U.S./World category, Page 860
U.S. lawmakers unveil anti-slavery constitutional amendment
NEW YORK — National lawmakers are expected on Wednesday to introduce a joint resolution aimed at striking language from the U.S. Constitution that enshrines a form of slavery in America’s foundational documents. The resolution, spearheaded and supported by Democratic members of the House and Senate, would amend the 13th Amendment’s...
Lawmakers bristle after Trump threatens defense bill veto
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is closing out his relationship with Congress with one more power jab, threatening to veto a hugely popular defense bill unless lawmakers clamp down on big tech companies he claims were biased against him during the election. Trump is demanding that Congress repeal so-called Section...
GOP objects to Biden nominees, a sign of what’s to come
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks are quickly running into the political reality of a narrowly controlled Senate that will leave the new Democratic administration dependent on rival Republicans to get anything done. Under leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican senators will hold great sway in confirming Biden’s nominees regardless...
Brazilian bank robbers seize another city, sow chaos, death
RIO DE JANEIRO — Heavily armed bank robbers invaded the Brazilian city of Cameta just one day after criminals struck another mid-sized city on the opposite side of the country, taking residents hostage as they looted a bank. Para state’s public security secretariat said in a statement that more than...
Alabama soldier arrested after girlfriend’s son forced out of car, killed by vehicle
FORT MITCHELL, Ala. — An Alabama soldier was charged with reckless murder after allegedly forcing his girlfriend’s unruly 5-year-old son to get out of a car at night along a road where the boy was hit and killed by another vehicle, authorities said. Army Sgt. Bryan Starr, 35, surrendered to...
‘This has got to stop’: Republican Georgia election official calls out Trump, GOP
A Georgia elections official has had it with threats against himself and fellow elections workers in that battleground state that was awarded to Joe Biden during last month’s presidential election. Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s Voting Systems Implementation Manager, who is Republican, said emphatically in a Tuesday press conference that it has...
Visitor: Monolith toppled by group of men who said ‘leave no trace’Video
SALT LAKE CITY — New clues have surfaced in the disappearance of a gleaming monolith in Utah that seemed to melt away as mysteriously as it appeared in the red-rock desert — though it’s no longer the only place where a strange structure has come and gone. A Colorado photographer...
Biden unveils economic team declaring, ‘Help is on the way’
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday introduced top advisers he says will help his administration rebuild an economy hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, declaring, “I know times are tough but I want you to know that help is on the way.” Biden said he’d chosen a “first rate...
FDA chief called to White House as Trump pushes for vaccine
WASHINGTON — The head of the agency responsible for approving any covid-19 vaccine for the U.S. was summoned to the White House Tuesday as an increasingly frustrated President Donald Trump complained approval wasn’t coming faster. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called in Stephen Hahn, the head of the...
Rescue efforts slowed a week after Zimbabwe mine collapse
BINDURA, Zimbabwe — Rains and flooding have slowed rescue efforts at a Zimbabwean mine where a shaft collapsed last week, trapping at least 10 artisanal miners. Hopes of finding survivors are vanishing and relatives camped at the site on Tuesday expressed their desperation for decent burials of their loved ones...
Detroit police fatally shoot gunman suspected in slaying
DETROIT — Police killed a gunman during a shootout early Tuesday who was suspected of fatally shooting a woman over a child-custody issue and firing shots at a Detroit police station, authorities said. Members of the department’s Special Response Team approached the 28-year-old man about 7 a.m. as he sat...
U.S. officials say mountain pine tree that feeds grizzlies is threatened
BILLINGS, Mont. — Climate change, voracious beetles and disease are imperiling the long-term survival of a high-elevation pine tree that’s a key source of food for some grizzly bears and found across the U.S. West, U.S, officials said Tuesday. A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal scheduled to be published Wednesday...
China says probe sent to retrieve lunar rocks lands on moon
BEIJING — A Chinese robot probe sent to return lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s landed on the moon Tuesday, the government announced, adding to a string of increasingly bold space missions by Beijing. The Chang’e 5 probe “successfully landed” at its planned site, state...
With a month until split, Brexit trade deal hangs in balance
LONDON — The British government told businesses Tuesday to make sure they are ready for big changes when the U.K. makes its final Brexit break from the European Union in exactly a month. But with negotiations on a free-trade deal with the bloc stuck, firms say they still don’t know...
Navy will decommission warship damaged in suspected arson
SAN DIEGO— The Navy said Monday that it will decommission a warship docked off San Diego after suspected arson this summer caused extensive damage, making it too expensive to restore. Fully repairing the USS Bonhomme Richard to warfighting capabilities would cost $2.5 billion to $3 billion and take five to...
Dictionary companies choose same word of the year: pandemicVideo
NEW YORK — In the land of lexicography, out of the whole of the English language, 2020’s word of the year is a vocabulary of one. For the first time, two dictionary companies on Monday — Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com — declared the same word as their tops: pandemic. A third...
White House Christmas decor gives nod to 1st responders
WASHINGTON — First responders and frontline workers being challenged by the deadly coronavirus pandemic are highlighted in White House Christmas decorations that also give a special nod to Melania Trump’s redesigned Rose Garden. It’s the final Christmas in the White House for the Trump family, although the president continues to...
American tourist returns ancient artifact she stole from Rome with note: ‘I feel terrible’
“I saw it delivered in the morning. A bulky package, quite heavy, carefully packed.” So begins the story in the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. When the package was opened, staff at the National Roman Museum discovered a “large fragment of millenary marble.” A note was included with it: A woman...
Iowa board to certify 6-vote Republican win in U.S. House race
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa officials on Monday were expected to certify a Republican candidate as the winner by six votes of an open seat in the U.S. House, in what is shaping up to be the closest congressional election in decades. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks finished ahead of Democrat Rita...
Supreme Court casts doubt on Trump’s bid to exclude from census immigrants in U.S. illegallyVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan to exclude millions of immigrants in the country illegally from the 2020 census count appeared to fizzle at the Supreme Court on Monday. Instead, the justices debated only whether the outgoing Trump administration could seek to exclude a small category of these immigrants, such...
2020’s ‘insane’ hurricane season is officially over. Is it a sign of things to come?
MIAMI — It was clear way back in mid-September, when the National Hurricane Center had already exhausted its regular list of names and turned to the Greek alphabet, that 2020 would be a hurricane season for the record books. It definitely was that. The season, which formally ends every Nov....
‘World’s loneliest elephant’ arrives safely in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The pachyderm dubbed the ” world’s loneliest elephant ” after languishing alone for years in a Pakistani zoo was greeted on his arrival in Cambodia on Monday by chanting Buddhist monks and was then sent on his way to a wildlife sanctuary. Like other travelers during...
Iran says Israel remotely killed military nuclear scientist
TEHRAN, Iran — A top Iranian security official on Monday accused Israel of using “electronic devices” to remotely kill a scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program in the 2000s. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, made the comment at the funeral for...
Congress returns with virus aid, federal funding unresolved
WASHINGTON — After months of shadowboxing amid a tense and toxic campaign, Capitol Hill’s main players are returning for one final, perhaps futile, attempt at deal-making on a challenging menu of year-end business. Covid-19 relief, a $1.4 trillion catchall spending package, and defense policy — and a final burst of...
Oregon nurse placed on leave after video flouting coronavirus protocols
SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon hospital has placed a nurse on administrative leave after she posted a video on social media in which she said she does not follow safety directives meant to prevent the spread of covid-19 when she is not at work. Salem Health said it is investigating...
