesday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi summoned other top congressional leaders for a potentially critical meeting. Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for more than an hour, her office tweeted, and Mnuchin will join the make-or-break meeting of...
Over-the-counter home test for covid-19 gets U.S. green light
WASHINGTON — The first home test for covid-19 that doesn’t require a prescription will soon be on U.S. store shelves. U.S. regulators Tuesday authorized the rapid coronavirus test, which can be done entirely at home. The announcement by the Food and Drug Administration represents another important — though incremental —...
Biden to take oath outside Capitol amid virus restrictions
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office outside the U.S. Capitol building as inauguration planners seek to craft an event that captures the traditional grandeur of the historic ceremony while complying with covid-19 protocols. Biden’s team released some broad details for...
Fire at Russian retirement home kills 11
MOSCOW — A fire in a retirement home in Russia’s southern Urals killed 11 people while three more were hospitalized with injuries, local officials said Tuesday. The fire broke out in the early hours in a wooden, one-story building of a private retirement home in a village in the Bashkiria...
Poor countries face long wait for vaccines despite promises
NEW DELHI — With Americans, Britons and Canadians rolling up their sleeves to receive coronavirus vaccines, the route out of the pandemic now seems clear to many in the West, even if the rollout will take many months. But for poorer countries, the road will be far longer and rougher....
Police: Juvenile charged in deaths of 4 in southern West VirginiaVideo
ELKVIEW, W.Va. — Police have charged a juvenile with the murder of four people whose bodies were found Sunday at a home in southern West Virginia. A family member discovered three bodies after going to the home in Elkview, Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford said. Deputies who responded to the...
Supreme Court won’t revive Kansas voter registration ID law
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Kansas that sought to revive a law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. A federal appeals court had declared the law unconstitutional. Kansas had been the only state to require people to show a physical document such as a...
U.S. agencies, companies secure networks after huge hackVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. government agencies and private companies rushed Monday to secure their computer networks following the disclosure of a sophisticated and long-running cyber-espionage intrusion that experts said almost certainly was carried out by a foreign state. It was not yet clear who was responsible for the intrusion, though it...
Apple’s app stores open new privacy window for customers
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple has begun spelling out what kinds of personal information is being collected by the digital services displayed in its app stores for iPhones and other products made by the trendsetting company. Starting Monday, the additional disclosures will begin to appear in apps made for iPads, Mac...
Endangered-species decision expected on beloved monarch butterfly
Trump administration officials are expected to say this week whether the monarch butterfly, a colorful and familiar backyard visitor now caught in a global extinction crisis, should receive federal designation as a threatened species. Stepped-up use of farm herbicides, climate change and destruction of milkweed plants on which they depend...
Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic
Night began to fall in Rio de Janeiro’s Pedra Branca state park as four Brazilian scientists switched on their flashlights to traipse along a narrow trail of mud through dense rainforest. The researchers were on a mission: capture bats and help prevent the next global pandemic. A few meters ahead,...
U.S. sanctions NATO ally Turkey over Russian missile defense
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey over its purchase of a Russian air defense system, setting the stage for further confrontation between the two nations as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office. The move comes at a delicate time in relations...
London faces tightest restrictions; sees new virus variant
London and its surrounding areas will be placed under Britain’s highest level of coronavirus restrictions beginning Wednesday as infections rise rapidly in the capital, the health secretary said Monday, adding that a new variant of the virus may be to blame for the spread. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the...
Wisconsin Supreme Court tosses Trump election lawsuit
MADISON, Wis. — A narrowly divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his election loss in the battleground state about an hour before the Electoral College cast Wisconsin’s 10 votes for Democrat Joe Biden. In the 4-3 ruling, the court’s three liberal justices...
Fed to weigh further options for aiding U.S. economy in peril
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s policymakers face an unusual conundrum as they meet this week: A short-term economic outlook that is worsening even while the longer-term picture is brightening thanks to the emergence of coronavirus vaccines. When its meeting concludes Wednesday, the Fed could announce steps to try to offset...
U.S. blames Iran in abduction, death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson
The Trump administration for the first time on Monday formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction. Levinson disappeared in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a decade ago, and though U.S. diplomats and...
5 years and counting: Ex-treasure hunter still stuck in jail over missing gold
A former deep-sea treasure hunter is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing coins made from gold found in an historic shipwreck. Research scientist Tommy Thompson isn’t incarcerated for breaking the law. Instead, he’s being held in contempt of court...
Gmail, YouTube down briefly as Google suffers brief outage
Google users in the U.S., Europe, India and other parts of the world were briefly unable to access their Gmail accounts, watch YouTube videos or get to their online documents during an outage Monday. Thousands of complaints popped up around 7 a.m. along the East Coast of the U.S. “We’re...
Protesting Indian farmers call for 2nd strike in a week
NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of protesting Indian farmers called for a national farmers’ strike on Monday, the second in a week, to press for the quashing of three new laws on agricultural reform that they say will drive down crop prices and devastate their earnings. The farmers are...
