U.S./World category, Page 858
Nobel ceremonies go low-key this year because of coronavirus
STOCKHOLM — The pomp and ceremony of the Nobel prize ceremonies have been reined in this year amid measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. There will be no glitzy banquet honoring winners in Stockholm or Oslo as the global pandemic curtails the usual celebrations. Instead, their achievements will...
Hundreds ill, 1 dead from unidentified disease in India
NEW DELHI — At least one person has died and 200 others have been hospitalized because of an unidentified illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said Monday. The illness was detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. Since then, patients...
Sheriff: Defiant New York City bar owner slams deputy with his car
NEW YORK — The co-owner of a New York City bar that authorities said has been defying coronavirus restrictions was taken into custody early Sunday after running over a deputy with a car, authorities said. Danny Presti tried to drive away from his bar, Mac’s Public House, as deputies were...
Double Dragons: SpaceX launches space station supplies
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched a newer, bigger version of its Dragon supply ship to the International Space Station on Sunday, marking the first time the company has two capsules in orbit at the same time. The Dragon — packed with Christmas treats and presents — should reach the...
Gene-editing treatment shows promise for sickle cell disease
Scientists are seeing promising early results from the first studies testing gene editing for painful, inherited blood disorders that plague millions worldwide, especially Black people. Doctors hope the one-time treatment, which involves permanently altering DNA in blood cells with a tool called CRISPR, may treat and possibly cure sickle cell...
A bleak outlook for millions facing cutoff of jobless aid
INDIANAPOLIS — Tina Morton recently faced a choice: Pay bills or buy a birthday gift for a child? Derrisa Green is falling further behind on rent. Sylvia Soliz has had her electricity cut off. Unemployment has forced aching decisions on millions of Americans and their families in the face of...
Fire guts historic church home to New York’s Liberty Bell
A historic church in lower Manhattan that houses New York’s Liberty Bell and whose congregation dates to the city’s earliest days was gutted by a massive fire early Saturday that sent flames shooting through the roof. The Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village burned before dawn after a fire...
Japan capsule carrying asteroid samples lands in Australia
Japan’s space agency said its helicopter search team has spotted a capsule, which is carrying asteroid samples that could explain the origin of life, that landed on a remote area in southern Australia as planned Sunday. Hayabusa2 had successfully released the small capsule on Saturday and sent it toward Earth...
San Francisco Bay Area issues new stay-at-home order
SAN FRANCISCO — The health officers in six San Francisco Bay Area counties issued a new stay-at-home order Friday requiring some businesses to close and banning all gatherings, as the number of virus cases surge and hospitals fill. The changes take effect for most of the area at 10 p.m....
Police: Florida man who says he was crime victim chases, shoots man
MIAMI — A man who says he was the victim of a burglary attempt chased a man down a South Florida street and shot and wounded him with an assault-style rifle as he begged for his life, authorities said. Corthoris Jenkins, 28, was charged with attempted first-degree murder with a...
Judge: Trump administration must take new DACA applications
NEW YORK — The Trump administration must accept new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects some young immigrants from deportation, a federal judge ruled Friday, in vacating a memo from the acting Homeland Security secretary that had suspended it. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said...
Criminal case dropped against Florida teen who fatally shot pal while ‘simulating’ rap video
MIAMI — Prosecutors have dropped the manslaughter case against an 18-year-old who accidentally shot and killed his friend in Hialeah while he was “simulating a rap video” for a Snapchat post. The state on Friday declined to file the charge against Jonathan Batista, who had been arrested for the Oct....
Families of 34 California boat fire victims grieve, advocate
LOS ANGELES — The snapshots tell the story of a big man with a big, beaming grin. The McIlvain family passes around the pictures, laughing over their son Charlie’s antics captured through the years: Charlie as a youngster camping with a backpack bigger than him, Charlie cheesing for the camera...
Scene from ‘Elf’ comes to life as Buddy meets dad in Boston
BOSTON — Just like a real-life movie, the story of Buddy the Elf meeting his biological father has come to life, just in time for the holidays. Doug Henning wore a costume like the one actor Will Ferrell’s character wore in “Elf” while meeting his father face to face for...
Surveillance tape breeds false fraud claims in Georgia
Surveillance footage of ballot processing on election night in Atlanta is fueling a false social media narrative of “suitcases filled with ballots” hidden under a cloth-covered table and tallied without supervision, even as top state officials confirm election workers followed standard procedure. The video showed regular ballot containers on wheels...
Colorado student, scientist named Time’s ‘Kid of the Year’
LONE TREE, Colo. — A 15-year-old Colorado high school student and young scientist who has used artificial intelligence and created apps to tackle contaminated drinking water, cyberbullying, opioid addiction and other social problems has been named Time Magazine’s first-ever “Kid of the Year.” Gitanjali Rao, a sophomore at STEM School...
Mexico City hospitals are filling up, but so are the streets
MEXICO CITY — Sometimes Latin American dance tunes on the radio — salsa, cumbia, ranchera — bring a little cheer into the emergency room of Mexico City’s Ajusco Medio hospital, which is operating well over normal capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Marta Patricia Mancilla, head of the emergency...
UK-EU trade talks ‘paused’ with deal still elusive
LONDON — A week of intense trade talks between Britain and the European Union ended in stalemate Friday, with attention turning to political leaders who will decide whether significant differences can be bridged. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said he and his British counterpart, David Frost, had agreed to “pause”...
U.S. imposes visas restrictions on more Chinese citizens
WASHINGTON — The State Department said Friday that the U.S. will impose visa restrictions on Chinese citizens engaged in overseas influence operations. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the restrictions would apply to Chinese Communist Party officials or anyone else taking part in propaganda or influence campaigns linked to the...
Police: Nearly 30 found in Texas human smuggling operation
HOUSTON — More than two dozen people who police in Texas believe were being held as a part of a possible human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston. One of the men was seen Thursday running down a residential street in his underwear, yelling that he...
West Virginia police arrest woman in crash that killed child
BRADSHAW, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia have arrested a woman in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 2-year-old boy. Angel Alberta Estep, 37, of War was charged Thursday with negligent homicide, crash involving death and other counts, McDowell County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy James Muncy told news outlets. The child...
Man charged with robbing Wawa customer at gunpoint inside rest room
A 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday and charged with robbing a customer at gunpoint in the men’s room of a Wawa store in Atlantic County, N.J., authorities said. Police were called about 11:40 a.m. to the convenience store in the 500 block of West Delilah Road in Pleasantville on a...
Ohio sheriff’s deputy wounded, suspect shot and killed
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Authorities on Friday were investigating after a welfare check by police turned into an exchange of gunfire that left one man dead and a sheriff’s deputy wounded in Ohio. Two deputies were sent to a home to check on a person around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the Richland...
Czechs target 2038 to phase out coal as energy source
PRAGUE — A Czech government advisory body has agreed to a proposal for the country to phase out coal as an energy source by 2038, a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough. Trade and Minister Karel Havlicek, one of the two chairmen of the body, said on Friday...
2 U.S. marshals shot, fugitive killed in Bronx gunfight
NEW YORK — A suspect in the shooting of a state trooper in Massachusetts was killed during a gunfight with U.S. marshals in New York City early Friday that left two of the officers wounded. The two deputy marshals injured in the 5:30 a.m. confrontation in the Bronx were treated...
