U.S./World category, Page 864
NBA players hailed by pope at Vatican for demanding justice
Pope Francis lauded a delegation of NBA players who met with him at the Vatican on Monday as “champions” and said he supported their work on addressing social injustice. Five players — Marco Belinelli, Sterling Brown, Jonathan Isaac, Kyle Korver and Anthony Tolliver — were joined by NBA players’ union...
EU, U.K. still have ‘fundamental’ differences in trade talks
BRUSSELS — With the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in quarantine, trade talks with the United Kingdom continued by videoconference this week, though the optimism expressed last week seemed to have faded. Barnier stressed on Monday that negotiators were running out of time to make a Jan. 1 deadline...
Man leaves $3K tip for a beer as Cleveland restaurant closes for virus
A customer left a $3,000 tip for a single beer as a restaurant voluntarily closed because of the covid-19 pandemic. The man walked in Sunday, ordered the beer and asked for the check, which came to $7.02, Nighttown owner Brendan Ring wrote on Facebook. Ring said the man wished him...
Pope Francis’ book explores George Floyd, virus skeptics
ROME — Pope Francis is supporting demands for racial justice in the wake of the U.S. police killing of George Floyd and is blasting covid-19 skeptics and the media that spread their conspiracies in a new book penned during the Vatican’s coronavirus lockdown. In “Let Us Dream,” Francis also criticizes...
China tests millions after coronavirus flareups in 3 cities
Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week. As temperatures drop, widescale measures are being enacted in Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli, even though the number of new cases remains...
New Zealand leader Ardern offers virus know-how to Joe Biden
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday became the latest world leader to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory, saying she offered to share her nation’s expertise on dealing with the coronavirus. Ardern said the tone of the 20-minute phone call was warm...
Schools’ Thanksgiving lessons jettison Pilgrim hats, welcome truth
BOSTON — A friendly feast shared by the plucky Pilgrims and their native neighbors? That’s yesterday’s Thanksgiving story. Students in many U.S. schools are now learning a more complex lesson that includes conflict, injustice and a new focus on the people who lived on the land for hundreds of years...
Yusef Salaam of Central Park Five penning memoir on his wrongful imprisonment
NEW YORK — One of the five teens wrongly imprisoned for the assault on a Central Park jogger has a memoir coming out in the spring. Grand Central Publishing announced Monday that it had acquired Yusef Salaam’s “Better, Not Bitter: Living On Purpose in The Pursuit of Racial Justice.” The...
French ex-President Sarkozy’s trial for corruption suspended
PARIS — The trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling was suspended Monday less than two hours after it started, to allow a medical report on one of the defendants. Sarkozy is accused of having tried to illegally obtain information from a magistrate about an...
Tourists few, N.Y. gift shops struggle but don’t lose (heart)
NEW YORK — In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still (heart) New York. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus pandemic has taken a voracious bite out of a slice of New York life as...
Speedboat taking migrants to Greece partially sinks; 1 dead
ATHENS, Greece — A speedboat that appeared to have been smuggling migrants to the Greek island of Rhodes from nearby Turkey partially sank before reaching land, leaving one person dead, Greece’s coast guard said Monday. The coast guard said it received information about the speedboat near the northwestern coast of...
Hong Kong’s Joshua Wong to plead guilty to protest charges
HONG KONG — Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said Monday that he plans to plead guilty to charges related to a demonstration outside police headquarters during anti-government protests last year. Ahead of a court hearing Monday, Wong said that he and fellow activist Ivan Lam would both plead...
Pat Quinn, co-founder of viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, dies at 37
YONKERS, N.Y. — A co-founder of the social media ALS ice bucket challenge, which has raised more than $200 million worldwide for Lou Gehrig’s disease research, died Sunday at the age of 37, according to the ALS Association. Pat Quinn was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic...
Man arrested in deadly attack at Nebraska Sonic restaurant
BELLEVUE, Neb. — Authorities arrested a 23-year-old man in an attack at a Nebraska fast food restaurant in which two people were shot and killed, two were wounded and officers responding to a report of a possible bomb inside a moving truck in the parking lot arrived to find the...
Biden’s 1st Cabinet picks expected Tuesday amid road blocks
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden’s first Cabinet picks are coming Tuesday and planning is underway for a pandemic-modified inauguration in January as his team moves forward despite road blocks from the Trump administration. Ron Klain, Biden’s incoming chief of staff, offered no details Sundays about which department heads Biden...
FDA allows emergency use of antibody drug Trump received
U.S. health officials Saturday agreed to allow emergency use of a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight covid-19, an experimental medicine President Trump was given when he was sickened last month. The Food and Drug Administration authorized use of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. drug to try to...
Loeffler quarantining after mixed covid test results
ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is quarantining after receiving mixed results from recent coronavirus tests. The Georgia Republican took two rapid COVID tests on Friday morning that came back negative, a spokesperson for her campaign said in a statement Saturday night. She received another test Friday evening and the...
Trump team requests recount of Georgia presidential vote
President Trump’s legal team said Saturday that his campaign has requested a recount of votes in the Georgia presidential race after results showed Democrat Joe Biden winning the state. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Friday certified the state’s election results, which had Biden beating Trump by 12,670 votes...
Teen charged in Kenosha killings poses with ‘Silver Spoons’ actor
KENOSHA, Wis. — An Illinois 17-year-old accused of killing two people during a protest in Wisconsin was seen smiling in a photo with his lawyer and “Silver Spoons” actor Ricky Schroder after being released from custody by posting a $2 million bond. Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph...
G-20 summit opens as leaders urge united response to virus
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Group of 20 summit opened on Saturday with appeals by the world’s most powerful leaders to collectively chart a way forward as the coronavirus pandemic overshadows this year’s gathering, transforming it from in-person meetings to a virtual gathering of speeches and declarations. In a...
IS attack hits Afghan capital; Pompeo joins peace talks
KABUL, Afghanistan — Mortars slammed into a residential area of the Afghan capital, killing eight people Saturday, hours before outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held what are likely his last meetings with the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators trying to hammer out a peace deal. The attack in...
Skates (and masks) on! Rockefeller Center ice rink opens
NEW YORK — The Rockefeller Center ice-skating rink is opening in a limited way but on time for the holidays. The iconic, sunken rink in midtown Manhattan is welcoming skaters Saturday afternoon as part of a tradition dating to the 1930s, according to the Rockefeller Center website. The rink is...
California enacts nighttime curfew as covid-19 cases spike
LOS ANGELES — California enacts a nighttime curfew Saturday as spiking coronavirus cases threaten to swamp health care systems and the state’s largest county warned that an even more drastic lockdown could be imminent. The newest restrictions require people not on essential errands to stay home from 10 p.m. to...
Mourners pay respects to Serb Patriarch Irinej despite virus
BELGRADE, Serbia — Mourners on Saturday were paying respects following the death of the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej, many ignoring preventive measures against the new coronavirus even though the head of the church died after contracting the virus himself. The coffin holding the patriarch’s body was first brought to...
In cities across US, voters sanction more police oversight
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Voters in communities across the country approved measures on Election Day toughening civilian oversight of law enforcement agencies, including some that took years to reach the ballot but grew in urgency after global protests over racial injustice and police brutality. The measures take aim at a chronic...
